Biography

Osvaldo Borsani joined his father Gaetano Borsani's furniture production company while still studying at the Accademia di Brera in Milan - just like his twin brother Fulgenzio. The father had specialised in historicist furniture at his company headquarters in Varedo, while the sons broke new ground. In 1933, Osvaldo Borsani took part in the V Triennale of Milan with a much-acclaimed project for the 'Casa Minima', for which he was awarded a silver medal. In the 1930s and 1940s, the company 'ABV' - 'Atelier G. Borsani - Mobili d'arte' supplied mainly upper middle-class clients with representative furniture in the style of Art Déco made of high-quality materials. Characteristic for Borsani's designs were dynamic, vegetal-like table legs or substructures of sideboards and cupboards. He artistically designed the surfaces of the furniture with colourful contrasting woods, mirror surfaces, parchment inlays and metal handles. For some designs, he called in painter and sculptor friends such as Giandante X, Spilimbergo, Arnaldo and Gio Pomodoro as well as Fausto Melotti and Lucio Fontana, who enriched furniture fronts with paintings or reliefs. From the beginning, Osvaldo Borsani strove for a comprehensive design of rooms, in the sense of total works of art, in which not only the furniture but also fabrics, carpets and decorative objects were harmonized in the design. At the beginning of the 1950s, Osvaldo and Fulgenzio focused on modernising the company, which was renamed 'Tecno'. New materials and technologies formed the basis of the furniture designs, which were now to be increasingly mass-produced. One icon is the D 70 sofa exhibited at the X Milan Triennale in 1954, which can be folded out into a bed thanks to an adjustable backrest. The armchair P 40, designed in 1955, is also one of the most famous designs. Tecno brought a comprehensive repertoire of office furniture onto the market, such as the 'Graphis' series from 1968. Besides Osvaldo Borsani, Carlo de Carli, Robert Mango and Eugenio Gerli also provided designs. In addition to his work as a designer and producer, Borsani was one of the co-founders of the magazine 'Ottagono' in 1967.

Objects by Osvaldo Borsani