Coffee table / Willy Rizzo
Italian designer and photographer Willy Rizzo (1928-2013) made a name for himself in the 1960s as a chronicler and participant in the Dolce Vita, a glamorous, jet-set lifestyle adopted by many celebrities in the post-war period. While photography was his first love, he developed a passion for interior design in the 1970s and launched a successful second career as a designer of luxury furniture.
In 1968, he moved to Rome and began his career as a furniture designer, starting with his own apartment. Initially for personal use, Willy Rizzo created a series of unique pieces inspired by modernist icons such as Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier.
His famous friends (such as Rodolfo Parisi, Gigli Rizzi, Franco Rapetti, Salvador Dalí, Brigitte Bardot) admired his creations and placed orders with him.
Willy Rizzo quickly went on to design furniture for the apartments of the Italian aristocracy, at the Palazzo Borghese and the Palazzo Ruspoli in the same year. He gained an international reputation as a designer for the rich and famous. In response to ever-increasing demand, he launched his Tivoli-based company dedicated to contemporary designs handcrafted from luxury materials such as wood, marble, stainless steel, brass, and wild boar. His team now numbers 150 employees, and he has opened boutiques in France and across Europe, as well as in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles.
With their clean lines and geometric shapes, Willy Rizzo's tables, chairs and accessories combine contemporary forms with traditional materials, in contrast to his contemporaries like Ettore Sottsass and Vico Magistretti, who favored plastic, foam and synthetic furniture.
In 1978, Willy Rizzo sold his company and returned to photography. However, he never stopped designing furniture until his death in 2013. His creations have been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Opéra Gallery in Monaco.
Coffee table dating from the 1970s, chromed steel structure, tinted mirror top.
Designer: Willy Rizzo
Publisher: Cidue
Dimensions: 120 x 80 x 29 cm