Bartoli Design and Kristalia presented 1085 edition chair in a natural leather, visible stitching and solid oak legs.
The 1085 edition chair is manufactured in a natural leather hide, with visible stitching and stainless steel tie-rods, supported by a steel frame and four solid oak legs. Developed by Bartoli Design, with the collaboration of the Presot tannery, the chair has been introduced at the Salone del Mobile 2015 by Italian company Kristalia.
The 1085 edition chair values time: its main material, a thick natural hide leather, will eventually change with time in color and texture, making the chair a witness of this transition, preserving its functionality for years to come. The processing of this material goes back to the legacy of the Pietro Presot tannery that, starting in 1933, manufactures shoe soles for the best Italian fashion brands and that during its history has been able to adapt to technology evolution without losing its authenticity.
For this project Bartoli Design successfully took inspiration from many worlds: from high fashion came the visible stitching and from boating the use of tie-rods. Expression of a typical Italian heritage, high-level craftsmanship has been added to that, together with the development of a sustainable manufacturing process. The 1085 edition chair is, therefore, the successful meeting of the entrepreneur’s exploration spirit, the designer’s talent and the competency of a refined craftsman.
With these words, Bartoli Design, talks about the birth and development of the project: «The 1085 edition chair was born out of a challenge set out by Kristalia: to make a chair with a material which had never been used before in furnishing, the high-thickness hide by Pietro Presot, an historic Italian tannery. Now in use by Italian top brands for shoe manufacturing and, in the past, used to manufacture the boots chosen by Ardito Desai’s team to climb the K2: a really fascinating material of high quality but very difficult to work with for a chair.
Exactly its seven millimeters thickness, compared to the three commonly used in furniture, was the problem. The new opportunity and the idea to cooperate with a high-level craftsman immediately engaged us. The development, from concept to realization, took two years.
We thought our design had to be simple: cutting a flat shape from the hide and trying to wrap it around a metal frame. We really had to “tame” this quite not pliant material. Its high thickness wrapped around the tubular frame tended to keep it flat and, anyway, gave to the curves a noticeable roundness, which we made a distinctive feature of the chair. The hide endings tended to distort: we rounded them.
We needed a concavity on the seat and the back, for comfort, so we proposed to hot-press the two parts. After making some prototypes with cardboard, we were already focused on dividing the seat from the back and sewing them together by a distinctive zig-zag stitching. The zig-zag stitching permits to avoid the overlapping of two thicknesses but rather juxtapose them, and it is very strong.
Even after moulding, the hide has to be firmly held in place, as the two flaps (behind the backrest and below the seat) push to open apart. We made some stitching tests, but they were not satisfying. Eventually, we decided to use nautical tie-rods that clearly express the strength needed to keep the hide in place, also giving the possibility of adjusting the tensioning over time.
Since we started the design, everyone agreed to have the hide with a natural finish: beautiful as it is without any coat, it will age in a noble way for sure.
The hide’s back is usually hidden: the 1085 edition chair is designed to leave it in sight. The early idea was to dye it in black color, contrasting with the external side, and then we were convinced that both sides had to remain in their natural colour and texture.
The chair is made of three materials and three components that are formally kept autonomous: metal frame, hide mantle and solid oak legs. The legs are joined to the metal frame on their sides, in an overtly visible way.
It has been a complex design and we’re satisfied we achieved a result that appears simple, outright yet unique».
The 1085 edition chair is manufactured with a steel frame to which the four solid oak legs are assembled. The high-thickness natural hide mantle is kept in tension with two stainless steel tie-rods. The hide has a natural finish and no protective coating.
Dimensions: cm 53 x 53 x 78 h.
