The Miamina armchair by Salvati and Tresoldi for Saporiti Italia

From October 7 to 22, 2023, on the occasion of the “ART COLORS DESIGN / Salvati e Tresoldi x Saporiti Italia” exhibition in the spaces of the ADI Design Museum in Milan, Cambi Auction House returns to collaborate with Saporiti Italia and presents a new timed auction dedicated to the creations of the two designers and in particular to their iconic Miamina chair.

“ART COLORS DESIGN / Salvati and Tresoldi x Saporiti Italia”, inside the Compasso d’Oro Room, aims to highlight the relationship between art, architecture and design that has distinguished Salvati and Tresoldi’s work with Saporiti. A collaboration that, at the turn of the 1980s, is reflected in the drawings, publications, images and historic objects inside the room, including the Omaggi and Diana chairs, the Geometric and El Lissitksy tables, and the Miamina armchair (Honorable Mention at the 1985 Compasso d’Oro award).

Throughout the period of the exhibition, which traces ten years of intense collaboration between Saporiti Italia, a historic design company, and Studio Salvati and Tresoldi, 20 unique pieces of the Miamina armchair, with cloth and embroidery made by the FoscaMilano art workshop, inspired by 20 different cities where the company has carried out major projects  (Miami, Milan, Rome, Venice, Paris, London, Barcelona, Berlin, Monte Carlo, New York, Los Angeles, Dubai, Riyadh, Lagos, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Sydney) will be featured in a special timed auction.

But how was the Miamina armchair born?

The Miamina folding armchair by Saporiti Italia was born in 1984 as a reinterpretation of the “Tripolina”, the folding seat in wood and fabric used by the British army in the African campaigns since 1800, already redesigned in the 1930s by Bonet, Kurchan and Ferrari (BKF/Butterfly) and later, in 1995, by Magistretti (Kenya).

The 1984 version by Salvati and Tresoldi for Saporiti Italia takes its name from the Saporiti Italia showroom in Miami, where it was presented and launched on the market.

The Miamina is characterized by a rather advanced mechanical structure and the extreme originality of the seat cover.

The chromed or painted steel rods that form the base and support for the seat are connected by means of a complex cast iron joint, which allows them to be folded and collected. The seat cover is made with multicolored fabrics and leathers from the Saporiti Italia collection, or with fabrics created for Saporiti Italia by Ottavio and Rosita Missoni, with relief-printed leathers by Guido Pasquali, or with woven leathers by Gegia Bronzini.

In addition to these variants, precisely because of the linearity and versatility of its cloth, the Miamina was also created in special editions for various occasions and events, in particular in 1990 for the Pyramid-Research Laboratory of the CNR “EV-K2-CNR” , at Everest/K2 base camp.

An original Miamina from the EV-K2-CNR project will be presented at the ADI museum, together with original photographic and historical material that has just arrived in Italy from the pyramid-laboratory, still active in Nepal.

The Miamina, Honorable Mention at the 1985 Compasso d’Oro Award, was presented by ADI in the Take Your Seat exhibition at the 2021 Salone del Mobile in Milan.

Salvati and Tresoldi

Alberto Salvati (born in Milan in 1935, graduated in architecture from the Milan Polytechnic in 1960, where he was subsequently assistant at the Faculty of Engineering and then professor in charge of the Industrial and Environmental Design Laboratory at the Faculty of Architecture) and Ambrogio Tresoldi (born in Cavenago Brianza in 1933, graduated in architecture at the Polytechnic of Milan in 1960, then Assistant and Professor in charge of the Industrial and Environmental Design Laboratory at the Faculty of Architecture), have worked together since 1960 in the building, furniture and industrial design fields.

They design residential buildings, industrial complexes, shopping centers, offices and hotels in Italy and abroad; including the Milan headquarters of “Il Sole 24 ore” in 1978 and the Juventus hotel in Villar Perosa in 1981.

They participate in the XII, XIV and XV Triennale of Milan. They were awarded at the Uisa Steel Furniture Competition in 1961; at the V and VII Cantù International Competition; in Trieste in 1964 and 1965; in Monza in 1965; in Rome in 1964 and 1965. They were invited to the XI Cantù International Competition in 1975.

They have been coordinating and organizing the Lissone Home Weeks since 1961 for various editions.

In 1972 they participated in the famous exhibition “The New Domestic Landscape” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and in 1980 the Galleria Lorenzelli in Milan held a solo show with the presentation of the monograph Salvati and Tresoldi, Architecture and design, published by Electa, Milan, in which architecture and design were accompanied by art and music, while in 1983 they curated the “Moderno-Moderno” exhibition for Saporiti Italia at the Galleria Il Milione in Milan.

They received numerous awards in Italy and abroad, including the Selection at the Compasso d’Oro in 1985 for the Miamina armchair, produced by Saporiti Italia and in 1987 for the Strasburgo seating system, produced by the Busnelli Industrial Group.

The architect Alberto Salvati is now the owner of Studio Salvati in Milan.

Matteo Tresoldi, son of Ambrogio, is a partner of the Studio GPT / Gaffurini Pagani Tresoldi Architetti of Lugano.