Gabriella Crespi Sofas
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.
Find vintage Gabriella Crespi furniture on 1stDibs.
2010s Danish Gabriella Crespi Sofas
Fabric, Rattan
1970s Vintage Gabriella Crespi Sofas
Aluminum
1970s German Space Age Vintage Gabriella Crespi Sofas
Leather, Plywood
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Gabriella Crespi Sofas
Metal
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gabriella Crespi Sofas
Rattan, Wood
Mid-20th Century Danish Mid-Century Modern Gabriella Crespi Sofas
Bouclé, Upholstery, Teak
1970s Swiss Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gabriella Crespi Sofas
Leather
1960s British Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gabriella Crespi Sofas
Bouclé, Wood
Mid-20th Century English Chesterfield Gabriella Crespi Sofas
Leather, Beech, Down
Mid-20th Century Swedish Mid-Century Modern Gabriella Crespi Sofas
Wood
1970s Vintage Gabriella Crespi Sofas
Fabric, Bamboo
Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Gabriella Crespi Sofas
Wood
2010s Danish Gabriella Crespi Sofas
Fabric
1970s Swedish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Gabriella Crespi Sofas
Upholstery
