Cab 412 Dining Chair

Designed for Cassina in 1976, and still in production today, Bellini’s Cab No. 412 chair embodies one of Bellini’s unique contributions to the design world: his development of a “skin” or “stretched membrane” for objects. The Cab No. 412 is a tubular steel frame that is concealed by a leather cover that "dresses" the chair. It has four zippers running along the inside of its legs and a plastic plate that supports its seat. Bellini transposed the idea for the chair’s cover from his designs for typewriters and electronic devices at Olivetti (creating tactile user-friendly interfaces for his designs) and upholstered furniture. Creating a sophisticated and minimal aesthetic, Bellini reimagined the tubular steel chair—an icon of modern design—by hiding its celebrated metal construction.

Postdating his career with Olivetti, where he began as designer of the company’s systems, machine supports, and terminals before becoming the company’s chief design consultant, this chair was in keeping with Bellini’s practice of designing housings for mechanical objects. In 1987, MoMA held the first retrospective of Bellini’s work, for which he described his Cab series: “There is an inside steel frame and an outside leather suit or jacket—I don’t know what to call it. Put it on and zip it up and you get the chair. The two parts of the chair cannot live without each other: it’s not covered by leather, it’s made out of leather and steel.” [1] The Cab No. 412 chair marks Bellini’s early career in furniture and industrial design, and reflects his attention to surfaces.
[1] Cara McCarty and Mario Bellini, Mario Bellini: Designer (New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1987), 2–3.

Cab 412 Dining Chair; Designed by Mario Bellini (Italian, b. 1935); Manufactured by Cassina S.p.A; butted leather over tubular steel, plastic; H x W x D: 81.3 × 47 × 45.7 cm (32 in. × 18 1/2 in. × 18 in.); Gift of the David Teiger Trust; 2016-36-5