"Kroma" Desk by Antonia Astori for Driade, Italy, 1980s

Antonia Astori has masterfully designed modern furniture for the ages. As a cofounder of Italian furniture brand Driade, Astori has created dining tables, desks, serveware and elegant, visually striking modular storage pieces to make the most of space in a given room.

Born in Milan, Astori graduated from the Athenaeum of Lausanne in 1966, with a focus in Industrial and Visual Design. She cofounded Driade in 1968, along with her brother Enrico and sister-in-law Adelaide Acerbi. 

Oikos, Astori’s earliest and — one of her most notable — collections for Driade, brought rich geometry by way of modular storage solutions inspired by architecture to interiors everywhere in 1972. Demand has remained strong for pieces from the Oikos collection, even into the 21st century.

In addition to working as a designer within her company, Astori also serves as project coordinator — overseeing the development and progress of new Driade product lines. She has also worked on Driade’s visual identity and branding. Over the course of her long history at the company, Astori has had the pleasure of partnering with many notable architects and designers. 

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. 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. Astori continues to work as project manager and designer for the firm. 

Find vintage Antonia Astori tables, lighting and storage pieces on 1stDibs.