Original Tecno P40 Chair Armrests.

About the P40

Following the success of the D70 sofa (1954), Osvaldo Borsani began working on a mechanical joint that would provide a chair with the freedom of movement necessary to assume many different positions. The result was the P40, the icon that Osvaldo Borsani created for Tecno in 1955, the company he had co-founded two years earlier in 1953 with his twin brother.

All construction parts of the P40 are made of metal; the arms are made of steel and rubber, allowing them to adapt perfectly to various positions from active sitting to fully reclined. Pirelli webbing is tensioned in the frame, which, together with molded cold foam, defines the final appearance and comfort of the P40.

Three versions of the P40 were released. The first two versions (a & b) had a round tube frame base, and the backrest was not yet divisible. As was common at that time, a men’s (high back) and a women’s (low back) version were released. The third version (c) was equipped with a square tube frame base and the divisible backrest, evolving Osvaldo Borsani’s seating machine.

Osvaldo Borsani

Founder of Tecno together with his brother Fulgenzio, the architect Osvaldo Borsani designed most of Tecno’s and italian design’s icons, like the working system Graphis, the D70 sofa, the P40 lounge-chair and the small tables T1 and T2.

His first industrial designs were the P40 adjustable armchair and the D70 reversible seat sofa. In 1968 it was the office system Graphis (together with Eugenio Gerli and coming into vogue around the world in a million copies) thanks to which Tecno became a world-leading manufacturer in design for the office.