furnishings
Rare Game Table by Willy Rizzo
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Creator: Willy Rizzo Period/Style: Modern Country: Italy Date: 1970 Description: A rare game table signed by Willy Rizzo from his brief and lauded 10-year career as a furniture designer. Taking a break from his successful career as a photographer, Willy Rizzo brought the full force of his own "Dolce Vita" lifestyle to furniture design. It all began in 1966 with an impulsive explosion of activity at a small shop in Rome's Piazza di Roma. Demand for his designs grew feverishly and by 1968 he founded a busy manufacturing company outside the city with 150 workers. Rizzo's milieu had long been the jet-setting high society of film and fashion. In his career as a photographer--and thanks in part to his marriage to actress Elsa Martinelli--he had already famously immortalized Brigitte Bardot, Sofia Loren, Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Jane Fonda, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso. As a furniture designer he worked for the same social set--drawing on his personal experience as a jet setter rather than any formal training as a designer. His designs were driven by the stated needs of his clientele and the requirement not just to create something modern but to have it correspond with the oftentimes ancient European spaces where the designs would live. As a result he avoided slavish devotion to modernism, seeking instead fresh, unique designs that were both new, original and yet featured the hand-wrought craftsmanship needed to harmonize in the vaulted halls of a Venetian palazzo. To that end he relied more on the work of artisans than the techniques of mass production. Demand saw Rizzo distribution reach throughout Europe and beyond to New York, Miami, LA . As in this present example, he famously combined materials such as chrome and brass in elegantly austere forms. He chose to limit his attention to only 30 or so pieces of furniture until 1978 when he simply grew bored with business ownership and returned the full intensity of his passionate attention to his first love--photography. Dimensions: 33"W X 29"H 83.75cm W X 73.75cm H Materials: Steel, brass, wool felt, leather Condition: Excellent original condition signed by Willy Rizzo both on the base of one leg and embossed on the leather game surface. Number of items: 1 Item ID: 2332 Price: $16,000 |
