Large Desk T333 by Eugenio Gerli and Osvaldo Borsani for Tecno Italy

This is a magnificent large vintage executive desk. Designed by Italians Osvaldo Borsani and Eugenio Gerli for Tecno, it exudes timeless prestige. The desktop is created from a single, exquisite slab of wood, giving a vast, uninterrupted surface that feels endless. It stands on sturdy cast aluminum legs, combining strength with that particular 70’s style. On each side, two graceful drawers offer storage, a quiet touch of practicality amid grand design. A true balance of power and elegance, ready to inspire success in a refined setting.

Osvaldo Borsani

With his stylish and technically innovative furniture, Osvaldo Borsani helped change the face of Italian design in the 1950s and ’60s. His sofas and chairs, featuring deeply upholstered seating and adjustable position settings, have an aura of optimism and efficiency that still seems fresh and lively today.

Born in the commune of Varedo in northern Italy’s Lombardy region, Borsani studied at the Brera Academy in Milan — the same school attended by such luminaries as designer Piero Fornasetti and artist Lucio Fontana — as well as the Polytechnic University of Milan. Borsani first worked for his father’s furniture-making firm, Arredamenti Borsani, an atelier influenced by the more expressive and curvaceous wing of Art Deco design.

By 1953, when, along with his twin brother, Fulgenzio — the pair also created this visionary mid-century villa — Borsani opened the furniture company Tecno, his design sensibilities had evolved toward furnishings with strong, simple forms enhanced by mechanical innovations, as with the P40 adjustable armchair. Borsani would be the firm’s lead designer for 30 years, while fostering work by Vico Magistretti, Carlo De Carli, Robin Day and others.

Similar to Gio Ponti in the earliest years of his career, Borsani first created designs marked by lush and buoyant lines: tables with voluptuous curved legs, sofas with undulating backrests.

But Borsani’s best-known and most novel pieces date from Tecno’s initial furniture lines: the Large Desk T333 by Eugenio Gerli and Osvaldo Borsani, the adjustable D70 sofa, which folds open to make a daybed, and the P40 recliner. The latter — now included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Victoria & Albert Museum — is an articulated lounger with a back, seat and leg rest that can be moved into 486 different positions. Not only is it extremely comfortable, it is also enduringly chic.

From the collection of La contessa arreda