Afra and Tobia Scarpa

Last updated
Afra Scarpa
Born
Afra Bianchin

(1937-03-28)March 28, 1937
Montebelluna, Italy
DiedJuly 2011 (2011-08) (aged 74)
Trevignano (Treviso), Italy
NationalityItalian
OccupationDesigner
Tobia Scarpa
Tobia Scarpa.jpeg
Scarpa in 2015
BornJanuary 1, 1935 (1935-01) (age 89)
Venice, Italy
NationalityItalian
OccupationDesigner

Afra and Tobia Scarpa are award winning postmodern Italian architects and designers. Their pieces can be found in museums across the United States and Europe, including collections in MoMA and the Louvre Museum. [1] They have collaborated with companies such as B&B Italia, San Lorenzo Silver, and Knoll International. They have won a number of awards such as the Compasso d'Oro in 1969 to the International Forum Design in 1992. [2] Their design work consists of architecture and everyday household items including, furniture, clothing, interior design, art glass. They focused on the technical and aesthetic possibilities of materials in their designs. The couple was greatly influenced by Tobia’s father, Carlo Scarpa, a Venetian architect and designer.

Contents

Life and work

Afra Bianchin was born in Montebelluna, Italy in 1937 and Tobia Scarpa was born in Venice, Italy in 1935. Both Afra and Tobia Scarpa earned degrees in architecture from the Università Iuav di Venezia in 1957.

From 1957 to 1961, Tobia worked as a glass designer at the Murano glassworks of Venini, and then in 1960 the two artists opened their own design office in Montebelluna. [3] [4] They designed for Gavina (sofa "Bastiano" 1961), and then followed with a series of projects with several other companies. Their more notable works were made for B&B Italia (sofa "Coronado" 1966), [5] Cassina (armchair "Soriana" 1968), and Meritalia (chair "Libert" 1989).

In 1964, they collaborated with Benetton clothing company to design the firm's first textile factory. Afra and Tobia Scarpa have been responsible for the interiors of the company’s Paris, Freiburg, and New York City offices. [4]

In 1973 they designed the "Papillion" lamp for Flos, one of the first lighting designs to use halogen technology. [4] They also worked for Fabbian (lamps "Saturnina" 1998 and "Galeto" 2001), and Veas (metal lamp "Scandola") in the later part of their careers. [1] From their first collaborations as husband and wife in the mid-1950s until the present day, their pieces have incorporated new technologies, while still maintaining history, form, and function. [6]

Afra and Tobia Scarpa have received the Compasso d'Oro in 1969 to the International Forum Design in 1992. [2] Their furniture has been published in magazine articles like L'ŒIL. [7] From 2004 to 2007, the couple collaborated on many restoration projects for historical buildings such as the Palazzo della Ragione in Verona, Italy. [2]

Since 2002, Tobia has taught in the Design Department of the Università Iuav di Venezia in Venice, Italy. [8] Tobia Scarpa has always believed in design being a profession without a rule book. His timeless creations, including the likes of Fantasma and Foglio, are a true representation of both – his design philosophies and his unmatched mastery over the craft. [9]

Work with Benetton

Their collaboration with Benetton began in 1964, with the design of the firm's first factory. Since then, Afra and Tobia Scarpa have been responsible for all the industrial architecture of the Group. Some of the contributions to Benetton are:

Work with Molteni

Their collaboration with Molteni began in 1973 with the design of the Monk dining chair. Since then, Afra and Tobia Scarpa have designed a significant number of furniture for the Italian brand throughout two decades. Not all of them are still in production, but everyone is a piece of Italian design history.

Some of the furniture designed for Molteni are:

[10]

Awards

[2]

[1]

Clients

[11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mario Bellini</span> Italian architect and designer

Mario Bellini is an Italian architect and designer. After graduating from the Polytechnic University of Milan in 1959, Bellini pursued a career as an architect, exhibition designer, product designer, and furniture designer during the Italian economic boom of the late 20th century. Bellini has received several accolades in a variety of design fields, including eight Compasso d'Oro awards and the Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement by the Triennale di Milano. In 2019, the Italian President of the Chamber of Deputies, Roberto Fico, awarded Bellini a career medal in recognition of his contributions to Italian architecture and design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bean bag chair</span> Anatomic chair design

The Sacco chair, also known as a bean bag chair,beanbag chair, or simply a beanbag, is a large fabric bag, filled with polystyrene beans, designed by Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini and Franco Teodoro in 1968. The product is an example of an anatomic chair, as the shape of the object is set by the user. “[The Sacco] became one of the icons of the Italian anti-design movement. Its complete flexibility and formlessness made it the perfect antidote to the static formalism of mainstream Italian furniture of the period,” as Penny Spark wrote in Italian Design – 1870 to the Present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Compasso d'Oro</span> Italian design award

The Compasso d'Oro is an industrial design award originated in Italy in 1954. Initially sponsored by the La Rinascente, a Milanese department store, the award has been organised and managed by the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI) since 1964. The Compasso d'Oro is the first, and among the most recognized and respected design awards. It aims to acknowledge and promote quality in its field in Italy and internationally, and has been called both the "Nobel" and the "Oscar" of design.

Toshiyuki Kita is a furniture and product designer. He was born in 1942, in Osaka, Japan. In 2004 he was inaugurated as a professor at the Osaka University of Arts. His earliest pieces, the Wink Chair and the Kick Table, are currently in the permanent collections of the New York City Museum of Modern Art and Hamburg, Germany's Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Achille Castiglioni</span> Italian architect and designer (1918–2002)

Achille Castiglioni was an Italian architect and designer of furniture, lighting, radiograms and other objects. As a professor of design, he advised his students "If you are not curious, forget it. If you are not interested in others, what they do and how they act, then being a designer is not the right job for you."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vico Magistretti</span> Italian industrial designer and architect (1920–2006)

Vico Magistretti was an Italian architect who was also active as an industrial designer, furniture designer, and academic. As a collaborator of humanist architect Ernesto Nathan Rogers, one of Magistretti's first projects was the "poetic" round church in the experimental Milan neighbourhood of QT8. He later designed mass-produced appliances, lighting, and furniture for companies such as Cassina S.p.A., Artemide, and Oluce. These designs won several awards, including the Compasso d'Oro and the Gold Medal of the Chartered Society of Industrial Artists & Designers in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Sapper</span> German industrial designer (1932–2015)

Richard Sapper was a German industrial designer who was based in Milan for much of his career. He is considered to be one of the most influential figures of post-war Italian design. His products typically feature a combination of technical innovation, simplicity of form, and an element of wit and surprise.

Antonio Citterio is an Italian architect, furniture designer and industrial designer who lives and works in Milan.

B&B Italia SpA is an Italian modern furniture company whose products are sold worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cini Boeri</span> Italian architect and designer (1924–2020)

Maria Cristina Mariani Dameno, known as "Cini Boeri" was an Italian architect and designer. She was considered "one of the great pioneering women in Italian design and architecture", who was described as a "formidable architect and designer, paragon of Milanese elegance and verve."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franco Albini</span> Italian architect and designer

Franco Albini was an Italian Neo-Rationalist architect, designer and university instructor in design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean-Marie Massaud</span> French architect, inventor and designer (born 1966)

Jean-Marie Massaud is a French architect, inventor and designer. He was born in Toulouse, France in 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stefan Diez</span> German designer

Stefan Diez is a German industrial designer whose Munich-based studio, DIEZ OFFICE, develops furniture, accessories, and exhibition designs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giulio Cappellini</span> Italian design entrepreneur

Giulio Cappellini is the founder and art director of the eponymous Italian furniture company Cappellini based in Milan. In 2004 the Company became part of the Poltrona Frau Group. In 2021, it was acquired by the American office furnisher Haworth Inc.

Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec are brothers noted for their design work, which has been featured in publications and museums globally — and spans a wide range from tables and chairs to tableware, rugs, textile walls, office furniture, ceramics, art objects and urban projects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum für Angewandte Kunst (Cologne)</span> Applied art museum in Cologne, Germany

The Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln is a decorative arts museum in Cologne. The collections include jewellery, porcelain, furniture, weaponry and architectural exhibits. Until 1987 it was called the Kunstgewerbemuseum.

Flexform SpA is an Italian company with its head office in Meda, Italy, at the centre of the furniture production district of La Brianza. Founded in 1959 by the Galimberti brothers, the company designs, produces and markets furniture and furnishing accessories for residential and public use.

Michele de Lucchi is an Italian architect and designer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zanotta (company)</span> Italian furniture company

Zanotta is an Italian furniture company particularly known for the iconic pieces of Italian design it produced in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. These include the "Sacco" bean bag chair and "Blow", the first mass-produced inflatable chair. The company was founded in 1954 and has its main plant in Nova Milanese. In 1984 Zanotta established its experimental division, Zabro, headed by Alessandro Guerriero, with Alessandro Mendini and Stefano Casciani. Since the death of its founder, Aurelio Zanotta, in 1991, it has been run by members of his family. Zanotta's products were awarded the Compasso d'Oro in 1967, 1979, 1987 and 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heller, Inc.</span> American manufacturer of furniture and housewares

Heller is an American company founded in 1971 that makes and sells indoor/outdoor furniture and accessories. It is headquartered in Westport, Connecticut, United States. Its founder, Alan Heller, invited well-known architects and designers including Mario Bellini, Frank Gehry, and Lella and Massimo Vignelli to create products for the company.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Afra & Tobia Scarpa—San Lorenzo Silver". L'eclaireur. Archived from the original on November 26, 2014. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Afra and Tobia Scarpa architects 1959–1999. Tobia Scarpa architect 2000–2009". Floor Nature. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Cake Slice". V&A. 1991. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 "Tobia and Afra Scarpa". L'ArcoBaleno. New York & L'ArcoBaleno GmbH Berlin. Archived from the original on November 27, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Study in design Living History". The WSJ Magazine. WSJ. September 2016. p. 81.
  6. ↑ Sullivan, Matthew. "Tobia and Afra Scarpa". Core77. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  7. ↑ Hayot, Par Monelle; Odette-Hélène Gasnier, Enquète (May 10, 1979). Le Meuble En France: Après Le Creux De La Vague. Smith College: L'oeil. pp. 50–55.
  8. ↑ "Tobia Scarpa". Flos. Retrieved October 29, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Tobia Scarpa – Creative Lighting Designer".
  10. ↑ "Monk Chair by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Molteni". Italian Design Club. 2021-12-05. Retrieved 2021-12-11.
  11. ↑ "Afra e Tobia Scarpa". Fabbian. Fabbian Illuminazione Spa. Retrieved October 30, 2014.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.