Paolo Buffa Dresser Italian Midcentury 40's

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Paolo Buffa Dresser Italian Midcentury 40's

About the Item

Beautiful three-drawer console with clean and rational lines Paolo Buffa production late 1940s. In his long professional activity, Milanese architect Paolo Buffa (1903-1970) tried his hand at designing homes and offices, naval furnishings, and especially, furniture. Paolo Buffa began designing furniture, sideboards, and cabinets from the late 1920s in Gio Ponti's studio, where, among other things, he initiated a lively professional and creative partnership with his colleague and fellow citizen Antonio Cassi Ramelli. Wanting to give the works of the first period a stylistic label, that of neoclassicism, is even futile since great are the modernity and sobriety that distinguish it, characteristics well understood by contemporaries who consider him one of the most influential interior designers in the Milan area. Subsequently, one encounters many of the architect's works of twentieth-century derivation, others even harking back to the admirable examples of English furniture-making of different periods. His furniture, made by craftsmen of recognized professionalism who used highly refined materials, was exhibited at various Triennials and were objects intended mainly for the apartments of the wealthy Milanese bourgeoisie. In the sphere of luxury furnishings, the appeal to forms of tradition and the use of precious materials, responded in fact to the user's demand to have objects whose beauty also responded to a "need for decoration" and allowed the executing artisans to express to the best of their skill and executive expertise, and sensitivity in the use and treatment of materials. Buffa is one of those figures who, with Ulrich, Buzzi, Cassi, Marelli, etc., and numerous in Europe as well, have continued over time to work drawing from the figurative and constructive heritage of historical styles, updating it and making it a driving force in craft production and medium industry. We should also not forget the close collaboration with Quarti, a skilled Milanese cabinetmaker, and in the 1950s with companies destined to become leaders in the industrial production of Italian furniture such as Cassina of Meda. Finally, we feel it is necessary to emphasize some recurring characteristics in Buffa's work, and in the furniture we have in the catalog, such as the use of precious materials (woods such as Cuban Mahogany, Rosewood, Ebony and others) and sophisticated workmanship (delicate carvings, elaborate inlays casting and chiseling), the extensive use of decoration, whether figurative or geometric (fillets to emphasize edges and corners, inlays to highlight significant points or to qualify surfaces), and again the ability to create objects with perfect and balanced proportions and great elegance.

Creator:
Paolo Buffa (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 24.81 in (63 cm)Width: 48.82 in (124 cm)Depth: 15.75 in (40 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Walnut
Place of Origin:
Italy
Period:
1940-1949
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1946
Condition:
Seller Location:
bari, IT
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU4076331064502

Shop All Paolo Buffa

Paolo Buffa

With a surname that loosely translates to a synonym for “bizarre” in Italian, Milanese designer and architect Paolo Buffa is best known for capturing the best of both old and new in his plush, enveloping lounge chairs and wingback chairs as well as his range of modern tables, each dazzling and provocative but built using classical techniques.

Purposely playful and airy, mid-century Italian interiors encouraged merriment and socializing. Buffa’s work was well suited to this, but unlike the postwar designers who established recognizable trademarks and signatures, his vintage furniture for Cassina and other firms — the sculptural side tables and case pieces of walnut and solid oak, the luxurious sheepskin sofas — differed considerably from one design to the next, making them appealing to a range of interior decorators and socialites with specific taste. The son of a highly sought-after artist, Giovanni Buffa, Paolo graduated in 1927 from Politecnico di Milano. He then spent time working under architects and designers Gio Ponti and Emilio Lancia. Ponti, who himself crafted thousands of furnishings and endlessly creative rooms, was so taken with the young designer that in 1928 he featured his simple and elegant rosewood dressing table in his new magazine, Domus.

After opening a firm with his regular collaborator Antonio Cassi Ramelli, Buffa became one of the leading tastemakers of Italian mid-century modern furnishings, designing for villas and residential buildings across the country. His style was a mix of Art Deco, Rationalism, neoclassicism and a bit of whimsy. He used high-quality materials and regularly worked with local ateliers known for their fine craftsmanship to produce his designs, such as Serafino Arrighi and Marelli & Colico. In 1940, he partnered with the Mario Quarti furniture studio on the royal palace of Albania’s King Zog, with Buffa designing the furniture, and in 1951, Egypt’s King Farouk enlisted him to redecorate his yacht.

While Buffa’s transcendent pieces are now collector’s items, there are a few still in production, such as those he made with Angelo Marelli. His eponymous firm, the Italian furniture producer Eredi Marelli, still manufactures some designs based on Buffa’s archives.

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