Know Your Chairs: The Africa dining chair

For this installation of Know Your Chairs, I am presenting a truly gorgeous seat, a sculptural work of art: the Africa dining chair.

Few pieces of furniture so effortlessly blend a handmade/organic sense with modernist refinement as the Africa Dining Chair by renowned Italian husband and wife designers Afra and Tobia Scarpa which shows the Scarpas' ability to bridge tradition and innovation, resulting in a piece that is as functional as it is poetic.

The Africa Chair was designed in 1976, during a fertile period in the Scarpa duo’s career when they were deeply engaged in redefining Italian modernism. The chair was produced by Maxalto, a division of B&B Italia launched that same year with the goal of creating fine furniture using traditional cabinetmaking techniques. Maxalto means “the highest” in Venetian dialect—a fitting name for a collection that emphasized artisanal quality and sculptural beauty.

With the Africa Chair, the Scarpas set out to create a dining chair that would honor both form and craftsmanship. Constructed from richly stained wood, often walnut or mahogany, and paired with a simple leather or upholstered seat, the chair combines clean lines with subtle curves, exuding a quiet sophistication. The name “Africa” conjures a certain primitivist style, evoking natural forms and a tactile simplicity that contrasts with more industrial mid-century aesthetics.

What sets the Africa Chair apart is its joinery and attention to proportion. Its silhouette is straightforward—minimalist, but its construction is intricate, revealing the Scarpas’ reverence for historical craftsmanship and their deep understanding of materials. It stands as an object of contemplation as much as comfort.

The Africa dining chair in the home of architect Alexander Liberman.
via Architectural Digest

The Africa dining chair at the Parisian home of Lenny Kravitz.
via Architectural Digest

Because the Africa Dining Chair was out of production for many years, it remains a coveted collector’s item and a testament to the enduring legacy of Afra and Tobia Scarpa. Of course originals fetch high prices at auction but the distinguished Italian furniture manufacturer Tacchini has revived the design for sale at select retailers around the world!

Africa chair by Tacchini

Happy designing!

Know Your Sofas: The Soriana Sofa

In November of 1969, Cesare Cassina, the founder of the Italian furniture brand Cassina contacted the husband and wife team of architects and designers Tobia and Afra Scarpa with an urgent request. He asked if they could design a new type of sofa, something unique that had not been seen before, to enter into competition at an important trade show in Germany in January. With only a little over a month, they came up with the remarkable Soriana sofa (which also comes with coordinating chairs!).

Taking advantage of new techniques in forming expanding polyurethane foam, they envisioned a sofa with no internal structure. Instead, it took its form from tines of discreet metal bracing curving up from the base. This allowed the upholstery to wrap around the shape of the sofa. Tobia recounted, "At the beginning, the workers did not understand that the leather covering was not supposed to be taut . . . but to appear like a soft, creased fabric curled around this soft mass and held together by a sort of giant metal spring." Well, the look of the Soriana was beguiling enough for it to win the prestigious Compasso d’Oro award at the trade show!

The silhouette of this sofa is still beguiling designers and homeowners alike even today. Designer Rodman Primack put a Soriana suite in his Mexico City home he shares with his husband Rudy Weissenberg.

Photo: Stephen Kent Johnson

Kelly Wearstler put one (with chairs!) in her Malibu home...

And Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent have one in their Los Angeles residence.

Photo: Douglas Friedman

The sofa (and chairs!) are still in production and can be purchased from Cassina.

Happy designing!