Brass Pendant Fior Di Loto by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Flos, 1960s
View Similar Items
Brass Pendant Fior Di Loto by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Flos, 1960s
About the Item
- Creator:Afra & Tobia Scarpa (Designer),Flos (Manufacturer)
- Dimensions:Height: 7.88 in (20 cm)Diameter: 16.34 in (41.5 cm)
- Style:Mid-Century Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:circa 1960s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. The electrical wire is somewhat discolored.
- Seller Location:Rotterdam, NL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU2839321361652
Afra & Tobia Scarpa
Widely recognized as superstars of postmodern Italian design, husband-and-wife team Afra and Tobia Scarpa (1937–2011; b. 1935) collaboratively created chairs, sofas and other furniture that work equally well in both traditional and cutting-edge environments.
Ranging from architecture and interior design to furniture and clothing, the Scarpas’ practice from its beginnings in the mid-1950s to the 21st century has included a diverse scope of projects combining new technology with thoughtful function and sculptural yet simple forms.
Afra Bianchin and Tobia Scarpa met as architecture students at the Università Iuav di Venezia. In a class led by architect and furniture designer Franco Albini, they created their first collaborative piece, the Pigreco armchair, later produced with Gavina. After graduating in 1957, Tobia worked for Murano glass company Venini & Co. before the couple opened a studio in Afra’s hometown, Montebelluna, in 1960. (Tobia, the son of famed glass artist and architect Carlo Scarpa, was born in Venice.)
For Afra and Tobia, a close collaborative process was pivotal to the success of their designs. The duo was also prolific — they designed for the most influential European manufacturers, including B&B Italia, Cassina, Knoll and FLOS. With respect to the latter, Afra and Tobia were among the legendary Italian lighting maker’s earliest collaborators, and their pioneering designs for the brand included the Papillon lamp, one of the first fixtures to use halogen technology. Their most recognized designs include the Bastiano sofa (1962), the Vanessa bed (1959), the Coronado sofa (1966) and the Soriana seating collection (1970). Work on the Soriana sofa began in late 1969 for an early 1970 debut, and it feels as radical today as it did in its heyday.
Architecture was also a central part of Afra and Tobia’s practice, which spanned residential buildings and factories for Italian companies such as Benetton. Their commissions for the global fashion brand included numerous industrial projects, from textile plants to storefronts. By 1985, Afra and Tobia Scarpa’s work was celebrated in a 30-year retrospective at Center Four in Queens, New York. Looking around the 30,000-square-foot exhibition space, Afra joked to the New York Times, “Seeing all those things makes us feel very tired, and now we feel that maybe we worked too much.”
It was not too much for their legacy, as Afra and Tobia Scarpa’s work continues to inspire new generations. Scarpa designs are in collections at the Louvre, the Museum of Modern Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum. The couple was awarded the Compasso d’Oro in 1970 for the Soriana armchair.
Find vintage Afra & Tobia Scarpa furniture today on 1stDibs.
Flos
Imaginative lighting is a longtime hallmark of modern Italian design. Following in the footsteps of innovative companies such as Artemide and Arteluce, the company FLOS brought a fresh aesthetic philosophy to the Italian lighting field in the 1960s, one that would produce several of the iconic floor lamp, table lamp and pendant light designs of the era.
FLOS — Latin for “flower” — was founded in the northern town of Merano in 1962 by Cesare Cassina (of the famed Cassina furniture-making family) and Dino Gavina, a highly cultured businessman who believed that artistic ideas espoused in postwar Italy could inform commercial design. The two enlisted brothers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni as their first designers.
Even before FLOS was formally incorporated, the Castiglionis gave the firm one of its enduring successes with the Taraxacum pendant and associated designs made by spraying an elastic polymer on a metal armature. (George Nelson had pioneered the technique in the United States in the early 1950s.) For other designs, the brothers found inspiration in everyday objects. Suggestive of streetlights, their Arco floor lamp, with its chrome boom and ball-shaped shade sweeping out from a marble block base, has become a staple of modernist decors. Designing for FLOS since 1966, Tobia Scarpa has also been inspired by the commonplace. His folded-metal Foglio sconces resemble a shirt cuff; his carved marble Biagio table lamp looks like a jai alai basket.
In 1973, FLOS purchased Arteluce, the company founded in 1939 by Gino Sarfatti, and it continues to produce his designs. In recent decades, FLOS has contracted work from several noted designers, including Marcel Wanders and Jasper Morrison. As instantly recognizable as they are, many FLOS designs remain accessible. While FLOS lighting is the essence of modernity, its sleek, subtle designs can be used to strike a sculptural note in even traditional spaces.
Browse a broad range of FLOS lighting fixtures at 1stDibs.
- White Fior Di Loto Pendant by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Flos, 1960sBy Flos, Afra & Tobia ScarpaLocated in Rotterdam, NLWhite Fior di Loto pendant designed by Tobia and Afra Scarpa for Italian Lighting manufacturer Flos in 1963. In a Flos catalogue we found this description: "Pendant lamp, giving f...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal
- Nickel-plated Fior di Loto pendant by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Flos, 1960sBy Flos, Afra & Tobia ScarpaLocated in Rotterdam, NLNickel-plated Fior di Loto pendant designed by Tobia and Afra Scarpa for Italian Lighting manufacturer Flos in 1963. In an original Flos catalogue we found this description: "Pend...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsNickel
- Nigritella Pendant by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Flos, 1960sBy Flos, Afra & Tobia ScarpaLocated in Rotterdam, NLWhite Nigritella pendant designed by Tobia and Afra Scarpa for Italian Lighting manufacturer Flos in 1961. This Nigritella pendant consists of a metal cap with in the middle a row...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal
- Nickel-Plated Nictea Pendant by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Flos, 1960sBy Flos, Afra & Tobia ScarpaLocated in Rotterdam, NLNickel-plated Nictea pendant designed by Tobia and Afra Scarpa for Italian Lighting manufacturer Flos in 1963. In a Flos catalogue from the 1970s we found this description: "Penda...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsNickel
- Delta Glass and Nickel Pendant by Sergio Mazza for Artemide, 1960sBy Sergio Mazza, ArtemideLocated in Rotterdam, NLSergio Mazza designed this Delta Grande pendant for Italian lighting manufacturer Artemide in the 1960s. The model consists of a pressed crystal bowl and an opaline shade. The str...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsCrystal, Brass, Aluminum
- Brass Pendant with Diamond Glass by Pia Guidetti Crippa for Lumi Milano, 1960sBy Pia Guidetti Crippa, LumiLocated in Rotterdam, NLFaceted glass pendant by Italian lighting designer Pia Guidetti Crippa for Lumi Milano, 1960s. Brass rings hold a white milk glass shade ...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsBrass
- Brass Pendant Fior Di Loto by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Flos, 1960sBy Afra & Tobia Scarpa, FlosLocated in Milano, ITThe Fior di Loto pendant, passionately conceived by the visionary minds of Tobia and Afra Scarpa, emerges as a true masterpiece within the realm of lighting design. Born in the creat...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal, Brass
- Afra & Tobia Scarpa, Fior di loto, A Pendant Light, Flos, 1960sBy Flos, Afra & Tobia ScarpaLocated in Paris, FRAfra & Tobia Scarpa (1935-2011 & 1935-) « Fior di loto » A white lacquered brass pendant light made of two assembled parts. The upper spheric...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal
- Vintage Nictea pendant light by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Flos, 1960sBy Flos, Afra & Tobia ScarpaLocated in Catania, CTElegant pendant light designed by Afra e Tobia Scarpa for Flos in the 1961. Nickeled brass. Original vintage conditions with trace of age and use. Some slight scratches. Glass lens w...Category
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsBrass, Nickel
- Hanging Lamp Fior Di Loto by Afra & Tobia Scarpa for Flos, Italy 1960sLocated in Greding, DEHanging lamp with round metal shade in white (yellowed). On the ceiling cap stamped Flos.Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Wall Lights and Sconces
MaterialsMetal
- Bilobo Pendant by Afra & Tobia Scarpa for FlosBy Afra & Tobia Scarpa, FlosLocated in Los Angeles, CATwo Bilobo pendants by Afra & Tobia Scarpa for Flos. Designed and manufactured in Italy, circa 1960's. Glass, aluminum, painted metal, vinyl cord. Original ...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsMetal, Aluminum
- 'Nictea' Pendant by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for FlosBy Afra & Tobia Scarpa, FlosLocated in Los Angeles, CANictea pendant by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Flos. A cloud like all polished brass pendant featuring a bulbous top and bottom shade, sandwiched in-between a perforated brass ring. The...Category
Vintage 1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Chandeliers and Pendants
MaterialsBrass, Steel
$6,500 / item