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Carlo Scarpa Loveseats

Italian, 1906-1978

Carlo Scarpa was born in Venice in 1906 and became one of the leading figures of architecture and international design during the 20th century. At merely 21 years old — and still a student at the Academy of Fine Arts — Scarpa began working as a designer for master Murano glassmaker M.V.M. Cappellin. Within a few years, he completely revolutionized the approach to art glass. 

In a short time, under the guidance of Scarpa, the Capellin furnace not only established itself as the top glass company, but above all it introduced modernity and international fame to Murano glassmaking. Scarpa created a personal style of glassmaking, a new vision that irreversibly changed glass production. 

The young Scarpa experimented with new models and colors: his chromatic combinations, impeccable execution and geometric shapes became his modus operandi. Thanks to Scarpa’s continuous research on vitreous matter, Cappellin produced a series of high-quality glass objects, that saw the company revisiting ancient processing techniques such as the watermark and Phoenician decoration. 

When he encountered the challenge of opaque glass, Scarpa proposed introducing textures of considerable chromatic impact, such as glass pastes and glazed glass with bright colors. Scarpa also collaborated in the renovation of Palazzo da Mula in Murano, the home of Cappellin. At the academy, he obtained the diploma of professor of architectural design and obtained an honorary degree from the Venice University Institute of Architecture of which he was director. 

In 1931, Scarpa's collaboration with Cappellin ended, following the bankruptcy of the company because it was not able to withstand the economic crisis linked to the Great Depression. But Scarpa did not go unnoticed by Paolo Venini — in 1933, the young designer became the new artistic director of the biggest glass company in Murano. 

Master glassmakers thought Scarpa's projects and sketches were impossible, but the passionate and curious designer always managed to get exactly what he wanted. Until 1947 he remained at the helm of Venini & Co., where he created some of the best known masterpieces of modern glassmaking. Scarpa’s work with Venini was characterized by the continuous research on the subject, the use of color and techniques that he revisited in a very personal way, and the development of new ways of working with master glassmakers. 

At the beginning of the 1930s, "bubble", "half filigree" and "submerged" glass appeared for the first time on the occasion of the Venice Biennale of 1934. A few years later, at the Biennale and the VI Triennale of Milan, Venini exhibited its lattimi and murrine romane pieces, which were born from a joint idea between Scarpa and Paolo Venini. 

In 1938 Scarpa increased production, diversifying the vases from "objects of use" to sculptural works of art. In the same year he laid the foundation for the famous "woven" glass collection, exhibited the following year. In the subsequent years, Scarpa–Venini continued to exhibit at the Biennale and in various other shows their the "black and red lacquers," the granulari and the incisi, produced in limited series, and the "Chinese," which was inspired by Asian porcelain

Scarpa's creations for Venini garnered an international response and were a great success, leaving forever an indelible mark on the history of glassmaking. The last Biennale in which Carlo Scarpa participated as artistic director of Venini was in 1942. He left the company five years later. 

The time that Scarpa spent in the most important glass factory in Murano would attach a great artistic legacy to the company. His techniques and styles were resumed in the postwar period under the guidance of Tobia Venini, Paolo's son. In the 1950s, after the departure of Scarpa, Fulvio Bianconi was the new visionary at the Biennials with Venini.

On 1stDibs, vintage Carlo Scarpa glass and furniture are for sale, including decorative objects, tables, chandeliers and more.

(Biography provided by Ophir Gallery Inc.)

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Creator: Carlo Scarpa
Cornaro Loveseat by Carlo Scarpa for Simon Gavina, Italy 1973
By Carlo Scarpa
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Cornaro '140' armchair / loveseat by Carlo Scarpa for Simon Gavina, Italy 1973. Stunning solid round dark stained Mahogany wooden frame and thick upholstered cushions. The cushions a...
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1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Carlo Scarpa Loveseats

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Carlo Scarpa later created three museum layouts to prove pivotal in how twentieth-century museums were set up from then on. Between 1955 and 1957, he completed extension work on Treviso’s Gipsoteca Canoviana [the museum that houses Canova’s sculptures] in Possagno, taking a similar experimental approach to the one he used for the Venezuelan Pavilion at [Venice’s] Giardini di Castello which he was building at the same time (1954-56). In Possagno Carlo Scarpa was to create one of his most incredible ever works, which inevitably bears comparison with two other museum layouts that he was working on over the same period, those of the Galleria Nazionale di Sicilia, housed in the Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo (1953-55) and at the Castelvecchio in Verona (1957- 1974), all of which were highly acclaimed, adding to his growing fame. Two other buildings, which are beautifully arranged in spatial terms, can be added to this long list of key works that were started and, in some cases, even completed during the nineteen fifties. After winning the Olivetti Award for architecture in 1956, Scarpa began work in Venice’s Piazza San Marco on an area destined to house products made by the Industrial manufacturers Ivrea. Over the same period (1959-1963), he also worked on renovating and restoring the gardens and ground floor of the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice, which many consider one of his greatest works. While he worked on-site at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Carlo Scarpa also began building a villa in Udine for the Veritti family. To shed some light on how much his work evolved over the years, it may be useful to compare this work with that of his very last building, villa Ottolenghi Bardolino, which was near completion at the time of his sudden death in 1978. Upon completion of villa Veritti over the next ten years, without ever letting up on his work on renovation and layouts, Scarpa accepted some highly challenging commissions which were to make the most of his formal skills, working on the Carlo Felice Theatre in Genoa as well as another theatre in Vicenza. Towards the end of this decade, in 1969, Rina Brion commissioned Carlo Scarpa to build the Brion Mausoleum in San Vito d’Altivole (Treviso), a piece he continued to work on right up until the moment of his death. Nevertheless, even though he was totally absorbed by work on this mausoleum, plenty of other episodes can offer some insight into the final years of his career. As work on the San Vito d’Altivole Mausoleum began to lessen in 1973, Carlo Scarpa started building the new headquarters for the Banca Popolare di Verona. He drew up plans that were surprisingly different from the work he carried out simultaneously on the villa Ottolenghi. 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A myriad of different forms and an equally large number of different pieces, all of which are separate and yet inextricably linked to form a chain that seems to offer no promise of continuity, arising out of these are those whose only justification for being there is to bear the warning “si vis vitam, para mortem,” [if you wish to experience life prepare for death] as if to tell a tale that suggests the circle of time, joining together the commemoration of the dead with a celebration of life. At the entrance of the Brion Mausoleum stand the “propylaea,” followed by a cloister that ends by a small chapel, with an arcosolium bearing the family sarcophagi, the central pavilion, held in place on broken cast iron supports, stands over a mirror-shaped stretch of water and occupies one end of the family’s burial space. 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Carlo Scarpa loveseats for sale on 1stDibs.

Carlo Scarpa loveseats are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of wood and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Carlo Scarpa loveseats, although brown editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original loveseats by Carlo Scarpa were created in the mid-century modern style in italy during the 1970s. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider loveseats by Mario Bellini, B&B Italia, and ISA Bergamo. Prices for Carlo Scarpa loveseats can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $16,242 and can go as high as $16,242, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $16,242.

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