Osvaldo Borsani

"When we used the word design, we did it with profound respect, because a new way of thinking and building was born - w e are not made to work and understand one thing and settle with it, we look for new ways, and therefore to name new things we need new words"

Osvaldo Borsani (1911-1985) was raised just outside Milan and trained under the apprenticeship of his father, also a furniture manufacturer. He won the Silver Medal at the Fifth Triennale do Milano, the brief that year being ‘La Casa Minima’. Starting out, he founded ‘Tecno’ alongside his brother in 1953; their designs the P40 adjustable seat and the D70 sofa are still in production today.

The Tecno Project Centre (now Tecno Spa) was the brainchild of the Borsani brothers towards the end of the 1960s. It functioned – and continues to do so today – as an architecture practice focused on large scale interior designs, pushing boundaries in technological innovation within its projects, the likes of which have included Barovier & Toso HQ in Venice, the Louvre and London Bridge station.

Borsani furniture design present simplistic shapes from classical mediums, but always with an expectation of setting new standards: a marble-topped table is a thing of beauty, an Osvaldo Borsani marble-topped table is a triumph.