The Model 107 and its companion variant, the 107P with armrests, were designed by Gianfranco Frattini for Cassina in 1960 and belong to a productive phase of his career during which his collaboration with the Meda-based manufacturer was generating some of the most considered seating of the Italian mid-century period.

Design and construction

The 107 is a dining chair built around a structure in solid wood — teak or mahogany depending on the production run — with a distinctive two-part curved backrest that defines its profile. The back panels, produced in hot-bent plywood, curve inward to meet the seat in a continuous movement that gives the chair both structural integrity and a strong visual identity. The seat is upholstered and padded, with coverings that have varied across documented examples: fabric, leather, alcantara. The 107P adds armrests to the same structure, making it suitable as a dining armchair or occasional seating in a living area.

The proportions are restrained and architectural: height 77 cm, width 45–53 cm, depth 48–52 cm, seat height 45 cm. These dimensions, combined with the lightness of the frame, make the 107 and 107P equally functional around a dining table or as standalone accent chairs.

Context within the Frattini-Cassina collaboration

By 1960, Frattini had been working with Cassina for six years. The 107 and 107P were produced in the same period as the Mod. 102 chair and just before the more experimental pieces of the mid-decade. They represent a resolved, mature phase of Frattini’s approach to seating: rational in construction, consistent with the modernist principles he had absorbed at the Politecnico di Milano and refined in the studio of Gio Ponti, but warmer in material and form than much of what was being produced in the same years.

The Model 107 was documented and published in the trade press of the period and is included in the official production catalogue of the Gianfranco Frattini Archive.

The Model 107 and its companion variant, the 107P with armrests, were designed by Gianfranco Frattini for Cassina in 1960 and belong to a productive phase of his career during which his collaboration with the Meda-based manufacturer was generating some of the most considered seating of the Italian mid-century period.

Design and construction

The 107 is a dining chair built around a structure in solid wood — teak or mahogany depending on the production run — with a distinctive two-part curved backrest that defines its profile. The back panels, produced in hot-bent plywood, curve inward to meet the seat in a continuous movement that gives the chair both structural integrity and a strong visual identity. The seat is upholstered and padded, with coverings that have varied across documented examples: fabric, leather, alcantara. The 107P adds armrests to the same structure, making it suitable as a dining armchair or occasional seating in a living area.

The proportions are restrained and architectural: height 77 cm, width 45–53 cm, depth 48–52 cm, seat height 45 cm. These dimensions, combined with the lightness of the frame, make the 107 and 107P equally functional around a dining table or as standalone accent chairs.

Context within the Frattini-Cassina collaboration

By 1960, Frattini had been working with Cassina for six years. The 107 and 107P were produced in the same period as the Mod. 102 chair and just before the more experimental pieces of the mid-decade. They represent a resolved, mature phase of Frattini’s approach to seating: rational in construction, consistent with the modernist principles he had absorbed at the Politecnico di Milano and refined in the studio of Gio Ponti, but warmer in material and form than much of what was being produced in the same years.

The Model 107 was documented and published in the trade press of the period and is included in the official production catalogue of the Gianfranco Frattini Archive.

Our articles by Gianfranco Frattini