Stadera Desk

Stadera is a writing desk and table designed by Franco Albini. Stadera consists of two trape­zoidal planes, one smaller than the other, on a single steel support. This balanc­ing act is char­ac­ter­ized by the mate­r­ial rich­ness of the planes, their shape being delin­eated by a frame. One plane is thicker than the other, the higher of the two avail­able with a leather top. This accen­tu­ates the tactile and visual qual­i­ties of the piece. While the single-leg support might suggest a lack of balance, equi­lib­rium is estab­lished using the prin­ci­ple of the Roman balance (stradera, in Italian), a form of weigh­ing scale consist­ing of a beam with two arms of differ­ent lengths, and a coun­ter­weight that can be displaced along the grad­u­ated, longer arm.