Pair of "Butterfly" Sconces by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Flos
View Similar Items
Pair of "Butterfly" Sconces by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Flos
About the Item
- Creator:Flos (Manufacturer),Afra & Tobia Scarpa (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 21 in (53.34 cm)Width: 19 in (48.26 cm)Length: 21 in (53.34 cm)
- Sold As:Set of 2
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:1980-1989
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1980s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use.
- Seller Location:Los Angeles, CA
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU794724513872
Afra & Tobia Scarpa
Widely recognized as superstars of postmodern Italian design, husband-and-wife team Afra and Tobia Scarpa (1937–2011; b. 1935) collaboratively created chairs, sofas and other furniture that work equally well in both traditional and cutting-edge environments.
Ranging from architecture and interior design to furniture and clothing, the Scarpas’ practice from its beginnings in the mid-1950s to the 21st century has included a diverse scope of projects combining new technology with thoughtful function and sculptural yet simple forms.
Afra Bianchin and Tobia Scarpa met as architecture students at the Università Iuav di Venezia. In a class led by architect and furniture designer Franco Albini, they created their first collaborative piece, the Pigreco armchair, later produced with Gavina. After graduating in 1957, Tobia worked for Murano glass company Venini & Co. before the couple opened a studio in Afra’s hometown, Montebelluna, in 1960. (Tobia, the son of famed glass artist and architect Carlo Scarpa, was born in Venice.)
For Afra and Tobia, a close collaborative process was pivotal to the success of their designs. The duo was also prolific — they designed for the most influential European manufacturers, including B&B Italia, Cassina, Knoll and FLOS. With respect to the latter, Afra and Tobia were among the legendary Italian lighting maker’s earliest collaborators, and their pioneering designs for the brand included the Papillon lamp, one of the first fixtures to use halogen technology. Their most recognized designs include the Bastiano sofa (1962), the Vanessa bed (1959), the Coronado sofa (1966) and the Soriana seating collection (1970). Work on the Soriana sofa began in late 1969 for an early 1970 debut, and it feels as radical today as it did in its heyday.
Architecture was also a central part of Afra and Tobia’s practice, which spanned residential buildings and factories for Italian companies such as Benetton. Their commissions for the global fashion brand included numerous industrial projects, from textile plants to storefronts. By 1985, Afra and Tobia Scarpa’s work was celebrated in a 30-year retrospective at Center Four in Queens, New York. Looking around the 30,000-square-foot exhibition space, Afra joked to the New York Times, “Seeing all those things makes us feel very tired, and now we feel that maybe we worked too much.”
It was not too much for their legacy, as Afra and Tobia Scarpa’s work continues to inspire new generations. Scarpa designs are in collections at the Louvre, the Museum of Modern Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The couple was awarded the Compasso d’Oro in 1970 for the Soriana armchair.
Find vintage Afra & Tobia Scarpa furniture today on 1stDibs.
Flos
Imaginative lighting is a longtime hallmark of modern Italian design. Following in the footsteps of innovative companies such as Artemide and Arteluce, the company FLOS brought a fresh aesthetic philosophy to the Italian lighting field in the 1960s, one that would produce several of the iconic floor lamp, table lamp and pendant light designs of the era.
FLOS — Latin for “flower” — was founded in the northern town of Merano in 1962 by Cesare Cassina (of the famed Cassina furniture-making family) and Dino Gavina, a highly cultured businessman who believed that artistic ideas espoused in postwar Italy could inform commercial design. The two enlisted brothers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni as their first designers.
Even before FLOS was formally incorporated, the Castiglionis gave the firm one of its enduring successes with the Taraxacum pendant and associated designs made by spraying an elastic polymer on a metal armature. (George Nelson had pioneered the technique in the United States in the early 1950s.) For other designs, the brothers found inspiration in everyday objects. Suggestive of streetlights, their Arco floor lamp, with its chrome boom and ball-shaped shade sweeping out from a marble block base, has become a staple of modernist decors. Designing for FLOS since 1966, Tobia Scarpa has also been inspired by the commonplace. His folded-metal Foglio sconces resemble a shirt cuff; his carved marble Biagio table lamp looks like a jai alai basket.
In 1973, FLOS purchased Arteluce, the company founded in 1939 by Gino Sarfatti, and it continues to produce his designs. In recent decades, FLOS has contracted work from several noted designers, including Marcel Wanders and Jasper Morrison. As instantly recognizable as they are, many FLOS designs remain accessible. While FLOS lighting is the essence of modernity, its sleek, subtle designs can be used to strike a sculptural note in even traditional spaces.
Browse a broad range of FLOS lighting fixtures at 1stDibs.
- Foglio Sconce by Tobia Scarpa for FlosBy Flos, Tobia ScarpaLocated in Los Angeles, CAFoglio sconce by Tobia Scarpa. Current production by Flos. Foglio wall lamp provides indirect light. The lamp’s body is formed by power-p...Category
2010s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
MaterialsSteel
$500 / item - 'Nictea' Pendant by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for FlosBy Flos, Afra & Tobia ScarpaLocated in Los Angeles, CANictea pendant by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Flos. A cloud like all polished brass pendant featuring a bulbous top and bottom shade, sandwiched in-between a perforated brass ring. The...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsBrass, Steel
$6,500 / item - Bilobo Pendant by Afra & Tobia Scarpa for FlosBy Flos, Afra & Tobia ScarpaLocated in Los Angeles, CATwo Bilobo pendants by Afra & Tobia Scarpa for Flos. Designed and manufactured in Italy, circa 1960's. Glass, aluminum, painted metal, vinyl cord. Original ...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal, Aluminum
- 'Abatina' Table Lamp by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for FlosBy Afra & Tobia Scarpa, FlosLocated in Los Angeles, CA'Abatina' table lamp by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Flos. Designed and manufactured in Italy, circa the 1980s. Beautifully crafted double-panel wrapped contraption by the duo designers...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
MaterialsBrass, Steel
- 'Nictea' Pendant by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for FlosBy Tobia Scarpa, FlosLocated in Los Angeles, CANictea pendant by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Flos. A cloud like all polished nickel pendant featuring a bulbous top and bottom shade, sandwiched in-between a perforated brass ring. Th...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsBrass, Nickel
- Model 802.1 Sconces by Tobia Scarpa for VeniniBy Venini, Tobia ScarpaLocated in Los Angeles, CAModel 802.1 Sconces by Tobia Scarpa for Venini. Designed and manufactured in Italy, 1965. Satin glass diffuser with brushed glass incalmo strip...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
MaterialsNickel, Brass
$3,400 / item
- Rare Pair of OTI Sconces by Afra Y Tobia Scarpa for Flos, Italy, 1983By Flos, Afra & Tobia ScarpaLocated in Berlin, DEWhite China screen. Anodized metal reflector. Labeled flos. 1 x E14 each 100 watts max. Both in excellent condition. To be on the safe side, the l...Category
Vintage 1980s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
MaterialsAluminum, Brass
$2,250 Sale Price / set23% Off - Early production steel Foglio Sconces by Afra & Tobia Scarpa for Flos, 1960sBy Afra & Tobia Scarpa, FlosLocated in Varese, LombardiaSet of 4 "Foglio" sconces design by Tobia Scarpa and produced by Flos since 1966. The wall lights are made of chrome plated and white painted Metal. This set belongs to an early prod...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Space Age Wall Lights and Sconces
MaterialsSteel, Chrome
- White Laquered Metal 2-Lights Sconce Foglio by Afra Tobia Scarpa for Flos, 1966By Afra & Tobia Scarpa, FlosLocated in Varese, LombardiaThis wall lamp mod. Foglio was designed by Afra & Tobia Scarpa and produced by Flos in the 1960s. It is made from heavy steel sheet and painted in a white color. The lamp belongs to ...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Space Age Wall Lights and Sconces
MaterialsSteel
- Afra & Tobia Scarpa, Bollo, A Pair of Wall Lights, Flos, 1979By Afra & Tobia Scarpa, FlosLocated in Paris, FRAfra & Tobia Scarpa (1935-2011 & 1935-) « Bollo » A white and a black and white lacquered metal wall lights in the form a fan. Supported with a pierced cylinder whose circular sect...Category
Vintage 1970s Italian Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
MaterialsMetal
- Flos, pair of Quarto wall lamps by Afra e Tobia Scarpa. Italy 1970sBy Afra & Tobia Scarpa, FlosLocated in Catania, CTPoor vintage condition with evident trace of age and use included some loss of lacquer. One lamp has a slight deformation on the upper part of the clear polycarbonate frame, the othe...Category
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
MaterialsMetal
- White Foglio Wall Lamps by Tobia & Afra Scarpa for Flos, 1960s Set of 2By Flos, Afra & Tobia ScarpaLocated in Lasne, BEPair of sconces in white color metal. stamped Flos. Repainted. Wear due to time and age of the sconces.Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
MaterialsMetal