Collectors of vintage mid-century modern furniture will find that the work of Italian designer Vittorio Dassi is elegant and sculptural, brimming with all of the clean, angular lines and pleasing symmetry associated with the best of the era’s offerings. While Dassi's name is less known to enthusiasts of the period’s furniture than the likes of Ico and Luisa Parisi, Franco Albini and other leading lights of mid-20th century Italian design, his case pieces, tables and seating will prove no less worthy of hunting down at today's flea markets and online marketplaces.
Wood was Dassi's preferred material — he favored rosewood, mahogany, walnut and other species for his covetable desks and wall units, which frequently featured decorative flourishes such as glass inlays, while a sideboard or buffet’s fronts might boast hand-carved geometric cutouts in lieu of brass door handles.
While little is known about Dassi's early life, it is believed that his career in furniture design began in 1940 at his family's company Dassi Mobili Moderni, in Lissone, Italy. Shortly thereafter, he took over managing the company from his father.
While Dassi produced dry bars and other case pieces during the 1950s that featured the motifs and ornament that are today attributed to the Art Deco movement, he created sumptuous mahogany nightstands topped with black glass and minimalist teak coffee tables that better represented the forward-looking spirit of mid-century modernism. His wall units of the era for Mobili Cantù are works of art — crafted in walnut and featuring birch veneers and high-gloss lacquer finishes as well as a single door front decorated with an abstract painting or otherwise provocative illustration, these structures would undoubtedly prove quite impressive to the likes of Poul Cadovius and George Nelson.
Dassi often collaborated with Italian architect, editor and furniture designer Gio Ponti. Ponti designed thousands of furnishings and products — from cabinets, mirrors and chairs to ceramics and coffeemakers — and his buildings, including the brawny Pirelli Tower (1956) in his native Milan, and the castle-like Denver Art Museum (1971), were erected in 14 countries. A collaboration between Dassi and Ponti of note is the pair’s work on the Hotel Royal in Naples — Ponti was commissioned to design the hotel and he partnered with Dassi to design the hotel's furnishings.
Today, Dassi Mobili Moderni S.R.L. is still in operation in Lissone.
Find vintage Vittorio Dassi furniture on 1stDibs.
Rare Credenza by Vittorio Dassi
By Vittorio Dassi
Located in Torino, IT
Sideboard by Vittorio Dassi Rare piece of furniture designed by Vittorio Dassi. Dassi founded his company in the 1950s and produced high-end furniture, combining craftsmanship with...
Brass
Drybar & Sideboard by Vittorio Dassi for Palazzi dell'Arte Cantù 1950s
By Vittorio Dassi, Palazzi dell’Arte Cantù
Located in Byron Bay, NSW
Vittorio Dassi design drybar/sideboard for Palazzi dell’Arte Cantù. Rosewood bar cabinet with two side doors, mirrored central bar compartment with flap opening and lights, front dec...
Brass
Mid-Century Modern Wall Unit by Vittorio Dassi, Italy, 1960s
By Vittorio Dassi
Located in Brussels, BE
Mid-Century Modern wall unit by Vittorio Dassi, Italy, 1960s.
Wood
$4,687Sale Price|27% Off
Art Deco Dassi Walnut and Glass Top Italian Commode Chests of Drawers, 1950
By Vittorio Dassi
Located in Roma, Lazio
Very very special for its design of this Vittorio e Plinio Dassi's chest of drawers, from the middle of the century. All veneered in walnut, with green lacquered glass top. Commode...
Glass, Walnut
Vittorio Dassi Amboyna Burl Sideboard with Black Glass Top, Italy, 1950s
By Vittorio Dassi
Located in Traversetolo, IT
This magnificent sideboard, designed by Vittorio Dassi and produced in Italy during the 1950s, is an outstanding example of the refined elegance and exceptional craftsmanship that ma...
Brass
Bar cabinet by Vittorio Dassi, 1950s
By Vittorio Dassi, Dassi Mobili Moderni
Located in Premariacco, IT
An elegant Italian bar cabinet from the 1950s, attributed to Vittorio Dassi, characterized by a striking visual presence and a refined modernist style. The piece features a stunning...
Brass
Italian Mid-Century Sideboard or Credenza by Vittorio Dassi, 1950's
By Vittorio Dassi
Located in North Miami, FL
Stunning Sideboard and/or credenza designed by Vittorio & Plinio Dassi in the 1950s. Its aesthetic uniqueness is given by the original sculptural shape design of the drawers and lat...
Glass, Wood
Vittorio Dassi Mid-Century Modern Italian Mahogany Cabinet Bar, 1950s
By Vittorio Dassi
Located in Puglia, Puglia
This bar cabinet was designed by the famous Italian design Vittorio Dassi, Italy, 1950. The cabinet is covered in herringbone mahogany with maple inlays and glass top, the central in...
Marble, Brass
Italian Midcentury Revolving Cabinet Bar by Vittorio Dassi in 1950s
By Vittorio Dassi
Located in Traversetolo, IT
This magnificent dry bar cabinet, designed by Vittorio Dassi and produced in Italy during the 1950s, is an extraordinary example of the sophisticated elegance and exceptional craftsm...
Brass
Vittorio Dassi Mid-Century Modern Italian Sideboard, 1950
By Dassi Mobili Moderni, Vittorio Dassi
Located in Puglia, Puglia
This sideboard was designed by the famous Italian design Vittorio Dassi, produced by the homonymous company: Dassi Lissone Milan, Italy, 1950s, the furniture is in walnut and green g...
Brass
$5,096Sale Price|19% Off
Italian-made Deco-style bar cabinet by Vittorio Dassi 1940s-50s
By Vittorio Dassi
Located in Milano, Lombardia
Bar cabinet in the "deco" style designed and produced between the 1940s and 1950s by Vittorio Dassi. the cabinet has three storage compartments. The central one has a flap door and ...
Brass
Vittorio Dassi Walnut, Sycamore & Brass Credenza, Sideboard Italy 1960
By Vittorio Dassi
Located in Miami, FL
Vittorio DASSI long credenza, buffet, sideboard with 5 doors made in the 1960s. Sycamore and walnut with beveled green glass tops. In good original condition Brass ornaments on the d...
Sycamore, Walnut, Glass
Italian Palisander Satined Glass Sideboard, Manufactured by Dassi Lissone, 1953
By Ico Parisi, Vittorio Dassi
Located in Wolfurt, AT
Sideboard - Design by Alessandro, Vittorio and Plinio Dassi, manufactured by Dassi Lissone in Italy, 1953. This sideboard is made out of Palisander and has a second level out of sati...
Glass, Palisander
Vittorio Dassi Rosewood Sideboard with Black Glass Top, Italian, 1940
By Vittorio Dassi
Located in Premariacco, IT
An important and refined Italian sideboard from the 1940s, attributed to Vittorio Dassi, exemplifying the elegant Italian design of the period. A piece of furniture with a striking...
Brass
$14,000Sale Price|37% Off
La Permanente Mobili Cantù Italian Teak Walnut Glass Modular Sideboard 1950s
By La Permanente Mobili Cantù, Vittorio Dassi
Located in Camden, ME
Permanente Mobili Cantù Italian Sideboard with Glass Shelves, circa 1955 An exceptionally well-executed sideboard produced by Permanente Mobili Cantù, one of the most respected cabi...
Bronze
Italian Mid-Century Sideboard Three-Door in Birch Briar Root by Dassi, 1950s
By Vittorio Dassi, Dassi Mobili Moderni
Located in Traversetolo, IT
Rare sideboard three-doors designed by Vittorio Dassi in the 1950s. It's a very fine item made using precious materials as well as the three-doors made of birch briar root, finished ...
Brass
$11,840Sale Price|20% Off
Unique Rosewood Cabinet by Vittorio Dassi with Painting by Pietro Toppi, 1955
By Vittorio Dassi, Consorzio Esposizione Mobili Cantù
Located in bergen op zoom, NL
Stunning unique rosewood storage cabinet designed by Vittorio Dassi, Italy with unique hand painted panel signed by the famous Italian artist Pietro Toppi. This cabinet was clearly a...
Brass
Vittorio Dassi Midcentury Italian Modern Walnut Room Divider/ Buffet / Credenza
By Vittorio Dassi
Located in Queens, NY
Midcentury Italian Modern buffet / room divider / credenza with a walnut case featuring three upper drawers with brass drawer pulls over three hinged cabinets with decorative geometr...
Metal, Brass
Italian Mid-Century Walnut & Maple Sideboard by Vittorio Dassi, 1950s
By Vittorio Dassi
Located in Queens, NY
Italian Mid-Century (1950s) walnut & maple sideboard with and open bottom shelf below 2 Pair of doors centering a carved relief panel above a blue & gold painted shelf with a...
Glass, Maple, Paint, Walnut
$4,687Sale Price|46% Off
Modular Sideboard with 3 Bodies on Legs attributed to Vittorio Dassi, Set of 3
By Vittorio Dassi
Located in Montelabbate, PU
Modular sideboard attributed to Vittorio Dassi, 1950s. Rosewood structure, brass hardware, aqua green decorated glass top with solid rosewood frame. Each of the three modules has a p...
Brass
Mid-Century Modern Italian Showcase Cabinet by Vittorio Dassi, 1950s
By Vittorio Dassi
Located in Brussels, BE
Italian Showcase cabinet by Vittorio Dassi, 1950s.
Glass, Wood