21st Century by A.Branzi Italian Polichrome Modular Marble Floor and Coating

Andrea Branzi was born in Florence in 1938 and studied as an architect at the Florence School of Architecture, receiving a degree in 1966.

From 1964–74, Branzi was a founding member of the experimental group Archizoom, which envisioned the No-Stop-City among other projects. A key member of the Studio Alchimia, founded in 1976, he went on to associate with the Memphis Group in the 1980s. Branzi lived and worked in Milan, and until 2009 he was a professor and chairman of the School of Interior Design at the Polytechnic University of Milan.

Branzi distinguished himself as a co-founder of Domus Academy, the first international post-graduate school for design. He was a three-time recipient of the Compasso d’Oro, honored for individual or group effort in 1979, 1987 and 1995. Branzi’s work was featured in the Venice Biennale and Milan Triennale, and he curated the design exhibitions of the latter. He was widely published and was frequently invited to lecture internationally. 

In 2008, Branzi was named an Honorary Royal Designer in the United Kingdom and he received an honorary degree from La Sapienza in Rome. That same year, his work was featured in an installation at the Fondation Cartier, Paris. 

Branzi’s works are held in the permanent collections of the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Israel Museum, Jerusalem; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, among others.

Find vintage Andrea Branzi floor lamps, table lamps, armchairs and other furniture on 1stDibs. 

(Biography provided by Goldwood)

With the establishment of Up & Up in 1969, marble takes on new forms and explores new applications becoming the favorite material of the greatest designers, who have transformed it into objects, furnishings, accessories, bathrooms, elegant cladding, refined inlays and exclusive workings for prestigious architectural projects. After a decade of development and growth, in 1979 Up & Up became UpGroup, a more complex reality that today stands out among the Italian excellence leaders in the production and processing of marble. The company resides in Tuscany, at the feet of the Apuan Alps, in a “middle” land between the blue sea and the whiteness of the extraordinary quarries of the Carrara area, in which Michelangelo came to personally choose the most unique and precious marbles to carry out his works. Over the long period, the company has developed important research projects on new processing technologies, taking a pioneering role towards innovative techniques that have contributed to the profound change in the roles and the way the designers work. Among these: laser cutting, a unique project developed in partnership with the CNR (National Research Council) and the universities of Pisa and Florence, thanks to which it was possible to cut and engrave the stone with extreme precision, up to a minimum thickness of 3 mm.