"Perhaps the most ancient item of structurally complex furniture is the chair. This may also be the reason why it is the one item whose essential image - four legs, seat and backrest - is the most deeply rooted in the collective memory. With Cab I tried to design a chair the way it has always been, though in keeping with the approach described hitherto I also considered the chair as a prosthesis and extension of the body. The result is a load-bearing skeleton with its skin stretched over it to elastically accommodate the human body." - Mario Bellini

Thus Mario Bellini describes Cab, a best-seller that he designed in the 1970s, which is now a signature piece in Cassina's I Contemporanei collection.

Cab was the first-ever chair to feature a free-standing leather structure, inspired by how our skin fits over our skeleton. The upholstery consists of sixteen pieces of saddle leather. Individually die-cut, they then undergo fourteen discrete procedures, again by hand. The pieces are sewn together only when their outer edges have been trimmed to ensure a perfect fit.

Once assembled, the cover is attached to the chair's steel skeleton and held in place by means of a zipper fastening, as in a bespoke tailored garment.