Sofa model "Naeko"
Manufactured by Gavina
Italy, 1958
Cherry wood structure, Upholstered fabric

Measurements
225 × 77 × 73h cm
88,6 × 30,3 × 28,7h in

Provenance
Private collection, Italy

Details
Manufacturer’s label

Literature
Accademia delle Belle Arti di Brera. (1998). Dino Gavina: Ultrarazionale Ultramobile. Milan: Editrice Compositori, p. 163.
Fondazione Scientifica Querini Stampalia. (1992). Dino Gavina: collezioni emblematiche del moderno dal 1950 al 1992. Milan: Jaca Book, p. 39.
Vercelloni, V. (1987). La avventura del design: Gavina. Milan: Jaca Book, p. 49.

About
The Naeko Sofa is one of the most historically significant works by Japanese architect and designer Kazuhide Takahama, created during the formative years of his collaboration with the Italian avant-garde manufacturer Gavina. Designed in 1958, the piece originates from Takahama’s stay in Italy while overseeing the Japanese Pavilion for the XI Triennale di Milano (1956–57), a moment that marked the beginning of a lifelong professional and personal partnership with Dino Gavina.
The sofa was conceived as both an architectural and emotional object. Named after Naeko, who would later become Takahama’s wife, the design reflects an intimate, human-centered approach to modernism. Its low, elongated profile and carefully proportioned cherrywood frame create a sense of calm horizontality, while the original upholstery softens the rigor of the structure, balancing rational form with tactile warmth.
Naeko belongs to the earliest phase of Gavina’s production, when the company was redefining Italian design through collaborations with architects who approached furniture as an extension of spatial thinking. Takahama’s work, informed by both Japanese spatial tradition and European modernism, introduced a unique synthesis: disciplined geometry, refined craftsmanship, and a deep sensitivity to the human body and domestic ritual.

Biography
Kazuhide Takahama (1930–2010) was one of the most important cultural mediators between Japanese and Italian modern design in the postwar period. Trained as an architect in Japan, Takahama belonged to a generation that sought to redefine modernity not as a stylistic import from the West, but as a flexible system capable of absorbing multiple cultural traditions. His work is distinguished by a rare balance between structural rigor, emotional restraint, and material refinement.
Takahama studied architecture at the University of Tokyo, where he was exposed to both modernist theory and traditional Japanese spatial principles. His early career coincided with Japan’s rapid postwar reconstruction, a period in which architecture and design were seen as tools for rebuilding not only cities but also cultural identity. In 1957, he was selected to work on the Japanese Pavilion for the XI Triennale di Milano, a turning point that brought him into direct contact with the European avant-garde. During this project he met Dino Gavina, the visionary Italian entrepreneur who would become his most important collaborator.
Through Gavina, Takahama entered the radical world of Italian design, where furniture was no longer conceived as a purely functional object but as an intellectual and artistic proposition. Unlike many designers working in Italy at the time, Takahama approached furniture as an architectural system: volumes, voids, surfaces, and proportions were treated with the same seriousness as in building design. His early works for Gavina, including the Naeko sofa (1958), reveal this approach. They are characterized by low, horizontal compositions, carefully calibrated structural frames, and a quiet, contemplative presence that reflects both Japanese domestic culture and European rationalism.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Takahama became one of the key figures in Italian high design, working not only with Gavina but also later with Simon, producing iconic pieces such as the Saori, Suzanne, and Tulu seating systems. His furniture rejected decorative excess in favor of clarity, precision, and tactile quality. Wood, lacquer, leather, and upholstery were used not as surface treatments but as integral components of a coherent spatial language.
Takahama’s work is particularly significant for its cultural hybridity. While deeply modernist in its geometry and discipline, it also carries the influence of Japanese concepts such as ma (interval), modularity, and the importance of the body in space. This allowed his designs to avoid the coldness sometimes associated with European rationalism, replacing it with a subtle warmth and human scale.
Today, Kazuhide Takahama is recognized as a major figure in postwar international design, whose work helped redefine modern furniture as a bridge between architecture, craft, and lived experience. His designs remain highly sought after by collectors and museums for their intellectual depth, timeless elegance, and rare synthesis of East and West.