A beautiful red leather "Joe" lounge chair by De Pas, D’Urbino, Lomazzi for Poltronova, covered in gorgeous soft red leather signed with artist embossed signatures, Poltronova brand logo and 'JOE' embossing. While this is considered a chair, it is large enough to seat two in loveseat fashion or deep enough to sink into and enjoy similar to a chaise.

Designed in 1970, this leather "Joe" baseball glove chair is an early production example, by designers Jonathan de Pas, Donato D'Urbino, and Paolo Lomazzi who worked together since 1966 with a specific interest in creating furniture and temporary architecture with industrially advanced materials and technology. The 'Joe' chair is made with heavy duty steel frames and preformed polyurethane foam padding, the cover made from large amounts of very high quality soft leather.

'Joe' is a large and extremely comfortable club chair designed in the form of a monumental baseball glove which is mounted on hidden wheels which make for easy relocation. The designers, who were inspired by Pop Art, gave tribute to the legendary American baseball star Joe Di Maggio with wild exaggeration of scale, transforming the baseball glove into a welcoming place to lounge and a surreal experience of functional modern art to enjoy.

This large 'Joe' baseball glove lounge chair would look great in any Mid-Century Modern, Scandanavian Modern or Danish Modern home but could also look fantastic in a Contemporary or Post-Modern room.

EXHIBITIONS:

1970: Joe first presented at the 10th Salone del Mobile, Milan

1972: Italy: The New Domestic Landscape, Museum of Modern Art, New York

2003: 1945-2000, Il Design in Italia: 100 Oggetti della Collezione Permanente, Palazzo della Triennale, Milan travelled to 28 further venues in Europe, Asia and Australia / La Fabbrica Bella, Centro Cultural Justiça Federal, Rio de Janeiro / Altman Building, New York

2005: Italian Beauty 100 Esemplari al Top, Stadio, Florence

2006 50+2Y Italian Design, National Art Museum of China, Beijing

2007 50 Years of Italian Chairs, Innocentre, Hong Kong 2011 Le Fabbriche dei Sogni, Palazzo della Triennale, Milan 2011 Meet Design, Museo dei Fori Imperiali, Rome / Palazzo Bertalazone, Turin

2014 Festival Cortona On The Move, IV Edition, Cortona, Italy

2014 Presentazione Gazzetta dello Sport, Corriere della Sera, Milano

2015 Festival Cortona On The Move, V Edition, Cortona, Italy

2015 Creativa Produzione—La Toscana e il design Italiano 1950—1990, Fondazione Ragghianti, Lucca, Italy

2017 Festival Cortona On The Move, VII Edition, Cortona, Italy

2018 Joeuts à Jouer — Oggetti nella foresta, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Bruxelles, Belgio

2019 Collezione permanente Museo del Design Italiano, Triennale di Milano, Milan / I–Made — Italian Manufacture Art & Design exhibition, Saatchi Gallery, London / Take a sit, Saatchi Gallery, London / Porto Design Biennale, Palácio das Artes Fundação da Juventude, Porto

Condition: The chair is in original condition. It has had a sympathetic restoration to the seating area where a previous “botched” repair job has been made good by restitching the seam. In the photograph with the hand, it can see this to the right hand side of the hand and also gives an idea of the scale (about 20/25cm in length). Otherwise in excellent vintage condition with original leather upholstery and superb patina, retaining the original branded embossing, please see photographs.

Dimensions: 95cm high, 190cm wide, 110cm deep 40cm seat height