This article was originally published on Domus 1074, December 2022.

One might say the 1970s were the decade of the sofa. Companies proposed countless practical and flexible upholstered solutions, for domestic spaces accommodating families and friends. Sofas came to represent a middle class world that was also taking shape through the choice of interiors and by creating a warm atmosphere of sharing. In a critique of the Salone del Mobile in 1972 (Domus 516), Cesare Casati, vice-editor of Domus, cuttingly viewed this desirous proliferation as the apparent necessity of “an Italian society that presently feels the need to rest in large armchairs, or rather on large cushions that could almost have been made by granny”. 

This call to rest was also taken up by Mario Bellini who, at the Cassina stand he installed that year with Francesco Binfaré and Bruno Romano, presented his first modular furniture design with a distinctive look: the Le Mura sofa. With his pragmatic approach and his works for Olivetti, the architect and designer from Milan, who was also editor-in-chief of Domus from 1986 to 1991, helped to shape the aesthetics of the world of technology. He approached the world of furniture with the reflections on proportion, ergonomics and chromatic harmony with which he had designed his first calculators and typewriters. Le Mura is composed of modules in polyurethane foam on a base in ABS, upholstered in fabric or leather and fastened at the base by belts ending with a metal buckle, which accentuate the silhouette of the chairs and evoke the earth-coloured bricks. The alternating “blocks”, with one, two or no armrests, create a dynamic and inviting structure that encourages conviviality. 

In the archive drawing, in coloured pastels, Bellini insists on the shadows created by the spaces between the cushions, which emphasise the harmonious volumes of this modular piece of furniture. The belts on the sides of the cushions, like the zippers, are intended to be a “living” presence, evoking the bonds of human relationships and giving a “physical” and sculptural sense to the couch. After 50 years, Tacchini in Seveso (Brianza) has reissued Le Mura, available in numerous finishes, including an embossed leather version made to highlight the forms, but also in bright green corduroy. “A sofa is not merely a space for resting. It’s an active space,” says Bellini for the reissue. “It’s a design that promises dynamism and still today satisfies the need for flexibility in the way we experience domestic spaces.” Clasped by the belts, the modules can be assembled over and over into inviting walls ready to transform themselves, depending on who is coming to dinner.