Sesann Sofa by Gianfranco Frattini for Cassina, New Upholstery, Italy, 1970s

Sesann Sofa by Gianfranco Frattini for Cassina,New Upholstery, Italy, 1970s Gianfranco Frattini (born May 16, 1926, Padua, Italy–died April 6, 2004, Milan, Italy) was an Italian designer and architect and an important member of the generation that created the Italian design movement of the late 1950s through the 1960s. He studied architecture at Politecnico di Milano from 1949 until 1953, and in 1952 he started a four-year apprenticeship in the studio of Gio Ponti.

In 1954, Gianfranco Frattini started what would become a long-lasting collaboration with Cesare Cassina, founder of the furniture maker Cassina. This collaboration with the manufacturer incentivized Frattini to focus on designing furniture and to form more partnerships with many other furniture and design manufacturers, such as Bernini, Arteluce, Acerbis, Fantoni, Artemide, Luci, Knoll, and Lema.