Archetypes: Throw-Away

The sofa designed by Willie Landels

Designer Willie Landels
Designed in 1965
Produced in 1966

Type armchair and sofas

Frame polyurethane foam blocks
Upholstery fabric or leather (even removable)

Measurements cm 95x75x61h (1 seater)
cm 150x75x61h (2 seaters)
cm 205x75x61h (3 seaters)

Awards Gold Medal at the M.I.A (1970); Interior Innovation Award in Cologne (2003)

Museums Museum für Angewandte Kunst, Köln -Thessaloniki Design Museum, Saloniki - Die Neue Sammlung, München

Historical outline
A revolutionary sofa born in 1965 almost by chance by the perception of Aurelio Zanotta who saw it in the London house of the author Willie Landels. The Throw-Away reveals several potential advantages to Zanotta: namely simplified production process, cost reduction, and versatile use. A new philosophy of life in which furnishings leave strict and formal patterns to enter the experience of people. The photo portraying the new “deboned” sofa in Vicolo Lavandai, Milan, is symbolic as an item designed to be freely used, upholstered with shiny cire that is both waterproof and washable with soap and water.

Values
Throw-Away is the first padded item in which foam polyurethane has a structural function. It has neither wooden nor metal bearing frames, nor elastic belts, nor hardware, they are replaced by four blocks that are glued together and upholstered. New technologies, avantgarde materials and function merge for a conceptual evolution of the furnishing product. Throw-Away is also the first informal furnishing item that paves the way for other typical new “pop” objects (e.g. Sacco, Blow, Karelia). An archetype that has been in production for over 40 years, a simple and genial invention that leans towards utopia and market.