Zanotta

Aurelio Zanotta founded the furniture company in Nova Milanese in 1954, initially focusing on traditional upholstered pieces. The company rapidly shifted toward experimental design, commissioning forward-thinking Italian designers including the Castiglioni brothers, Joe Colombo, and Ettore Sottsass. By the 1960s and 1970s, Zanotta had become known for producing some of the world's most significant postmodern and radical design works. The Sacco armchair, designed in 1968 by Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini, and Franco Teodoro, became an international icon—the first beanbag chair, filled with polystyrene balls that molded to the user's form. Other landmark pieces include the Mezzadro tractor stool by the Castiglioni brothers. Over its history, Zanotta has collaborated with over 140 designers from 18 countries and produced more than 550 products, with 336 works now held in permanent museum collections worldwide including the Triennale Design Museum Milan, Musée des Arts Décoratifs Paris, and London's V&A.