Like other Italian design students in the 1960s, Enrico Baleri enrolled in the Politecnico di Milano in 1962. Even as a student he was drawn into the wave of Italian industrial design of the 1960s. As numerous other designers did during that decade, he met Dino Gavina, who provided the means of marketing Baleri’s creative output. Networking within the Italian design community during the 1960s and 1970s kept Baleri busy.
His first collaboration with Knoll involved the design and development of the Colorforte table system in 1979 for the European market.1 Three years later, in 1982, Baleri designed a collection of tables made of Sardinian Beta granite. Italy had the quarries and manufacturing capability to cut, grind and polish stone of any kind.
Baleri designed four tables to make up the Mega Table Collection. This included the 55-inch diameter No. 38TR40 Round Table, the 59-inch square No. 38T150 Table, the 39.75-inch by 78.75-inch Rectangular Table and the 43.75-inch by 118-inch No. 38T300 Rectangular Table.
The triangular supporting legs were finished rough with ground vertical detailing. The polished tabletops had beveled edges and natural-finish borders. The bottom of the tabletops had locating features for the legs.
The Baleri Collection was introduced by Knoll in 1982, but sales were initially confined to Europe. The Baleri Collection Mega Conference Tables were first listed In Knoll’s U.S. catalog and price list for 1988.2
The only caveat Knoll provided was that the floor where the table would be located would have adequate strength for the weight of the table selected. The largest table with its six legs weighed over one thousand pounds.3 The Mega Collection remained in the catalog through 1997, then discontinued.4
1. Brian Lutz, Knoll – The Modernist Universe. (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 2010). 212.
2. KnollStudio Price List 1988. 154-155. Marked as NEW item.
3. Ibid.
4. KnollStudio Price List 1998 did not list The Baleri Collection.