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Frau, the world's most famous armchair
Rome - (Ign) - Sophisticated, made with exclusive materials, not to say regal, in the real sense of the term, since it has been chosen personally by a number of monarchs. Always recognisable, as if it hadn't changed in the last century, yet at the same time always different. Perhaps perfect. It is the most beautiful and famous armchair in the world, it's Italian and it's called Poltrona Frau (www.poltronafrau.it), a symbol of furnishing "haute couture", which has found fertile ground in Italy and in which Poltrona Frau has reached levels of almost incomparable reputation and quality. The story began in 1912, when Renzo Frau registered the Poltrona Frau trademark at the Chambers of Commerce in Turin. His was a small craft workshop dedicated to absolute quality, using only woods and leathers of the highest quality. Renzo Frau soon earned a reputation and started to win awards. He designed the "128" armchair (in the photograph), still produced today under the name of the year in which it was designed, 1919. In 1926, shortly before his early death, the company became the official supplier of the Royal Household. The company, which had in the meantime grown in size and reputation, passed into the hands of Ugo Frau, the founder's son, who four years later brought out one of Frau's most famous armchairs, the "904" (in the second photograph), still produced today under the name "Vanity Fair".
The success of the Poltrona Frau brand continued, with the invention of new lines, and a dedication to absolute quality, until 1962, when the company was taken over by the Nazareno Gabrielli Group, at the time the leading Italian name in luxury leather goods. 1965 saw production begin on a growing number of new proposals, designed by the great Italian architects of the post war years, from Gio Ponti and Tito Agnoli, to Enzo Mari. Then, in 1984, came the great leap forward, which turned Poltrona Frau into one of the largest producers of seats for special applications. It started with the seats of the Lancia Thema Ferrari cars, then with the restoration and furnishing of the former Church of San Gregoriuccio alla Sinagoga, in Spoleto, in Umbria, which became Sala Frau. Meanwhile, Franco Moschini, who had run the company for years, took over control of the company capital and turned Poltrona Frau into one of the world leaders in the sector of special furnishings, planning and installing furnishings for the semicircle of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the Nuovo Piccolo Teatro in Milan, the Getty Center in Los Angeles, and the Auditorium in Rome, designed by Renzo Piano. At the same time, the company continued to design new lines for domestic furnishings, and began to produce wood furniture, tables, chairs, and bedroom furniture, while continuing the production of car seats, with Ferrari, Maserati and Lancia among its loyal customers.
Today, the Poltrona Frau group is one of the most solid and prestigious Italian industrial realities in the world. In 2001 it widened its horizons with the takeover of an historical trademark in European furnishings, Gebrueder Thonet Vienna, after also having taken over Celi from Terni, in Umbria, the leading Italian constructor of interiors for luxury boats, and Gufram, from Turin, one of the most innovative Italian companies in the furnishings sector. Recent events include the entrance into the group in 2003 of the Charme investment fund, led by the chairman of Ferrari Luca di Montezemolo, and the takeover of Cassina, one of the historic brands of Italian furniture, with exclusive production rights for the works of Le Corbusier, Mackintosh, Jeanneret and Perriand, which for some years had been controlled by a French financial group.
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