In a rare instance of graphic-design geekery intersecting with furniture, the Italian company Cassina is adding a new frame color to Franco Albini and Franca Helg’s 1959 Tre Pezzi (or Three Pieces) armchair to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Milan subway system that they also designed together.
The Tre Pezzi Metropolitana ($4,250), available in New York this month, has a red frame with black upholstery, as a nod to the red handrails in the subway stations. The color was also used to denote the system’s first M1 line, as part of a coding system conceived by Mr. Albini’s colleague Bob Noorda, who designed the Metropolitana’s graphics, which were radical then. Mr. Noorda’s work in Milan helped him and Massimo Vignelli land the assignment to redesign the graphics for the New York City Transit Authority still in use to this day. Information: 212-228-8186, cassina.com.
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