Gianfranco Frattini, sideboard for Bernini

GIANFRANCO FRATTINI (Italy, 1926 - 2004) for Bernini.
Sideboard, ca. 1960.
Rosewood.
One interior shelf is missing.
Exhibits wear consistent with age and use. Wear commensurate with its age.
Measurements: 73 x 140 x 53 cm.

Sideboard designed by Gianfranco Frattini for the Italian firm Bernini around 1960, made of exquisite rosewood with an elegant flamed grain arranged in mirror on the front doors. The piece has a prismatic structure raised on a continuous foot with four stylized and arched legs, a characteristic resource of the designer that brings visual lightness and dynamism to the whole.
The interior is organized in two bodies: on the left, a module with four drawers with handles integrated into the wood itself; on the right, a storage space with louvered doors that perfectly follow the elegant grain of the rosewood.
It is a piece of furniture that reflects the balance between structural solidity and formal lightness typical of Italian design of the period, with clear affinities to the Scandinavian language, but reinterpreted with Frattini's sophistication and refinement.

An architect by training, Gianfranco Frattini was one of the protagonists of post-war Italian design. He collaborated with Gio Ponti and actively participated in the founding of ADI (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale) in 1956. Throughout his career he worked with companies such as Cassina, Acerbis, Bernini and Knoll, as well as designing iconic luminaires for Artemide. His work stands out for the synthesis between functionality, aesthetic refinement and the masterful use of fine woods, characteristics clearly visible in this sideboard.