Conceived in 1977, the Cab Armchair remains one of Mario Bellini's most considered contributions to Italian design. Its premise is deceptively simple: a tubular steel skeleton wrapped in a continuous skin of hand-stitched saddle leather, held taut by zippers concealed along the inner legs and beneath the seat. There are no exposed bolts, no visible fasteners. Only the quiet confidence of a form that hides its own logic. The leather does not merely cover the chair - it becomes the chair, lending the Cab its characteristic softness of silhouette and a singular sense of wholeness that rewards close inspection. Bellini approached the Cab the way a tailor approaches a suit: the outer shell is cut, stitched, and zipped into place over the frame, making structure and surface inseparable. The result is an object that reads as sculpture from a distance and as craft up close. Tubular steel internal frame Saddle leather outer shell secured by interior zippers No exposed hardware or external fasteners Designed by Mario Bellini for Cassina, 1977
