Mario Bellini for C&B Italia 'Camaleonda' Modular Sofa, 1970

'Camaleonda' modular sofa, designed by Mario Bellini, for C&B Italia, 1970.

The structure is constructed of wood and upholstery in fabric.
Original label. Prod. C&B, Italia, Novedrate, Como, ca. 1970.
Composed of four modules:
Size: 3 elements @ 27 1/2" back height x 14" seat height x 20" arm height x 37 1/2" square
1 smaller element @ 27 1/2" back height x 14" seat height x 25 1/2" wide x 37 1/2" deep

Literature: Bibliography, G. Gramigna, Repertorio del design Italiano 1950-2000, p. 188, Allemandi, 2003.

This sofa is an original and first production piece which C&B Italia created, making this set ideal for collectors of furniture, art and design. It was later produced in 1973 by B&B Italia after Piero Busnelli bought out Cassina and changed the name to B&B Italia.

The sectional elements of this sofa can be used freely and apart from one another encouraging the user to create a perfect 'seating landscape.' This design became famous almost immediately after it was featured in the exhibition 'The New Domestic Landscape' held in the MOMA Museum in 1972. The sofa is extremely comfortable and provides endless flexible solutions for any project or living room.

Mario Bellini was born in 1935 and graduated in 1959 at the Politecnico di Milano. He lives and works in Milan. His activities range from architecture and urban design to furniture and industrial design. His fame as a designer dates from 1963. He is internationally renowned as an architect and designer, and is winner among others of 8 Compasso d’Oro and prestigious architecture awards including the Medaglia d’Oro conferred on him by the President of the Italian Republic. In 2011 he received the “Ambrogino d’oro” conferred on the most prestigious citizens of the Municipality of Milan.

He has given talks in the greatest centres of culture in the world and was editor of Domus. His work can be found in the Collections of major Art Museums. MoMA in New York, which dedicated a personal exhibition to him, has 25 works of his in its Permanent Design Collection. He has had countless exhibitions in his name in Italy and abroad.

From the 1980s onwards, he has designed projects such as the Portello Trade Fair quarter in Milan; the Exhibition Centre in Villa Erba on Lake Como; the Tokyo Design Center in Japan; Natuzzi America Headquarters in the USA; the Trade Fair in Essen in Germany; the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne; the Headquarter of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt; the new Verona Forum complex; the museum of the History of Bologna; the new Department of Islamic Art in the Louvre in Paris (second contemporary architecture project after the 'pyramid' by Pei); the new Milan Convention Center at the Milan Trade Fair, the largest in Europe.

His furniture is exciting, both in its use of material as in the originality of his designs. Bellini did not believe in precise boundaries of design, instead, he designed for the relationship of man and environment. It is impossible to pigeon hole Bellini's oeuvre, as his work is so complex and original.