Italian photographer and furniture designer, Willy Rizzo was famous for his original and unique creative genius and for his portraits of princes, princesses, playboys, and starlets. He created the iconic rectangular coffee table with a wood structure and metal covering.
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Who was Willy Rizzo?
威利Rizzo was born in1928in Naples, Italy. When he was a child, he went to Paris with his family. He developed an interest for photography and he decided to work very hard. At the age of 12, he beganshooting portraitsand in1948, he was hired byParis Matchmagazine, for whom he photographed the likes ofMarilyn Monroe,Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot,Jane Fonda,Fred Astaire,Salvador Dalí,andPablo Picasso, among others. He also photographed a variety of events: the Nuremberg Trial and the Fashion events for Marie-Claire andVogue. His interior design career started inRomeand from the late 1960s he produced overthirty furniture designsas well as completing interior design commissions for prominent figures.
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He went on to launch a furniture line in Rome in1966, inspired by Modernists such as Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier. His inaugural collection includedsteel-banded travertine dining tablesandbronze table lamps, and today many of his pieces are exhibited in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. He became such a famous chronicler of the glamorous “jet set” of the1950s, Rizzo was memorably immortalized as the paparazzoWalter Rizottoin Tintin creator Herge’sThe Castafiore Emeraldin1963. In the mid-2000s, he returned tofurniture design, collaborating withPaul SmithandMallett Antiques. He died on February 25,2013in Paris, France.
About his most important works
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One of the most important works made by Willy Rizzo in the 1970s are thesedining room table and six chairs, made for Mario Sabot. The table is characterized by a rectangular shape with brown formica top banded in aluminum. Mounted on a massive rectangular Formica plinth standard terminating in an extended steel platform base. Regarding the chairs, they are low open barrel back with molded crest rail with diagonal side supports descending to a circular base. The round seat upholstered in green figured velvet and banded in aluminum.
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In the 1970s, Rizzo designed the iconicrectangular coffee tablewith a wood structure and metal covering. This coffee table was designed for Cidue. It is an extendable table with hidden mirrored dry bar. Once opened, it can arrive up to 83,46 inch. As for the structure, it is chromed and raised on ablack wooden base. While the upper floor is made ofbronze smoked glass.
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This is aluxuriousandexceptionalconsole by Willy Rizzo inburl elmwith brass, «Alveo» Range by Willy Rizzo. From 1972, it was retailed by the Italian company Mario Sabot and it is characterized by veneered in quality burl elm in a rich shade of gold/blond color, which is finished with the original soft matt lacquer. The «Alveo» range smartly combinedmodernist designswith richly stained wood alongside polished metals such as brass for awarmandglamorous look.
How can we recognize Rizzo’s style?
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During the ’70s, Rizzo, a great admirer of the sophistication of Mies van der Rohe, Corbusier and Ruhlmann, developed astyle that is very easily recognizabletoday. His pieces havesimple lineswith well-marked geometric shapes using meticulouslyselected materials, mixed withchromeandcopper. It has always remained faithful to the traditional use of the materials of craftsmen, avoiding entering the mass production system and the plastic that was fashionable at the time. The style at the beginning was defined by its customers and by the interiors to be decorated.
Image source:https://www.vntg.com/134403/coffee-table-willy-rizzo-in-steel-and-cow-hide-1970s/
Rizzo’s stylecan be defined with the following words:comfort,solidityandpracticalityare equally important elements. This is why the modular sofas were豪华软垫in leather and equipped with a control panel that controlled the light and volume of the stereo. The doors of his apartment are deprived and closed with the clapping of hands and the low tables were equipped with a bar. As you can say that his photos were beautiful for their rare simplicity, the same way you can say that his furniture worked perfectly in contemporary decor because they have an elegant simplicity and their reason for being. Theoriginalityof his furniture derives from hisindependence作为一个创造者,从未复制或合作,which explains his style sodifferentandpared.
Info source:
http://www.willyrizzo.com/BIO-WILLY-RIZZO-it
http://www.artnet.com/artists/willy-rizzo/
https://auction.catawiki.com/kavels/7722987-willy-rizzo-by-mario-sabot-console-table-alveo-range
