"Fred" Desk by Roberto Lazzeroni for Poltrona Frau, Leather Top Surface

Italian modern furniture designer Roberto Lazzeroni uses the term “sentimental design” for the marriage between the past and the future in his work. This approach has also been called “transitive design,” as it bridges familiar traditions with forward-thinking innovation, creating a feeling of both tension and nostalgia. Lazzeroni’s discerning eye for detail has informed an artistic direction for his furniture that reimagines balance, style and class. 

Born in Pisa, Italy, Lazzeroni chose to remain in his home city and develop his business there. He studied architecture in Florence, Italy, and was drawn to conceptual art and radical design. When he launched his career in the early 1980s, his work quickly gained notice for its distinctive forms. Lazzeroni was intrigued by industrial interior design, a style he specialized in and described as “fundamental” in the development of industrial products. With a passion for the historical aspects of design, Lazzeroni employed his skill and knowledge to make a noteworthy shift in the style of the era.

Lazzeroni has continued to produce inventive work throughout his dynamic career, including through collaborative projects with furniture brands and companies like Ceccotti Collezioni, Flexform and Poltrona Frau. 

He has consistently been a driving force of unique, luxurious and visually striking furniture. He has garnered many prestigious accolades and awards, such as the ELLE DECO International Design Award.

On 1stDibs, find a selection of Roberto Lazzeroni seating, tables, lighting and more.

If an Italian soldier named Renzo Frau had never traveled to Great Britain and set eyes on a Chesterfield armchair, it is unlikely that legendary handcrafted furniture maker Poltrona Frau and its classic sofas, armchairs and vanities would exist today.

Upon completing his service in the Italian army during the early 1900s, the Sardinian-born Frau worked for faux leather manufacturing company Dermoide Patent in Turin. While at the firm, he was sent to England, where he became enamored with leather Chesterfield armchairs. Intrigued and inspired by their rolled arms and tall, imposing profile, Frau returned to Turin, where he started his own leather-upholstered furniture company, Poltrona Frau, in 1912. He began to import the sumptuous Edwardian seating for the high-end domestic market. 

Frau made slight modifications to the English seat that he’d so admired, and among Poltrona Frau’s first successful designs was an iconic armchair in 1919 appropriately called the Chester. Believed to have been custom-made for Filiberto Ludovico of Savoy, Duke of Pistoia, the Chester reflected the era’s emerging Art Deco style. Frau’s chair was comfortable and functional, and he implemented the traditional upholstery technique capitonné, which refers to stuffing that is buttoned. The Chester featured a pouf and an arm that was possibly included to hold the Duke’s ashtray. The seat’s high-quality craftsmanship and integration of exquisite full-grain leather made it covetable among Italy’s elite.

When Renzo Frau died in 1926, Poltrona Frau was appointed furniture supplier to Italy’s royal family. The company furnished grand hotels, designed the interiors for Expo Turin 1928 and outfitted an Italian transatlantic ocean liner. 

For more than a century, Poltrona Frau has collaborated with hundreds of leading architects and designers from around the world. It issued such iconic mid-century modern pieces as Gio Ponti’s Dezza armchair, the 1960s-era Dilly Dally vanity by Italian designer Luigi Massoni, stackable tubular steel Movie armchairs by Italian architect Mario Marenco and French architect Jean-Marie Massaud’s sleek, angular Kennedee office sofa.

Poltrona Frau has established showrooms all over the world and creates interiors for Italian automotive brands Maserati and Ferrari. The company is owned by Haworth and continues to introduce innovative, handmade home furnishings while occasionally gazing back into time — its Chester line, a modular seating system by Poltrona Frau CEO Nicola Coropulis and Roberto Lazzeroni, is a contemporary interpretation of the founder’s original Chesterfield-style seating.

Find vintage Poltrona Frau club chairs, coffee tables, desks and other furniture on 1stDibs.