Willy Rizzo

WILLY RIZZO (Naples, 1928-Paris, 2013) possibly for Cidue Suede.
Six chairs.
Metal frame and original upholstery in brown velvet.
Measurements: 91 x 51 x 60 cm.

This set of six chairs is a true design icon. The frame of bent steel slats, smooth and fluid, harmonizes perfectly with the seats and backs in brown velvet. Being a cantilever type of chair, they do not have back legs, supporting the weight on the two front legs and their horizontal extension.

Willy Rizzo started in the world of furniture design in 1966 in Rome. With a small team of craftsmen he turned a ramshackle warehouse into a home with gold and brown walls and custom sofas, tables and furniture. Although Rizzo had no intention of making it his profession, the great success and admiration his work provoked in the public eye meant that numerous commissions began to pour in. In fact, the first was from Ghighi Cassini, a columnist for American Hearst and known as the coiner of the term "Jet Set". Such was the success of the commission that Italian society quickly gave Rizzo great recognition. Thus, Rizzo became the designer of the Jet Set, and ended up becoming part of the group himself. Salvador Dalí commissioned him to create numerous pieces. In 1968, two years later, due to the great demand for his pieces, Rizzo founded his own brand, including a factory, on the outskirts of Rome, in Tivoli, with about 150 workers, including the craftsmen who had helped him in his beginnings. In the following ten years, Rizzo designed more than thirty pieces. He opened stores in Europe and had outlets in New York, Miami and Los Angeles. However, in 1978 he abandoned design and returned to photography, although he would return to furniture design in the late 1980s and from 2000, in collaboration with Paul Smith and Mallet Antiques. In 2010 he opened his first gallery in Paris, with the help of his family. Rizzo's design achieved the sophistication of Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, with pieces of simple lines, based on geometry, and a great delicacy in materials. Among other places, Willy Rizzo's designs can be seen at the MET in New York.