Albero Bookcase

Overview

Albero is a floor-to-ceiling bookcase by Gianfranco Frattini for Poltrona Frau. Poltrona Frau dates it to 1960, while the page says Frattini designed it in the late 1950s. It stands on its own axis between floor and ceiling and rotates 360°.

Image source: Poltrona Frau — Albero Bookcase · © Poltrona Frau and the respective rights holders. Quoted to accompany INTEBEE's independent design commentary and research. · View official product page ↗ · Image use & copyright policy

Construction

Solid Canaletto walnut: two toothed columns with a rack joint and four vertical posts with regular holes for twelve shelves, which are walnut-veneered MDF. Fixing ferrules at floor and ceiling are in antiqued burnished steel.

Specifications

• Albero 5584786: W 83 cm, D 83 cm, H 262-328 cm (adjusts between floor and ceiling)
• Shelves: 12, with an optional 4 mm Cuoio Saddle Extra leather pad

Not made for mass production

The page says Frattini designed Albero in the late 1950s as a floor-to-ceiling central bookcase, created for use in interior settings rather than for mass production. It ties the piece formally to the Neo-Liberty period and, as a type, to the floor-to-ceiling bookcase systems that were popular in the 1950s and 60s.

Reintroduced

The Insights text says the bookcase was originally designed in the 1950s and is now reintroduced in a faithful yet updated version. It likens its silhouette to a stylised tree and says the rotating structure gives access to books and objects from every angle.