Osvaldo Borsani and Eugenio Gerli for Tecno Round 'T69' Dining Table

Osvaldo Borsani and Eugenio Gerli for Tecno, dining table, model 'T69', wood, enameled steel, Italy, 1964

Designers Osvaldo Borsani and Eugenio Gerli collaborated to create an exceptional piece of furniture, worthy of a prominent place in one's living room. Designed for Italian manufacturer Tecno, this dining room table originates from 1964. The tabletop owns its intricate appearance due to the pronounced wood grain. In addition, the steel base carries a concave construction that gently remind of organic occurring dynamics.


Osvaldo Borsani (1911-1985) was an Italian designer and architect, raised by a family of fine furniture makers in Varedo. At the age of 16, he joined his father’s furniture shop, the Atelier di Varedo, which was fully engaged in designing and furnishing homes inspired by the Italian Art Deco movement. The designer of the atelier was the Italian architect Gino Maggioni (1898-1955) who was known for his Viennese Jugendstil orientation of the early 20th century. In the 1930s, he graduated from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera and Politecnico di Milano, where he studied Fine Arts and Architecture respectively. In 1932, the family company was renamed ‘Arredamenti Borsani’ and opened its first studio in Milan. During this period, he encountered Avant-Garde artists of various artistic disciplines like Lucio Fontana (1899-1968), Agenore Fabbri (1911-1998), Aligi Sassu (1912-2000), Roberto Crippa (1921-1972), Fausto Melotti (1901-1986), Arnaldo Pomodoro (1926-) and Giò Pomodoro (1930-2002). These collaborations resulted in the creation of furniture and interior design projects with a high-level of craftsmanship and artistry. In 1953, Borsani founded together with his twin brother Fulgenzio Borsani ‘Tecno’, a design and manufacturing company that produced items based on mechanical innovations and refined technicality. The ‘P40’ adjustable lounge chair (1953) has become the ideological manifesto of Borsani's Tecno program, and still remains the best known, exemplary piece in the Tecno catalogue. Other iconic works that were produced by Tecno were created by Gio Ponti (1891-1979), Vico Magistretti (1920-2006), Carlo de Carli (1910-1999), Gae Aulenti (1927-2012), and many other influential Italian designers. Osvaldo Borsani died in 1985 in Milan. His diverse and sophisticated oeuvre is to be found in permanent collections, such as of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Neue Sammlung in Munich, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the Trienalle di Milano Museum.