In 1947 Carlo Barassi, engineer of Pirelli, together with Renato Teani, in the financial dpt. of Pirelli, Pio Reggiani and Aldo Bai, founded the company Ar-flex (flexible furniture), that became later arflex.
They worked together with a young architect Marzo Zanuso and began to experiment the use of foam rubber and elastic tapes for the furniture market.
In history and life of a company there are events and moments of special meaning, which are awards for merit acknowledged by everybody. Those first memorable moments in the history of arflex coincide with the company's creation, in modest premises in Milan's Corso di Porta Vittoria. It was there that the first manufacturing and sales team was formed, but the arflex company was only presented to the public for the first time in 1951, at the IX Triennale in Milan, after two years of experimentations.
This early contact with a wider audience in the context of an avant-garde artistic event is very significant in the company's history. This experimental interest, if not separated from commercial purposes, shows the will of creating high technological and esthetical level products, based on deep research and experimentation. The golden medal at the IX Triennale assigned to Lady armchair was above all recognition of Arflex manufacturing philosophy.
