The return of 70s Italian.

The return of 70s Italian

Looking today at furniture designed in Italy between 1968 and 1978, two qualities surface before any other. A confidence in material that has no real equivalent in contemporary production, and a formal freedom that shifted the language of design without an abrupt break, more like a conversation taking another angle.

This is the period we wanted to look at closely for the third season at LAPIERRE MARKET. Spring 2026 brings together about twenty pieces signed in this ten-year span, mixing original editions and a handful of 1980s vintage reissues when the original piece becomes inaccessible. The selection is not exhaustive. It looks for a coherence of use, a rhythm between armchairs, tables, lighting and modular systems, that can fully furnish a living room, a study, a dining area without needing to source elsewhere.

Why this period

1970s Italy inherits a precise context. The 1973 oil crisis forces editors to rethink material. Polyurethane, reliably moulded since the late 1960s, becomes an experimental ground for seating. Solid wood structures give way to looser, broader, lower forms. The relationship to the floor changes: people sit differently, lie down more readily, treat the sofa as a landscape rather than an alignment.

Cassina formalises this posture with its Le Corbusier-Perriand-Jeanneret editions resumed since 1965, but also with the pieces signed by Tobia and Afra Scarpa that mark the decade. B&B Italia, founded in Novedrate in 1966, releases the Bambole by Mario Bellini in 1972 and the Soriana by Tobia Scarpa the same year — two pieces that establish the language of the 70s Italian sofa and have not really been surpassed since. Martinelli Luce keeps editing the Pipistrello by Gae Aulenti drawn in 1965, whose distribution widens through the 1970s. Vico Magistretti for Artemide, Joe Colombo for Kartell, Cini Boeri for Knoll: the decade is dense with signatures that still hold.

The selection

At the heart of the season, three typological anchors. On seating, a few Soriana by Tobia Scarpa for Cassina, in patinated brown leather, original 1970s structure. The piece illustrates everything the period does best: low and broad silhouette, immediate materiality, an inviting posture that has not aged.

On lighting, several Pipistrello by Gae Aulenti for Martinelli Luce, aluminium finish and white opaline shade, medium and large model. The pieces we offer are authenticated Martinelli editions, with verified editor markings and original stamps. The Pipistrello remains the table lamp that best condenses the graphic thinking of the Italian decade.

On storage and tables, Cassina I Maestri editions (1980s vintage reissues of the LC4 and LC2 originally drawn by Le Corbusier, Charlotte Perriand and Pierre Jeanneret), consoles signed Vico Magistretti for Cassina, and a few Bonacina rattan side tables, which bring some natural material into the selection without breaking the grammar.

To complement, two rarer pieces to flag. An Eclisse chair by Vico Magistretti for Artemide in original 1970s edition, in its original box. And a Bambole console by Mario Bellini for B&B Italia in midnight blue velvet, lightly patinated, from a private Milanese estate. These pieces are flagged as such in the product description, with documented provenance.

Designers in focus

Three signatures carry the season. Tobia Scarpa, who designs with his wife Afra a large share of the Cassina and B&B Italia 1970s catalogue, and whose Soriana and Coronado have become canonical references. Gae Aulenti, architect and designer, whose Pipistrello embodies Italian graphic elegance before postmodernism settles in. Vico Magistretti, who traverses the decade editing objects as decisive as the Selene at Artemide in 1969 and the Maui chair at Kartell a few years later.

To go further, our editorial profiles: Pierre Paulin who converses with his Italian contemporaries, and our LAPIERRE Journal where we document authentication, piece histories and editor markings.

See the full selection

The complete Spring 2026 season is available in the catalogue. The pieces are in stock, verified and photographed, ready to ship across mainland France and Europe. For interior architects and hoteliers, the selection can be presented as a brief-led moodboard via our Trade & Hospitality programme.