Chair, Cab
- Designed by
- Mario Bellini (born 1935)
- Material
- Enameled steel, polyurethane foam, leather covering
- Produced by
- Cassina S.p.A., Meda Milano, Italy
- Dimensions
- 80 x 47 x 42 cm
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Liliane and David M. Stewart Collection, D93.254.1
Bellini has designed a chair that follows the reductivist mandate of modern design, yet conveys a deluxe quality of a previous era. Its name, Cab, is short for cabriolet, an elegant one-horse carriage with a folding hood. An innovative leather envelope fits snugly over the entire welded steel frame like a wetsuit.
The leather covering can be unzipped and removed, a technique previously used only for fabric slip covers. Leather in the 1970s was associated with high-style fashion, such as Gucci handbags, but here the effect is a simple, unified design with a warmth that metal could not have provided. Bellini demonstrates that even everyday objects can convey a feeling of style and luxury.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, photo: Denis Farley.