We had always heard the name "Carlo Scarpa" in conjunction with architecture terms-and with good reason. Carlo Scarpa was a celebrated Italian architect who often drew influence for his designs from the gorgeous Italian landscape, the history of Venetian culture and even from such far-flung influences as Japan.
Of course, though we're sure his architecture is influential in its own right and quite lovely, we're more interested in his furniture and glass designs, of which he was also quite famous for (but somehow we've only recently discovered).
His furniture possesses the unique ability of being elegant and tough; masculine and feminine-a whole set of dichotomies that come together in a lovely, cohesive composition. His designs throughout the years showcase a number of styles that he designed in, with the only real commonality between everything is that every item is beautiful in its own respect.
We see heavy, masculine and streamlined tables with sleek edges, but also larger, curvier items that exhibit a lot of style. In a desk and stool designed by Scarpa, you see where those hints of Japanese influence come in with a black lacquered wood finish and slightly turned up edges that are reminiscent of Japanese temple elements.
As we mentioned, his glass was also fantastic-really, really beautiful stuff. Many of his chandeliers featured lots of gorgeous pastel elements stacked in such a way to create a textural, almost fish scale-like pattern. Other glass pieces follow similar styles to enhance his tabletop work. And Swank Lighting has even carried some of his glass in the form of lamps!
Born in Venice around the turn of the century, where he attended the Academy of Fine Arts and focuses on architecture. He worked briefly with the architect Francesco Rinaldo, but refused to take the professional architecture exam, and so was not allowed to practice architecture unless with another architect; his clients then became to call him "professor" instead of "architect."
Swank Lighting is an amazing resource not just for the best vintage Murano glass lamps on the market today, but also a wonderful resource for interior design inspiration and a great place to get an education about past and present designers. Keep up-to-date with everything we do on our
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