"Terni" Ico Parisi Desk for Mim Editions, Italy, 1958

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"Terni" Ico Parisi Desk for Mim Editions, Italy, 1958

About the Item

Italian husband-and-wife team Ico and Luisa Parisi designed together and alongside each other in their studio La Ruota in Como, Italy. With a look that epitomized the modern Italian style of the 1950s, the pair created many Classic pieces of design together, the most famous perhaps being the Model 813 Uovo (Egg) Chair for Cassina (1951). Born in 1916 in Palermo, architect-designer Domenico “Ico” Parisi trained in building construction in Como between 1931 and 1935. The following year, he worked in rationalist architect Giuseppe Terragni’s office in Como, which marked the beginning of his professional career—which briefly turned to filmmaking in the late 1930s. Returning to his original vocation in design, Ico was a founding member of both the Alta Quota and Gruppo Como architecture groups. In 1947, he married fellow designer Luisa Aiani, the talented former protegée of Gio Ponti. Also a member of Alta Quota, the pair founded their studio La Ruota in Como, in April 1948. Between 1949 and 1952, Parisi studied architecture under Alberto Sartoris at the Institute Atheneum in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1952, he became a member of the Art Club of Milan. In 1956, he became a member of the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI). Parisi designed numerous interiors, furniture (primarily in wood and metal), glass, jewelry, and architecture projects, both independently and with Luisa. Their studio was a meeting place for collaborations between established artists and designers of the day. Clients included Singer & Sons, Altamira, M.I.M., Longhi, and Cassina. Ico, in collaboration with architects Silvio Longhi and Luigi Antonietti, designed the Living Room Pavilion (Padiglione per il Soggiorno) for the tenth Triennale di Milano. Resembling the form of a circus tent, the reinforced concrete and glass walls formed a spiral shaped living room. Parisi and his team dedicated the space to a large communal lounge with library and bar. Featured in the prestigious Domus magazine, the Parisis were celebrated for their organic designs and interiors. The Parisis’ friend Gio Ponti famously wrote to Ico Parisi to say: “My dear, your egg chair is a marvel. You are a master, and all that is left for me is to retire and live in Civate [near Como] in oblivion.” The duo’s collaboration with Cassina was a fruitful one, resulting many other famous designs including the Model 691 Chair (1955) and the Model 839, which were both short-listed for the Compasso d’Oro award in 1955. Luisa Parisi passed away in 1990; Ico six years later in Como.

Creator:
Mobili Italiani Moderni (MIM) (Manufacturer),Ico Parisi (Designer)
Dimensions:
Height: 28.75 in (73 cm)Width: 83.08 in (211 cm)Depth: 59.45 in (151 cm)
Style:
Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
Materials and Techniques:
Wood
Place of Origin:
Italy
Period:
1950-1959
Date of Manufacture:
1958
Condition:
Wear consistent with age and use. Good general condition. Some marks on the tray and the feet. Condition is like pictures.
Seller Location:
Brussels, BE
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU2265310688843

Shop All Ico Parisi

Ico Parisi

Domenico “Ico” Parisi was one half of a prolific postwar design duo he comprised with his wife, Luisa. Their furniture designs are known for running the stylistic gamut, with celebrated mid-century modern pieces ranging from elegantly skeletal — like dramatic ebonized dining chairs — to plush and shapely, like the iconic 1951 Egg chair, in a plethora of materials.

The son of an art teacher father, Ico Parisi was exposed to art at an early age. Born in 1916 in the Sicilian capital of Palermo, he and his family moved to Como in 1925. There, the young Parisi would begin to develop his interest in architecture and design. After earning a degree as a building inspector in 1936 and working as a civil engineer, Parisi took on an apprenticeship in the studio of Giuseppe Terragni, the modernist, fascist Italian architect, pioneer of the Rationalist movement and creator of the iconic Casa del Fascio.

While working for Terragni, Parisi crossed paths with such contemporary design talents as Lucio Fontana, Bruno Munari and Pietro Lingeri, though he briefly moved away from design and architecture to explore photography and film. His artistic work would soon be interrupted, however, by the outbreak of World War II, during which he served at the front before returning to Como in 1943. There, he resumed work as a designer and architect, founding two architecture groups: the Alta Quota and the Gruppo Como.

Through his creative circles, Parisi met Luisa Aiani, a former student of the prolific architect and furniture designer Gio Ponti, who was affiliated with the Alta Quota. They married in 1947 and founded the studio La Ruota — a cross between a design firm and an intellectual salon — in Como shortly thereafter. In 1950, Parisi finally completed his architectural schooling, studying under the nationalist architect Alberto Sartoris at the Athenaeum Architecture School in Lausanne, Switzerland. He and Aiani began several decades of sophisticated output, designing curved sofas upholstered in yellow velvet and armchairs with slender mahogany frames for enduring Italian manufacturers such as Cassina and others.

Much like Charles and Ray Eames in America, the Parisis worked as a team and relied on experimentation in style and material for many of their designs. Ico Parisi died in Como in 1996.

Find a collection of vintage Ico Parisi coffee tables, dining chairs and more on 1stDibs.