There are design projects, born mainly between the 1950s and 1970s, that have remained imprinted in the minds of design enthusiasts and in the collective memory. Designer pieces that came out of the pencil of creatives for whom thinking of a form meant first and foremost developing solutions to problems of functionality, ergonomics, production and marketability, while improving their aesthetics. Contemporary collections re-edit them according to a new outlook and contemporary production logics that contemplate environmental impact, sustainability, and more evolved materials.

With this attitude Poltrona Frau wants to honour and preserve the works of one of the masters who made the history of design by nourishing its cultural value: Gio Ponti.

The company is introducing a new edition of the historic Dezza armchair (1965) with the unprecedented Redevance upholstery fabric, whose original pattern was designed by the architect and has now been brought back to life thanks to meticulous archive research.

The name of the chair is a tribute to the street of the architect's home-studio in Milan. The Dezza armchair represents Ponti's thought and work: light, comfortable, functional and aesthetically pleasing. Its soft, slender silhouette features some highly recognisable design elements, such as the tapered leg with triangular cross-section, a true hallmark of the first editor of Domus. The designer's mark is also recognisable in the simplicity of the armchair's construction system, composed of only four pieces - two sides, the seat and the backrest.

The armchair is now in the catalogue in three different versions (Dezza 12, with a low backrest and very thin armrests, Dezza 24 in the armchair and two-seater sofa version, and Dezza 48 with a goose-down headrest integrated into the backrest).

Redevance is a precious printed wool satin whose graphic pattern was originally designed by Ponti himself. The pattern, made up of repeated circular sections on a light background, can be traced back to Ponti's experiments with modularity: simple geometric elements, broken down and replicated in sequence, are able to configure an infinite number of potential visual results, applicable on various scales, from structural architecture to everyday objects. Redevance reinterprets this principle in a modern key, alternating the geometric elements in shades of blue and grey (shades much loved and used by Ponti) and creating an enveloping pattern that gives the upholstery a light and contemporary feel.