Lino Sabattini Decorative Objects

Italian, 1925-2016

Lino Sabattini was the preeminent figure in modern Italian silver and metalware design. His expansive and diverse body of work is marked by its strength and boldness, whether in dynamic forms that suggest the thrust and power of Italian Futurist art and design or light and curvaceous biomorphic serveware and decorative objects.

Sabattini was largely self-taught as a designer. Born in the northern Italian town of Correggio, he learned metalsmithing techniques while working in the studio of a maker of brass tableware. He also served as an apprentice of sorts to the expatriate German ceramist Roland Hettner, who taught Sabattini about fluidity of form and showed him how shapes derive from the behavior of materials.

At age 30, Sabattini opened a studio in Milan, and his work quickly came to the attention of Gio Ponti, who decided to publish it in Domus, the Italian design legend's influential design and architecture magazine. Ponti also arranged for Sabattini’s creations to be included in a 1956 exhibition of contemporary Italian design in Paris. The principals of Christofle, the revered French silverware maker, were so impressed that they hired the young designer as the firm’s artistic director, a post he held until 1963. Sabattini, who would also go on to design ceramic wares for Rosenthal, returned home to open Argenteria Sabattini in Bregnano, a company still in business today.

A designer with a questing curiosity and ever-evolving aesthetic sensibility, Sabattini couldn’t be pinned down to one particular style. His best-known work, the Como coffee and tea service of 1956, has an elegant, attenuated and energetic form; his Stairs coffee and tea service (1971), meanwhile, is a clever group of simple columnar shapes in stepped heights, which nest together in a compact arrangement. Other Sabattini pieces have dramatic angles, or sweeping, wing-like flourishes, or consist of perforated ovoids somehow reminiscent of sculptures by Brancusi. In any style, Sabattini produced objects of singular fascination.

Find a range of vintage Lino Sabattini vases and other decorative objects on 1stDibs.

Lino Sabattini decorative objects for sale on 1stDibs.

Lino Sabattini decorative objects are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of metal and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Lino Sabattini decorative objects, although silver editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original decorative objects by Lino Sabattini were created in the mid-century modern style in europe during the 20th century. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider decorative objects by Richard Ginori, Dino Martens, and Marcello Fantoni. Prices for Lino Sabattini decorative objects can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $380 and can go as high as $11,125, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $1,782.