If you are unfamiliar with the work of A G Fronzoni, this is going to be a pretty good place to start. Undoubtedly one of history’s greatest designers and teachers, Fronzoni was known for his work in graphic design, publishing, industrial design, architecture, and design education. He opened two studios in his lifetime. He spent much of his career educating others while working as a Professor at various design schools during the 1970s. He later opened his own school in 1982, La ScuolaBottega. His industrial design work includes the Quadra Lamp, designed in 1963, the Form Zero 63+65 suitcase series for Valextra, as well as the Series ’64 furniture line, which is still in production today with Cappellini. And it is this ’64 line—specifically the Fronzoni lounge chair—that we celebrate a true beauty of minimalism in design.

With its distinctive thin clean lines, the Fron­zoni ​’64 lounge chair features a recti­lin­ear frame in squared tubular steel. Discreet, under­side slats support a thin profile seat cushion expanse in polyurethane foam with two removable recti­lin­ear squared bolsters that func­tion as back­rest cush­ions. The lounge chair is avail­able with a choice or black or white matte lacquer frame as well as black or white uphol­stery in a choice of leather or synthetic leather as well as a select cotton fabric.

Fronzoni’s work was deeply influ­enced by both Mies van der Rohe’s and Marcel Breuer’s philoso­phies of synthe­sis and subtrac­tion and is evident in his mini­mal­ist ​’64 Collec­tion designed in 1964 for Cappellini that included a coffee table, dining tables of various sizes, a dining chair, a lounge chair, and even beds of varying sizes. Fron­zoni used squared tubular steel to render recti­lin­ear shapes that func­tion as the outlines of his furni­ture, defin­ing planes of space. These slim profile outlines create an exquis­ite geomet­ri­cal expres­sion and levity within the forms, and their respec­tive support struc­tures allow the viewer to liter­ally see through them.

You can discover more about the Italian master through Ester Manitto’s book, A Lesson with A G Fronzoni. This book is an act of gratitude from student to teacher and also an invitation to others to contribute to the reconstruction of a story of human and professional experience of the highest value and of great current relevance. Ester Manitto, re-working the materials, notes, and written work of her student career permits us to enter the world of A G Fronzoni’s workshop school, founded in Milan in 1982 and active until 2001.