211 - Max Bill

Max Bill Ulm Stool / Sgabillo Stool Solid pine, joined with multiple mortise-and-tenon joints Produced by Zanotta, Italy Date of creation: 1954 H44 L39 P29 cm This Zanotta edition is in very good original condition; it features a rich, uniform patina as well as slight surface scratches consistent with its age. Designed in 1954 by Swiss architect, artist, and designer Max Bill, the Ulm Stool (Sgabillo) was originally conceived for the Ulm School of Design (Hochschule für Gestaltung Ulm), which had just been founded and of which Bill was the first rector. Conceived as an honest, multifunctional object for everyday use, this stool reflects the school’s commitment to clarity, functionality, and constructive rationality—principles inherited from the Bauhaus and reinterpreted for the postwar era. Originally manufactured in the school’s woodworking shop, this model gained international recognition thanks to its remarkable versatility and ingenious simplicity. In the early 1970s, the Italian manufacturer Zanotta added the stool to its permanent collection under the name “Sgabillo,” helping to establish it as one of the most enduring icons of modern furniture design. Still in production today, it is featured in the permanent collections of major museums around the world, notably the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Crafted from solid pine with precision-executed mortise-and-tenon joints, the stool can serve as a seat, a side table, a desk, or a shelf unit. Reduced to its essential geometry, it perfectly embodies Max Bill’s belief that beauty arises from proportion, precision, and function. A timeless masterpiece of 20th-century design and a benchmark of functional modernism.