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Influenced in part by the work of some of the Rationalist masters, Antonio Citterio and Paolo Nava developed the concept of a sofa with a very uncluttered, sleek appearance, yet dense with artisanal details. Details designed to highlight the company’s ability to craft products that portray the perfect marriage between its talent for innovation and its vast experience in classic upholstering. 

When Antonio Citterio and Paolo Nava, who designed Magister, chose this name in 1982, they may not have imagined they had created a product that would become an icon. Since 1982 the Magister sofa has continued to be one of the sofas that best expresses the company’s commitment to make products that transcend the bounds of time and fashion, authentic distillations of form and function. 

The Magister sofa grew out of a desire to create a seating element in stark contrast to the “Divani di Famiglia” collection of sofas and armchairs that was a reinterpretation of shapes reminiscent of the tradition of using soft lightweight slipcovers. When the “Divani di Famiglia” collection debuted at the Salone del Mobile in 1981, it caused a major stir, launching the company onto the international stage. Despite the success achieved with the “Divani di Famiglia”, the Galimberti family and the two designers understood the importance of “extending the range” and began to produce sofas with very different features. 

According to Antonio Citterio, “Magister belongs to a time in my career when I was examining the experience of early Italian Rationalism, especially pre-Rationalist architecture between the two world wars. The sofa can be converted to a day-bed through a mechanism in the backrest that allows it to fit next to the seat cushion, which is finished with typical mattress-style tufting.”