One of the boldest sofas of the late 1970s is back in production. Knoll has reintroduced the Brigadier Sofa Collection by Italian architect and designer Cini Boeri, first designed in 1978, with updated proportions, a new palette and a deep new Midnight Blue lacquer finish. The collection is available now through Knoll.
Structure meets softness
Brigadier is all about contrast. A rigid, highly structured lacquered frame wraps around deep, generous upholstery, so the piece looks almost architectural from across the room and plush once you sit down. Knoll describes it as a departure from Boeri's earlier work, and you can see why: the shell reads like a block of solid color, with the cushions set into it like a room within a room.
The low profile is part of the point. It keeps sightlines open, letting Brigadier anchor a large space or divide a loft without walling it off. The lacquer also reflects its surroundings, which gives the heavy form a lighter, almost glossy presence in daylight.
An early minimalist
Knoll Creative Director Jonathan Olivares calls Brigadier "a radically simplified design object," and one of the first designs to draw from the reductive art of the 1960s and 1970s. Looking at it now, it is easy to see how it anticipated the chunky, elemental shapes that fill so many current interiors. Plenty of new furniture borrows this look. This is one of the originals.
Olivares also points to Boeri's 1976 Knoll showroom in Paris on Boulevard Saint Germain, a landmark of design that still stands today.
What is in the collection
The relaunch includes three pieces: a two seat sofa, a three seat sofa and a lounge chair. Knoll pairs the lacquered frames with an extensive range of upholstery options, and the launch campaign shows the set in combinations like a blue sofa beside a cream and black lounge chair and a chocolate brown three seater. Options, finishes and current pricing are on the Brigadier Sofa page.
Who was Cini Boeri
Boeri was an Italian architect and industrial designer known for exploring expandability and pliability across architecture, furniture and lighting. Through the 1970s she designed Knoll showrooms in France, Germany, Italy and the United States while running her own architecture studio in Milan. She received the Compasso d'Oro Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011, and her life and work are the subject of the 2025 documentary La casa di Cini Boeri, directed by Maddalena Bregani.
Our call
This one is Surfacing. Brigadier is the rare reissue that feels more current now than when it first appeared. The Midnight Blue lacquer is the one to watch. It turns a quiet modernist classic into a statement piece, and it will look right at home in a gallery loft or a warm, lived in living room.
For more icons with stories behind them, read our Togo sofa explainer and Eames Lounge Chair explainer, or see the GUBI M Chair by Marcel Gascoin.
