"Flaminia" Coffee Table by Willy Rizzo, Italy, circa 1970

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"Flaminia" Coffee Table by Willy Rizzo, Italy, circa 1970

About the Item

Luxurious coffee table model "Flaminia," designed by Willy Rizzo, manufactured in Italy in 1970. This beautiful table is crafted from the highest quality chrome metal and brass with two smoke glass tops. This use of materials creates an eye-catching appearance, making this table a wonderful find for anyone looking to give their space a sense of luxury. Italian design at it's finest! In good original condition with minor wear consistent with age and use, preserving a beautiful patina. About the designer: Imagination and necessity launched Willy Rizzo into the world of furniture design. As a photographer of playboys and starlets, he had a ready-made customer base eager to build their living quarters around an ultra-modern Rizzo piece and items that remain as timeless as his images. Rizzo’s original venture into furniture design began in Rome and took place during an often reported visit to a Roman hair salon on the Piazza di Spagna in 1966. By testing the hairdresser’s knowledge of local real estate agents, he ended up signing a six-month lease on an abandoned commercial apartment, barely habitable and without running water. Rizzo quickly set about turning the empty office into a living space, complete with brown and gold walls and custom-designed sofas, coffee tables, consoles and hi-fi storage units. Using a small group of local artisans recommended by the hairdresser who pointed him toward the accommodation, he completed the customised apartment, which acted as a template of sorts for the majority of his commissions to come. Though never his intention to become a furniture designer, Rizzo's friends, clients and contacts, many forming the upper crust of the fashion and film industries, fell in love with his creations and he was swamped with orders and requests. Fittingly, Rizzo’s first commission came from Ghighi Cassini, the American Hearst newspaper columnist and socialite who coined the term "jet set" to describe the socialites and socialite lifestyle that Fellini immortalised in La Dolce VITA. Willy’s work for Cassini effortlessly blended Neoclassicism with modern styles and its success brought a swathe of Italian high-society to him. Willy Rizzo was uniquely placed as a designer for the Dolce VITA, being himself a part of the world for which he was designing. Infamous playboys, such as Rodolfo Parisi, Gigli Rizzi and Franco Rapetti, were some of his earliest clients. Salvador Dalí commissioned a number of pieces, as did Brigitte Bardot for the interior of La Madrague in St. Tropez. Being a consummate playboy of the era, Rizzo’s client list is testament to how close his furniture was to the mark. By 1968, Willy’s work was in constant demand, leading to the setting up of his own firm and the establishment of a factory just outside Rome at Tivoli, which employed over 150 staff, including the original team from his early apartment transformation. Over the following ten years, Rizzo designed and produced more than thirty pieces of furniture, including the famous steel-banded travertine dining tables and bronze table lamps, all of which were handmade. He opened boutiques across France and Europe and had points of sale in New York City, Miami and Los Angeles. However, in 1978, Rizzo gave it all up to return to photography, his first love. Willy Rizzo's furniture design channelled the sophistication of Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, his pieces combining clean, simple lines with bold geometric forms and a delicate handling of materials. His lack of formal training in furniture design placed him outside Italy’s strong, indigenous design traditions, making his style utterly unique at the time. While Rizzo bought into the modernist principles of functionality and simplified forms, he deliberately avoided mass production, modern materials and Industrial Design, despite designers such as Giò Ponti endorsing the movement. Rizzo remained focused on a doctrine of traditional materials and craftsmanship, a response to the contemporary cultural environment, as opposed to current design trends. “It was never about recreating Classic styles in modern furniture, that wasn’t the point. It was about creating something new for a traditional setting,” Rizzo explains. Willy Rizzo's furniture is now widely exhibited, notably in the Metropolitan Museum in New York. He returned to furniture design for a period in the late 1980s and then again in the mid-2000s, in collaboration with Paul Smith and Mallett Antiques. In 2010, at the age of 82, he opened his first gallery in Paris with the help of his wife, Elsa and his son, Willy Rizzo, Jr.

Creator:
Willy Rizzo (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 17.33 in (44 cm)Width: 35.44 in (90 cm)Depth: 23.63 in (60 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (In the Style Of)
Materials and Techniques:
Brass,Chrome,Metal,Smoked Glass
Place of Origin:
Italy
Period:
1970-1979
Date of Manufacture:
circa 1970
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use.
Seller Location:
Amsterdam, NL
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU103985976793

Shop All Willy Rizzo

Willy Rizzo

Renowned Italian furniture designer Willy Rizzo is celebrated for having produced eye-catching, sensational showpieces that merged plush fabrics with wood, metal and glass. Influenced by European modernists and drawing on the spare forms and clean lines of the American mid-century modern style, Rizzo prized functionality and simplicity in his dazzling work.

Born in Naples, Rizzo never intended on designing furniture. Instead, he began pursuing photography at the age of 12. By the 1960s, he had become a notable photographer, having captured images of such celebrities as Marilyn Monroe, Fred Astaire and Spanish artist Salvador Dalí. His experience with furniture design came about inadvertently when he moved to Rome in 1966. There, Rizzo rented an apartment with his wife Elsa that he described as "practically uninhabitable." Dissatisfied with the Scandinavian furniture options on offer, Rizzo built sofas, coffee tables and other furniture to suit the space's strong modern vibe. When his friends saw what he had accomplished, they were enamored by his furniture creations and commissioned him to build similar items for them.

The demand for Rizzo’s furniture grew from there. He established a production facility and workshop in Tivoli, just outside of Rome, which grew to house over 150 employees. There, finding inspiration in the work of iconic architects including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, he created more than 30 unique furniture designs. Over the years he opened boutiques around the world to showcase and sell his furniture.

Rizzo prided himself on seamlessly blending the contemporary with the classic. “It was about creating something new for a traditional setting,” he said of his work. From his sleek sideboards to his low-profile side tables, elegant chairs and entire living room sets, Rizzo's style sensibility is evident throughout every detail of his designs.

Rizzo sold his company in 1978 and returned to photography. However, the presence of his furniture resonated into the new century and is sure to impact interior décor enthusiasts into the next. Over the years, high-profile collectors of Rizzo’s work have included French actress Brigitte Bardot, Salvador Dalí and American musician Lenny Kravitz.

On 1stDibs, find a range of vintage Willy Rizzo tables, lighting, seating and storage pieces.