Africa Chair Afra & Tobia Scarpa for Maxalto

These sculptural chairs, originally made and assembled individually by hand, feature a unique handmade circular pattern on the backrest that highlights the different veneers of the walnut wood and creates a unique combination of colors and shapes. The Africa chair, part of the Artona collection, is an extremely rare dining chair designed by Afra & Tobia Scarpa for Maxalto in 1975. The Scarpa duo’s Artona line was in fact the first line ever produced by Maxalto, B&B Italia’s specialty division. Maxalto was founded in 1975 as a high-end division of B&B Italia to focus exclusively on the production of handcrafted furniture, mainly in wood. The Artona was their first project and also acts as a counter-message against the use of plastics in furniture design, which was prevalent in the post-war period.