By Mario Gottardi
Located in Cascina, Pisa
Rare serving table with a structure in walnut wood and ground crystal on top, designed by Mario Gottardi, Italian manufacture from the 1950s.
Mario Gottardi was born in Venice in 1913. He graduated from the Politecnico di Milano in 1939 and since then, in the Lombard capital, he has carried out an intense and multifaceted activity. The areas of intervention range from urban planning to restoration, from public and private buildings, to naval, hotel, private and theatrical furniture both in Italy and abroad. His university career, held at the University of Pavia, saw him engaged since 1949 as an ordinary assistant at the Institute of Drawing. Since 1955 he has been a lecturer in drawing at the Faculty of Sciences and in 1965 he became Director of the Institute. In 1973 he was appointed professor at the Faculty of Engineering. His profession began in Venice, his hometown, with restoration works including Palazzo Nero and Palazzo Contarini delle Figure on the Grand Canal.
From the beginning his style is characterized by constant research and experimentation with regard to materials and structural types. In 1951 he renovated the interiors and created the furnishings of the Hotel Bauer Grunwald. In 1958 he collaborated in the urban design of Piazzale Roma. The church of S. Pietro Martire in Cinisello Balsamo dates back to 1965, between 1966 and 1969 develops the project for the new Conchiglia Grand Hotel Torre di Madesimo and in 1968 is dedicated to the realization of the theater and cultural center San Babila in Milan. In 1970 he worked on the planning of the tourist complexes of Marmaria, Kiris North and Aksu East in Turkey. The company’s headquarters in Viale Luigi Sturzo (Milan), the offices of the Zurich group in Piazza Carlo Erba (Milan) and the construction of the parish complex of Sesto San Giovanni were renovated in the 1990s.
His participation in the competitions, which had already begun in 1953, saw him successfully involved in some projects. He won, at different times, competitions for the ships Cristoforo Colombo (1953), Leonardo da Vinci (1958), Michelangelo (1962), whose furnishings he made. He also participated in the competition for the "Repertoire of Type Projects" of the Lombardy Region, for the Centre Pompidou in Paris, for "Three Churches...
Category
1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage Florence - Serving Tables
