Antonio Citterio F

Driven by his belief that beautiful surroundings can heighten the enjoyment of even mundane everyday rituals, Italian architect and industrial designer Antonio Citterio creates furniture that combines sophisticated form with functionality. Citterio’s timeless neoclassical-inspired chairs, outdoor furniture, desks and other pieces have earned him a place among the most influential furniture designers working in his native country.

Born in 1950 in Meda, Citterio grew up just a stone's throw away from the artistic hub of Milan. In 1972, at just 22 years old, he opened his first design studio and designed a chair for the La Rinascente department store while completing his studies in architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan. Citterio established a partnership with famed furniture designer Terry Dwan, and the pair worked together during the 1980s and 1990s, designing striking buildings in European cities as well as Japan. He is currently chairperson at an interior design and architecture firm with fellow architect Patricia Viel and eight other partners. 

Citterio taught at the Università della Svizzera Italiana in Mendrisio, Switzerland, from 2006 to 2016. He holds art director roles for high-end furniture manufacturers Maxalto, Arclinea and Azucena, and today, Citterio lounge chairs, sofas and other furnishings are in hotels all over the world. Citterio’s work is synonymous with luxury, and has yielded collaborations with reputable brands such as Kartell, Knoll, Flexform, Vitra and B&B Italia. His Sity seating collection for the latter and kitchen furnishings for Arclinea are among his best-known innovations.

Citterio has received many awards and accolades for his design work, including the Compasso d’Oro. He was also given the title of “Royal Designer for Industry” by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts in 2008. 

Find Antonio Citterio seating, lighting, tables, case pieces and other furniture on 1stDibs.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw sweeping social change and major scientific advances — both of which contributed to a new aesthetic: modernism. Rejecting the rigidity of Victorian artistic conventions, modernists sought a new means of expression. References to the natural world and ornate classical embellishments gave way to the sleek simplicity of the Machine Age. Architect Philip Johnson characterized the hallmarks of modernism as “machine-like simplicity, smoothness or surface [and] avoidance of ornament.”

Early practitioners of modernist design include the De Stijl (“The Style”) group, founded in the Netherlands in 1917, and the Bauhaus School, founded two years later in Germany.

Followers of both groups produced sleek, spare designs — many of which became icons of daily life in the 20th century. The modernists rejected both natural and historical references and relied primarily on industrial materials such as metal, glass, plywood, and, later, plastics. While Bauhaus principals Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe created furniture from mass-produced, chrome-plated steel, American visionaries like Charles and Ray Eames worked in materials as novel as molded plywood and fiberglass. Today, Breuer’s Wassily chair, Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona chair — crafted with his romantic partner, designer Lilly Reich — and the Eames lounge chair are emblems of progressive design and vintage originals are prized cornerstones of collections.

It’s difficult to overstate the influence that modernism continues to wield over designers and architects — and equally difficult to overstate how revolutionary it was when it first appeared a century ago. But because modernist furniture designs are so simple, they can blend in seamlessly with just about any type of décor. Don’t overlook them.

The right table lamp, outwardly sculptural chandelier or understated wall pendant can work wonders for your home. While we’re indebted to thinkers like Thomas Edison for critically important advancements in lighting and electricity, we’re still finding new ways to customize illumination to fit our personal spaces all these years later. A wide range of antique and vintage lighting can be found on 1stDibs.

Today, lighting designers like the self-taught Bec Brittain have used the flexible structure of LEDs to craft glamorous solutions by working with what is typically considered a harsh lighting source. By integrating glass and mirrors, reflection can be used to soften the glow from LEDs and warmly welcome light into any space.

Although contemporary innovators continue to impress, some of the classics can’t be beat. 

Just as gazing at the stars allows you to glimpse the universe’s past, vintage chandeliers like those designed by Gino Sarfatti and J. & L. Lobmeyr, for example, put on a similarly stunning show, each with a rich story to tell.

As dazzling as it is, the Arco lamp, on the other hand, prioritizes functionality — it’s wholly mobile, no drilling required. Designed in 1962 by architect-product designers Achille & Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, the piece takes the traditional form of a streetlamp and creates an elegant, arching floor fixture for at-home use.

There is no shortage of modernist lighting similarly prized by collectors and casual enthusiasts alike — there are Art Deco table lamps created in a universally appreciated style, the Tripod floor lamp by T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, Greta Magnusson Grossman's sleek and minimalist Grasshopper lamps and, of course, the wealth of mid-century experimental lighting that emerged from Italian artisans at Arredoluce, FLOS and many more are hallmarks in illumination innovation. 

With decades of design evolution behind it, home lighting is no longer just practical. Crystalline shaping by designers like Gabriel Scott turns every lighting apparatus into a luxury accessory. A new installation doesn’t merely showcase a space; carefully chosen ceiling lights, table lamps and floor lamps can create a mood, spotlight a favorite piece or highlight your unique personality.

The sparkle that your space has been missing is waiting for you amid the growing collection of antique, vintage and contemporary lighting for sale on 1stDibs.