Arturo Pani Furniture
Arturo Pani has been called the Jean Royère of Mexico. Like the adored French master of the mid-20th century, Pani won an upper-class clientele who appreciated the vivacity and exuberance he brought to interiors. His specialty was using new materials to reinterpret traditional stylings — the sensuous curves and arabesques of the Rococo; stately neoclassical motifs — for a modern context. Pani's work is a thing apart: at once theatrical and distinguished, playful and grand.
Pani was born to splendid settings. His father was Mexico’s ambassador to France, and both Pani and his brother Mario, a noted architect of the International style, would study at the prestigious École des Beaux Arts in Paris. Pani made his name in the late 1930s by designing lavish interiors that belied the austere facade of his brother’s new Hotel Reforma in Mexico City. Mexico’s affluent class welcomed Pani’s technique for juxtaposing Mario’s sleek modernist architectural envelope with voluptuous decor. His style became known as the “Acapulco look” in the 1930s, when Pani became the blossoming Pacific resort’s decorator of choice to the jet set. Pani’s own Acapulco villa would become a favorite backdrop for the society photographer Slim Aarons.
Though Pani frequently created furniture along the strict, geometric lines associated with mid-century modernism — and did, on occasion, produce pieces with wildly flowing futuristic lines — his signature designs were those that offered an idiosyncratic, spare-yet-sumptuous take on historical forms.
Pani’s favorite material was wrought iron, usually gilded. With it, he produced tables with elaborate sheaf-of-wheat bases, or scrolling baroque supports; chairs with frames made of iron rods bent to suggest the sinuous seatbacks and cabriole legs of Louis XV pieces; or — jumping a stylistic generation forward — designs with Louis XVI elements such as arrows and chevrons. Pani’s work has again become chic. As you will see on these pages, like few others, Arturo Pani had a true sense of drama. Virtually everything he designed is a showstopper.
Find vintage Arturo Pani coffee tables, armchairs, side tables and other furniture on 1stDibs.
1960s Mexican Mid-Century Modern Vintage Arturo Pani Furniture
Iron
1950s Mexican Mid-Century Modern Vintage Arturo Pani Furniture
Silver Leaf
1950s Mexican Mid-Century Modern Vintage Arturo Pani Furniture
Mirror, Wood
1960s Russian Vintage Arturo Pani Furniture
Malachite
21st Century and Contemporary American Mid-Century Modern Arturo Pani Furniture
Acrylic, Burl, Wood
Mid-20th Century Canadian Mid-Century Modern Arturo Pani Furniture
Metal, Chrome
Mid-20th Century French Arturo Pani Furniture
Marble
2010s Arturo Pani Furniture
Rattan, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Arturo Pani Furniture
Brass
21st Century and Contemporary Indian Anglo-Indian Arturo Pani Furniture
Mahogany
1970s American Vintage Arturo Pani Furniture
Crystal
1980s Italian Grand Tour Vintage Arturo Pani Furniture
Travertine
2010s American Modern Arturo Pani Furniture
Bronze
1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Arturo Pani Furniture
Mirror, Wood
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Neoclassical Arturo Pani Furniture
Rock Crystal, Ormolu
1950s Mexican Mid-Century Modern Vintage Arturo Pani Furniture
Brass, Steel
1950s Mexican Mid-Century Modern Vintage Arturo Pani Furniture
Iron
1960s Mexican Mid-Century Modern Vintage Arturo Pani Furniture
Brass, Bronze
1950s Mexican Mid-Century Modern Vintage Arturo Pani Furniture
Bronze
1950s Mexican Mid-Century Modern Vintage Arturo Pani Furniture
Bronze
