Tito Agnoli for Cinova Daybed Sofa in Red Upholstery

Tito Agnoli for Cinova, sofa or daybed, model '711', red leatherette, steel, laminated wood, Italy, 1968.

A cubic sofa designed by Italian designer Tito Agnoli for Cinova, which can be transformed into a daybed. The steel frame features an exquisite composition of vertical bars that firmly encase the red leatherette upholstery while lending the piece a sculptural quality. These bars allow the backrest and armrests to fold outward, transforming into side tables with laminated tops. When the seat cushions are removed, a base is revealed that functions as a mattress, emphasizing the sofa’s multifunctional design.

Tito Agnoli (1931-2012), whose full name is Giovanni Battista Agnoli, is considered one of the most important Italian designers of modern lighting. Agnoli was born in 1931 in Lima, two years after his parents emigrated to Peru in 1929 due to the political situation in Italy where Mussolini's fascistic regime was on the rise. After WWII, Agnoli came to Milan in 1947 and started to take art lessons and enrolled into the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera. The mid-century tendency in the art world, with surrealism and abstract expressionism thriving, didn't suit Agnoli's realism. A year later he began to study engineering and architecture at the Milan Polytechnic. During his career, Agnoli worked as an assistant for Gio Ponti and Carlo De Carli. From the fifties onwards, Tito Agnoli, who was still very young, created a series of ambitious creative design projects for O-Luce, Arflex, Poltrona Frau, Matteo Grassi, etc. He has been nominated for the Compasso d’Oro several times during his career. Nowadays, some of his designs are part of the permanent collection of the MoMA in New York.