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Pair of Gabriella Crespi Candelabras, circa 1970, Italy

About the Item

Pair of Candelabras by Gabriella Crespi. Made with shell and bronze. Gilt bronze mount holding two large natural shells. Very decorative. Signed by the designer. Circa 1970, Italy Very good vinatge condition. Born in 1922, Gabriella Crespi studies architecture at the Politecnico in Milan, where her work is permeated by her perspective on Le Corbusier’s and Frank Lloyd Wright’s design experience. Since the 1950s, she has dedicated herself to the creation and worldwide circulation of furniture and other objects that balance design and sculptural abstraction. Thanks to her always original conception and ideas, to the articulated forms that meet the needs of contemporary design, and to the amazing ability to transform objects by adding openings, closings, and changes in function, Gabriella Crespi has conquered the international scene in a short time. Her creative journey still incisively inspires the expressive creativity of the current generation of artists. Mid-Century Modern (MCM) is a design movement in interior, product, graphic design, architecture, and urban development that was popular from roughly 1945 to 1969, during the post–World War II period. The term was used descriptively as early as the mid-1950s and was defined as a design movement by Cara Greenberg in her 1984 book Mid-Century Modern: Furniture of the 1950s. It is now recognized by scholars and museums worldwide as a significant design movement. The MCM design aesthetic is modern in style and construction, aligned with the Modernist movement of the period. It is typically characterized by clean, simple lines and honest use of materials, and it generally does not include decorative embellishments.

Creator:

Gabriella Crespi (Designer)

Dimensions:

Height: 13.38 in (33.99 cm)Width: 12.45 in (31.63 cm)Depth: 10.56 in (26.83 cm)

Sold As:

Set of 2

Style:

Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)

Materials and Techniques:

Bronze,Shell

Place of Origin:

Italy

Period:

Mid-20th Century

Date of Manufacture:

1970

Condition:

Wear consistent with age and use. Very Good Vintage Condition.

Seller Location:

Girona, ES

Reference Number:

1stDibs: LU952637617472

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Shop All Gabriella Crespi

Gabriella Crespi

Bronze discs that open up like clamshells for storage and fold back in to become side tables. Sleek cubes barely suspended off the ground that transform into full-size dining tables. Clean-lined boxes that contain multilevel shelving. Looking at the work of Italian designer Gabriella Crespi, born in 1922 and who still produced furniture in her Milan studio until her death in 2017, it’s hard to believe that many of these highly functional pieces — modernist Rubik’s Cubes of materials, colors and ergonomics — were created decades ago.

Among her best-known creations, the bronze Ellisse table, 1976, and her bronze-and-lacquer Yang-Yin bar, 1979, encapsulate a designer who had a strong dualism in her vision, mixing humble and precious materials, for instance, or creating geometric shapes that were softened by sensual surfaces. Crespi began studying architecture in 1944 at the Politecnico, in Milan, where she was among just a handful of women, and became profoundly influenced by the work of Charles-Édouard "Le Corbusier" Jeanneret and Frank Lloyd Wright. After getting married and having children, she launched her own collections, from jewelry to furniture, and soon gained a loyal following, with design houses such as Maison Dior snapping pieces up for their own lines.

She began work on her most iconic collection, Plurimi, in the late 1960s, and the series — including her Dama table, which plays on the themes of volume, light and adaptability that Crespi has explored throughout her career — flourished through the 1970s and early ’80s. Then there is her famed Z desk, from a mid-1970s series, which manages to be both stylish and humorous, looking like it’s ready to leap off the floor at any moment. Well-born and beautiful, Crespi garnered attention among the jet set. She was a muse to Valentino, and her pieces appeared in the homes of Princess Grace of Monaco, the Shah of Iran and Greek shipping magnate George Livanos.

In 1987, with her children now adults, the designer surprised everyone when she moved to the foot of the Indian Himalayas to study with the guru Sri Muniraj. This turned into a 20-year self-imposed exile that, if anything, made her pieces even more sought-after by collectors.