laila-Blogspot: Willy Rizzo -22 October 1928

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Willy Rizzo -22 October 1928 – 25 February 2013

Willy Rizzo started out as a celebrity photographer. Spotted by Life Magazine, for his pictures of a Tunisian sunset, and feted for his work at Cannes’s first film festival, Rizzo spent some time in America, where his elegant, studied photographs attracted the attention of a glamorous clientele.However, our real interest in Rizzo begins in the late 1960s, when he began to experiment in furniture design. With no formal training, and just an eye for the beautiful, Rizzo began to produce a number of high quality pieces. At first, in an effort to furbish a new apartment in Rome, he designed just for himself. Then, as interest grew, he began to make pieces for his friends. His timing was impeccable: film maker Federico Fellini was at the height of his powers, and the impact of La Dolce Vita helped create a market for Rizzo’s style.Rizzo’s initial client base was Europe’s jet set, aristocrats and film stars - a vociferous and sophisticated group of individuals. Through them, his reputation as a designer of elegant, timeless pieces took off. Indeed, such was the demand for Rizzo’s pieces, that in 1968 he set up on his own, and for the next 10 years continued to produce individual pieces and lines in a range of materials, including wood, marble, steel, brass and chrome.Willy Rizzo sold his company in 1978, claiming a desire to return to the more itinerant pastimes of photography. Never vulgar, always glamorous, he remains a mercurial figure in the world of 1970s Italian furniture design: brilliant, innovative, unfettered by the demands of convention.