Set of 4 Vela chairs by Enzo Mari for Driade

Italian furniture brand Driade offers modern designs that are joyful, whimsical and slightly mischievous — words that might be used to describe the tree nymph of Greek mythology for which the company is named. Faye Toogood’s chunky, stout Roly Poly armchair and Fabio Novembre’s enigmatic Nemo chair — in which a backrest assumes the form of a human face — are just two examples of Driade’s eclectic furnishings.

Driade was founded in 1968 by brother and sister Enrico and Antonia Astori, and Adelaide Acerbi Astori, Enrico’s wife. Described by the company as a “factory of art,” Driade was focused solely on bringing distinctive and creative seating, case pieces and decorative objects to market in its early years. The brand sought to mass-produce decor and furniture that could also be seen as provocative works of art.

Driade's initial collaborations included Italian designers such as Enzo Mari, Nanda Vigo, Giotto Stoppino and Rodolfo Bonetto, to name a few. In the 1980s, the brand worked with influential and renowned designers from around the globe. In 1984, Driade partnered with French designer Philippe Starck and debuted his iconic Costes armchair during the same year. Projects with architects and furniture designers such as Ron Arad, Toyo Ito, Borek Sipek, Patricia Urquiola and others followed into the 2000s.

Over more than five decades — the company celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2018 — Driade’s fruitful partnerships have culminated in a vast catalog of chairs, sofas, coffee tables and other furnishings for the home and garden that evoke a unique and diverse blend of cultures.

Driade has also garnered international acclaim, winning the Compasso d’Oro award in 1979 and 2001 for Enzo Mari’s Delfira chair and ebony-finished, chipboard-top table, and again in 2008 for Ron Arad’s MT3 rocking armchair.

On 1stDibs, discover a range of vintage and contemporary Driade tables, cabinets, armchairs and other furniture.

Enzo Mari was an influential industrial designer and a beloved curmudgeon who revered Marxism. His vintage mid-century modern designs are simple, functional and poetic. Widely known Mari-designed objects include desk accessories, such as the Formosa perpetual wall calendar, vases, cocktail tables and chandeliers. 

Enzo Mari's work is embedded within the city of Milan, the Italian capital of all things design. In fact, the traffic bollards he devised are part of the city itself: Shaped like "panettone" cakes, they simultaneously direct traffic and provide seating for pedestrians.

In 1974, Mari published Autoprogettazione? (roughly translated as self-design), a Marx-inspired, anti-industrial, do-it-yourself handbook for the everyday person to use to build furniture without the assistance of a glitzy designer or knowledge of complex joinery. Mari’s intent with the publication was to remove the alienation of the creator and manufacturer from the end product by teaching anyone to develop a critical eye for production.

Artek relaunched kits based on the blueprints in the manual in an exhibition at Spazio Rossana Orlandi in 2010. The subsequent collectability of his work was reportedly irksome for Mari because he abhorred the industrial production for which he was becoming known.

Mari’s meager upbringing heavily influenced his politics, and even in childhood, he would come up with ingenious ways to support the family financially. As a designer, the desire to envision and build significant pieces was more important to Mari than devising new marketing and retail sales tactics. He optimistically believed objects could change the world. This view went against the rising consumer mania for every next trend that surfaced in the late 20th century. Not surprisingly, his ecological and economical stance led him to produce fewer objects.

Mari's philosophy did not stop people from desiring his creations, nor prevent other designers from wanting to collaborate with him. Following World War II, he worked for companies like Danese, Olivetti, Artemide, Driade and Alessi, who brought his prodigious designs to the public, and Mari’s work was widely celebrated. 

The Golden Compass, Italy's highest honor for industrial design, was awarded to Mari four times before he died from COVID in 2020, and New York’s Museum of Modern Art has a permanent collection of his objects on display.

On 1stDibs, find a collection of Enzo Mari decorative objects, folk art and serveware.