For decades, Italian architect and designer Antonio Citterio has shaped the visual and tactile identity of Flexform, creating furniture that defines contemporary living while resisting the pull of passing trends. His collaboration with the brand is built on continuity—a rare dialogue where innovation emerges not from spectacle, but from quiet evolution. Through iconic pieces like the Groundpiece, Magister, and Soft Dream sofas, Citterio has transformed domestic life, redefining comfort as fluid, adaptive, and enduring.
At the heart of his philosophy lies a rigorous balance between structure and softness, heritage and modernity. Materials, for Citterio, are not decoration but substance—woven cowhide, leather straps, and refined textiles that reveal the hand of the maker. Guided by proportion and use, his designs are conceived architecturally, as volumes that shape how people move, rest, and gather. From early experiments like the A.B.C. armchair to recent collections such as Loungescape, his approach remains constant: design as discipline and empathy. As homes become more fluid and connected, Citterio continues to pursue relevance through restraint, creating objects meant not for the moment, but for a lifetime of living.
Antonio Citterio, photo by Mattia Parodi.
Antonio Citterio, photo by Mattia Balsamini.
WHITEWALL: You’ve collaborated with Flexform for decades. How has this partnership shaped your approach to designing furniture that balances innovation with timelessness?
AC: A long collaboration creates a rare condition: continuity. With Flexform, innovation is rarely a “gesture”; it is an evolution of type, proportion, and construction. This methodology lets us bring new ideas without chasing novelty, and it’s what keeps the work contemporary yet enduring.
WW: Many of your Flexform pieces—like the Groundpiece, Magister, and Soft Dream—have become icons. What do you think gives these designs such enduring appeal?
AC: When a product is launched, you can only make forecasts; it’s the real response of the public, how people live with the piece over the years, that determines success and, eventually, iconic status. What we can control is the clarity of the idea, typological coherence, balanced proportions, generous comfort, and honest construction. When a design remains useful across contexts and decades, it settles into the collective memory and becomes a reference that naturally generates successors.
Heritage and Contemporary Craft
Loungescape sofa designed by Antonio Citterio, courtesy of Flexform.
WW: Flexform is known for subtle elegance and craftsmanship. How do you translate those values into contemporary forms while maintaining a sense of heritage?
AC: Heritage, for me, is a method: precision, restraint, and respect for making. We start from proportions and structure, then let craft resolve the details, so the product feels inevitable rather than styled. Contemporary comes from performance and use; heritage from discipline and touch.
“Heritage, for me, is a method: precision, restraint, and respect for making,”
Antonio Citterio
WW: The Groundpiece sofa redefined the way people use seating in their homes. Can you talk about the moment you decided to break from convention and rethink the sofa’s role in daily life?
AC: It wasn’t a single turning point; it was the outcome of a research path we pursued on simple, user-friendly products defined by ample, soft surfaces. It began by observing how people truly live: reading, working, relaxing, sometimes all at once. Groundpiece was born from observing everyday life, a seating system conceived to naturally accommodate the diverse activities of contemporary living, from relaxation to work. That meant greater depth, a softer, more welcoming posture, and components that organize objects and gestures around the seat. The result is less formal, more domestic, and therefore more relevant.
WW: The Cestone and Gregory sofas reveal a strong interplay between structure and surface, particularly with cowhide and leather. How do material choices drive your design process?
AC: Materials are not a mere skin; they inform structure, use, and maintenance. In Gregory, the leather straps begin as a structural solution linking cushions and frame, yet they also establish a quiet visual language that signals craft and quality; never decoration for its own sake. In Cestone, the woven cowhide panels form an architectural enclosure that is both tactile and structural. Across these projects, we balance technical precision with material sensitivity: thicknesses, modules, and seams follow performance, while type and proportions lead. The goal is always the same: clarity, comfort, and relevance over time.
Architectural Thinking and Balance in Product Design
Courtesy of Flexform.
WW: You’ve said architecture and product design share a dialogue in your work. How does your architectural sensibility influence the way you design a sofa or armchair?
AC: Interiors, buildings, and products form one continuum, so I design a sofa the way I design a room: in plan and section, thinking about posture, circulation, light, and how volumes relate. This approach, rooted in the Italian tradition, where many designers were trained as architects, means positioning the product as a volume in space before working on surfaces and details.
It also leads me to work in families of compatible pieces: each item has a clear function, yet all are conceived to coexist so that homes, offices, and hotel rooms can be composed coherently. The result is furniture that belongs to the space, supports behavior, and keeps its clarity over time.
WW: Many of your designs embody a tension between modernist rigor and sensual comfort. How do you navigate these dualities in your practice?
AC: I begin with clear structure and proportions—modules, load paths, and the relation between seat, back, and arms—then tune posture, cushioning, and textiles so the body feels welcomed. Materials and craft add warmth without compromising clarity. With Flexform, this balance is essential: type and proportions lead, performance and touch complete them, and construction remains precise but visually quiet.
The Evolution of Comfort
Courtesy of Flexform.
WW: Looking back at your career, from the A.B.C. armchair in the 1980s to the Loungescape sofa today, how has your definition of comfort evolved?
AC: Today I see comfort as fluid and welcoming: it doesn’t impose itself, it adapts gently to people and to space. Each element helps shape a domestic landscape that supports relaxation and conviviality; objects that anticipate needs, accommodate different postures, and age with grace.
Across the decades, the challenge has been to refine without disrupting identity. That means reading how habits and spaces have changed (homes are more fluid, functions overlap) and translating this into small but meaningful updates: new configurations, revised proportions, evolved material,s and cushioning. The method remains the same, type and proportions first; construction resolving details in the background, but the outcome has moved from a single well-defined posture to many postures carefully calibrated, keeping the pieces clear, comfortable, and relevant over time.
WW: Your designs often encourage a relaxed, lived-in experience rather than formality. Do you see this as a reflection of broader cultural shifts in lifestyle?
AC: Absolutely. Home has returned to the center of life; we spend more time there and expect spaces—indoor and outdoor—to be versatile. I think of covered terraces and loggias furnished with the same care as interiors. Furniture must support this fluidity with generous proportions and forgiving materials.
Legacy and the Future of Design
Antonio Citterio, photo by Mattia Balsamini.
WW: As someone who has won the Compasso d’Oro and been named an Honorary Royal Designer for Industry, how do you think about design legacy?
AC: I believe the world doesn’t need more objects; it needs better ones. Better means designed with care, with awareness of how people live, and with the intention to last. I would like to be remembered for creating work that endures, not through recognition or style, but through coherence. Legacy, for me, is about continuity: designing objects and environments that serve people over time, that grow old with dignity, and that remain relevant even as habits evolve.
“Better means designed with care, with awareness of how people live, and with the intention to last,”
Antonio Citterio
WW: What excites you most about the future of design—new materials, technologies, or the ways people are reimagining how to live?
AC: Looking ahead, my focus is on making better, longer-lived products. The most responsible object is the one people keep, repair, and pass on. That starts with type and proportions that don’t age quickly, so relevance lasts.
On materials and processes, I’m interested in lighter structures with the same performance, precise industrial refinement that reduces waste, and constructions designed for maintenance and repair, and, when feasible, disassembly and mono-material thinking. I’m also drawn to finishes and textiles that age gracefully and are easy to care for. Technology helps us optimize tolerances and material use; craft ensures touch and comfort. As indoor-outdoor boundaries blur and domestic functions converge, the objective remains: clarity, comfort, and longevity; products that adjust over time, not the other way around.
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