‘Ouverture’ sofa by Pierluigi Cerri for Poltrona Frau is a modern classic reimagined

A polymath and a visionary, Pierluigi Cerri, born in 1939, sought perfection throughout his career – as an architect, designer, curator, editor, and academic – and continues to be a central figure in the Milanese creative industry. 

 Pierluigi Cerri and Poltrona Frau: ‘Ouverture’ sofa 

Among Cerri's collaborators is Poltrona Frau, another giant of Italian design, with whom the architect has worked for years. For the company, based in Tolentino, Cerri envisioned one of his most cutting-edge pieces, the ‘Ouverture’ sofa, a design classic conceived in 1982. 

The industrial-looking, modular sofa is paired with inviting and plush cushions that underline the heavy and brutalist metal structure – the skeleton of this piece of furniture. A visual juxtaposition and an aesthetic contrasting with the interior design norm of the time, the piece is now 40 years old and as contemporary as ever.

‘With its brutalist structure, “Ouverture” highlights the system of beliefs that conceived it as a protest against bourgeois conformism,’ says Cerri. ‘Ouverture’ (a name that translates from French as ‘opening’) unlocks a metropolitan aesthetic that decades later is still innovative and highly functional. The sofa comes in different versions, in Poltrona Frau’s signature Pelle Frau leather as well as textile upholstery.

On its 40th birthday, ‘Ouverture’ brings back the language that broke the formalism of the time. It was a brave and courageous object able to express an idea of opposition against middle-class conformism, but at the same time was realised and distributed by one of the brands that most embodied bourgeois living. 

Forty years young, ‘Ouverture’ still represents an extremely contemporary creative expression. The re-edition of this piece is part of Poltrona Frau’s celebration of its 110th anniversary in 2022. On the occasion of Design Miami 2022, Poltrona Frau will be launching ‘a new Ouverture’ at design showroom Luminaire as well as at the Poltrona Frau Miami flagship store, 

‘Ouverture’ Sofa, by Pierluigi Cerri, for Poltrona Frau, from £8.150 + VAT

poltronafrau.com