"A chair that is light and strong at the same time, with the right silhouette and a low price. A chair-chair, modestly, without adjectives'.

The 1950s were characterised by a new and fresh creativity in design, which leads to the world of mass production: new materials and the invention of new machinery to process them made it possible to create new projects that would be sold at competitive prices, affordable to the masses; there was in fact a need to create furniture objects with low costs to meet the economic difficulties of the population.

The Milanese architect Gio Ponti would not let slip the opportunity to present in 1952 one of his products that would become one of the main symbols of Italian design, the Leggera chair. Initially, for the Lombard company Cassina designs a simple and stylised piece of furniture inspired by the lines of the popular Chiavari chair (better known as chiavarina). The study of the first prototype dates back to 1949, in which some of the features of the final model are already present, which is then followed by a second in 1951, the model Chiavari, which is also subjected to some modifications and is further lightened. In 1957, the Leggera undergoes some minor variations, while retaining its elementary, clean-cut essence, and becomes Super: the sections, previously circular, become unmistakably triangular. A figure, that of the triangle, which was very dear to the designer and which he repeated in numerous of his productions.

Since then, Superleggera has represented an exclusive synthesis between Gio Ponti's research and Cassina's advanced experimentation, becoming an undisputed icon of modernity and refined craftsmanship.

The real innovation proposed by the designer is contained in the structural composition of the chair and the triangular section of its legs, which are only 18 millimetres and weigh a minimum of 1,700 grams. The research into materials is no less: the combination of the elasticity and lightness of the ash of the frame and the load-resistant strength of the beech in the seat frame guarantees the object a durability that is destined to remain unchanged over time.

As befits the designer's reputation, no detail is left to chance: the chair must first and foremost be comfortable and functional. Ergonomics then prompts Ponti to bend the backrest backwards, statics, on the other hand, makes the legs tilt inwards. A perfect correspondence between these deformations and the theory of crystal, now an unmistakable Ponti signature, in which straight profiles become angular, tending towards closed, diamond-like forms, does not go unnoticed.

However, don't forget Cassina's role in the creation of this magnificent object: the wooden elements, made by machines, are finished by hand through the meticulous procedures of brush gluing, cleaning off any residual glue and stuffing the seat. Identified by project code 699 and never leaving production, Superleggera entered Italian culture and spread through it both for its structural characteristics and for the curious and original communication campaigns developed to promote it: in fact, with its excellent performance, it was promoted with some very original ideas. For its presentation, in fact, Gio Ponti subjects the chair to a bizarre test: dropping it from the fourth floor of a building, instead of smashing it to the ground, it bounces like a ball, without damage. Also famous is the advertising campaign in which the chair is lifted with one finger by a child in a funny cartoon. Other iconic photographs are those taken inside the designer's home in Via Dezza in Milan, where numerous examples of the chair can be seen.

Due to its unquestionable success and technological innovation, Superleggera is in the permanent collection of many design museums, including the Triennale Design Museum in Milan, and was also nominated for the Compasso d'Oro Award: it is still identified as one of the most relevant and influential industrial design objects in the history of the industry internationally.