The Serie 500 — produced by Bernini from 1960 and recently reissued by Tacchini — is one of the most significant outcomes of the collaboration between Gianfranco Frattini and the Mantua-based manufacturer. The series includes two primary variants: the Model 503, a long low sideboard, and the Model 504, a taller highboard. Together they represent Frattini’s most complete thinking on storage design: modular, precisely constructed, and articulated through the mechanism that most characterises his Bernini production — the rolling tambour door.

Design and construction

The Model 503 sideboard is built in solid rosewood and rosewood veneer. Its horizontal volume is divided into three vertical sections. On the left, four drawers provide accessible storage. The remaining sections feature height-adjustable shelves concealed behind tambour doors that roll smoothly into the body of the piece when opened. The Model 504 highboard applies the same organisational logic to a taller format, offering increased storage capacity within the same compositional language.

The tambour door — a sliding shutter made of thin strips of wood bonded to a flexible backing — is both a functional and aesthetic signature of the series. It allows the piece to open completely without requiring clearance for a swinging door, preserving the clean horizontal line of the exterior when the sections are in use. The mechanism, in well-preserved original examples, operates with a precision that reflects the quality of Bernini’s production standards in this period.

The piece stands on a base structure in solid wood that can function independently — a detail that anticipates modular thinking in Italian furniture design. Both the 503 and 504 carry the original Bernini label in the interior, confirming authenticity.

Publication and documentation

The Model 503 was published in Domus no. 389, April 1962, and in Domus no. 401, April 1963 — two of the most authoritative design publications of the period. It also appeared in Rivista dell’Arredamento no. 96, December 1962, and in Ottagono no. 30, September 1973. It is catalogued in Giuliana Gramigna’s Repertorio 1950–2000, published by Allemandi, Turin, 2003. The series has been reissued by Tacchini in 2024, confirming its standing as a reference piece within twentieth-century Italian furniture.

The Serie 500 — produced by Bernini from 1960 and recently reissued by Tacchini — is one of the most significant outcomes of the collaboration between Gianfranco Frattini and the Mantua-based manufacturer. The series includes two primary variants: the Model 503, a long low sideboard, and the Model 504, a taller highboard. Together they represent Frattini’s most complete thinking on storage design: modular, precisely constructed, and articulated through the mechanism that most characterises his Bernini production — the rolling tambour door.

Design and construction

The Model 503 sideboard is built in solid rosewood and rosewood veneer. Its horizontal volume is divided into three vertical sections. On the left, four drawers provide accessible storage. The remaining sections feature height-adjustable shelves concealed behind tambour doors that roll smoothly into the body of the piece when opened. The Model 504 highboard applies the same organisational logic to a taller format, offering increased storage capacity within the same compositional language.

The tambour door — a sliding shutter made of thin strips of wood bonded to a flexible backing — is both a functional and aesthetic signature of the series. It allows the piece to open completely without requiring clearance for a swinging door, preserving the clean horizontal line of the exterior when the sections are in use. The mechanism, in well-preserved original examples, operates with a precision that reflects the quality of Bernini’s production standards in this period.

The piece stands on a base structure in solid wood that can function independently — a detail that anticipates modular thinking in Italian furniture design. Both the 503 and 504 carry the original Bernini label in the interior, confirming authenticity.

Publication and documentation

The Model 503 was published in Domus no. 389, April 1962, and in Domus no. 401, April 1963 — two of the most authoritative design publications of the period. It also appeared in Rivista dell’Arredamento no. 96, December 1962, and in Ottagono no. 30, September 1973. It is catalogued in Giuliana Gramigna’s Repertorio 1950–2000, published by Allemandi, Turin, 2003. The series has been reissued by Tacchini in 2024, confirming its standing as a reference piece within twentieth-century Italian furniture.

Our articles by Gianfranco Frattini