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Roll models - the Colombo classics from B-Line
von Vera Siegmund | Feb 21, 2008

It was the end of the 1960s. They were young and they were wild. At least, they were hell-bent. They wanted to change the world. To change the world with furniture. The kind of furniture that would be really true to its name, flexible and ready for action, furniture that would adapt dynamically to its spatial conditions and to the needs of the people who bought it, allowing its users complete freedom in what they did with it.The best way to shape this brilliant future was with the new material of the day: plastic. The material's thermoplastic and visual qualities allowed designers to realize even their wildest dreams.
Like Verner Panton, Italian designer Joe Colombo also took apart traditional individual items of furniture in his visionary living landscapes and multifunctional room units. For the painter, architect and designer living space was "to be organized and equipped with elements in all its volumes."Alongside these complete micro living worlds Colombo also designed modular utility furniture - with futuristic appearances and of high practical value. His "Multichair" is world-famous - two cushions, amorphous in shape, made of polyurethane foam that can be used individually or combined in various ways by means of two leather straps. More comfortable than any armchair, the Multichair offers support to the human body in any position in the room. By contrast, the armchair "Superleggera" highlights the designer's enthusiasm for automobiles. It is flat and sporty. And his black cushion roll armchair "Roll" on an independent steel frame resembles a luxurious massage chair. His cabinet unit on wheels, "Boby", and his tall storage unit "Spinny" with pivoting wheels and drawers are great organizers, both made of injection-molded ABS.The Italian manufacturers of these ground-breaking designer originals may be younger but they are no less hell-bent than Joe Colombo once was. Established in 1999, B-Line offers a selection of historical designs that have left their mark on the last 40 years of design and that, with their suggestions, revolutionary at the time, provide a key to understanding today's retro-aesthetics of the 60s and 70s. B-Line proudly holds the exclusive rights to the Colombo products.www.b-line.it

Multichair
Boby
Spinny
Superleggera
Roll