Four glossy black ABS plastic stacking chairs, designed by Joe Colombo for Kartell in 1967. A landmark in design history — the first chair ever produced from a single injection mould. Part of the permanent collections of both MoMA New York and the Vitra Design Museum. Vintage 1970s production, wear consistent with age as the chairs have surface scratches.

Pick-up in Oirschot, Noord-Brabant.

About this chair

The 4867 Universale is one of those rare objects where technical innovation and great design landed at exactly the same moment. Joe Colombo spent two years developing it. The challenge was producing a full adult-sized chair from a single piece of injection-moulded plastic, with no joints, no assembly, no compromise on form. When it launched in 1967, nothing like it had existed before.

The hole in the backrest isn't just a detail: it makes the chair easy to carry with one hand, and lets rainwater drain when used outdoors. Universale means universal: inside, outside, stacked, scattered, it works everywhere.

The 4867 is the full adult-size version. The 4869 is the child-size variant, the 4868 intermediate. So if you're looking at model numbers, size is the difference.

Colombo himself died in 1971 at just 41, leaving behind a career of barely ten years and an outsized legacy. Kartell, founded in Milan in the early 1950s, went on to become one of the defining names in Italian design, and this chair remains one of their most iconic pieces.