The shelving system is based on perforated uprights and metal shelves that hook onto them, a constructive grammar that favours visual lightness and complete modularity. The vertical uprights are flat black-lacquered metal profiles, pierced by sequential notches running their entire length, designed to receive the shelf supports at any height. The shelves are horizontal sheet-metal panels with a tubular front edge, carried by slender wire brackets that hook into the uprights and form a triangular rear brace. The configuration is entirely free: shelves can be placed at any height, in any number, generating symmetrical compositions or deliberately staggered ones as in the photographs, where the various groups draw a stepped profile against the wall, working graphically on the empty space.
The uprights are in black satin-lacquered steel, with a double series of rectangular notches set side by side to allow the shelves to hook in. The shelves are in pressed steel sheet, folded into an open U-section, with the front edge rolled to form a solid tube that adds structural rigidity and protects against knocks; the surface carries a bronze-champagne finish that shifts tone with the light. The support brackets are in slender metal rod painted black, bent into a triangle connecting the back of the shelf to the upright with a small hook at the top. The fixing is by friction alone, without screws or bolts: the shelves lift out of the notches and reposition in seconds. No back panels or side closures are provided: the system remains open on every side.
The perforated-upright shelving system is an archetype of post-war European modular furniture, formalised by Nisse Strinning with the String in 1949 and declined through the 1950s and 1960s across a broad Dutch, Scandinavian and Italian production. The Tomado shelving units, the Dieter Rams systems for Vitsœ, the Italian compositions by Gianfranco Frattini and Franco Albini all work on variants of the same principle: the upright as vertical structural element, the shelf as mobile horizontal element. The Italian version presented here belongs to this typological family and shares its language, although it cannot be attributed to a specific designer without marks or documentation. The bronze finish of the shelves, the rolled tubular front edge and the fineness of the wire brackets suggest a mid-to-high manufacturing quality, consistent with the Italian taste of the 1970s.
In good original condition. The uprights retain the black lacquer intact. The shelves carry the use patina proper to the period, with light surface marks and some traces of use visible in raking light, consistent with age and domestic use. The wire brackets are intact and functional, the hooking onto the uprights works smoothly.
Dimensions of single shelf: width 70 cm (27.6 in). Overall dimensions variable according to configuration.
