Italian Modern Gabriella Crespi Attributed Blonde Console Table

Description

An exceptional, sculptural, and monumental Italian Modernist console table attributed to pioneering Italian designer-architect Gabriella Crespi (1922-2017), who attracted a … more An exceptional, sculptural, and monumental Italian Modernist console table attributed to pioneering Italian designer-architect Gabriella Crespi (1922-2017), who attracted a cult following thanks to her penchant for creating geometric, sculptural forms imbued with an aura of luxury, glamour, and depth, often with unique industrial, futuristic and minimalist undertones.

The imposing angular asymmetric blonde table finished in elegant exotics curly fiddleback and quilted flame blonde maple, burl, sycamore, matched parquetry inlays, parchment, rich lacquered finish, having a rectangular top with inset silver tone metal accents, rising on four sharply angled, tapered, slanted legs, terminating on metallic capped-feet. Signed, reverso "Italy"

Believed to be a private, custom commissioned, one of a kind work. Exceptionally executed, of very fine quality, skillfully hand-crafted in Italy in the second half of the 20th century. Designed with a remarkable thickness, having substantial sized proportions, elegant, luxurious, and conceived with entertainment in mind, this visionary masterpiece is as much a three-dimensional work of art as it is a functional table or desk.

Dimensions (approx):
29.5" High, 63" Wide, 24" Deep

Gabriella Crespi is an iconic Italian designer and artist best known for her sculptural furniture designs of the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.

Born in 1922 in Tuscany near Florence, Crespi trained at the Polytechnic in Milan, Politecnico di Milano, where she garnered a fascination with the seminal work of Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright. Crespi began her prolific career by making miniature lunar-inspired steel sculptures in 1950, quickly shifting gears to industrial and furniture design by the 1960s, working heavily with Maison Dior. She continued to make her work throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Notably, in 1987, Crespi abandoned her high-profile design practice to embark on a spiritual journey, and ascetic lifestyle, giving away all her worldy possessions, which took her to the Indian Himalayas to follow guru Shri Muniraji. She remained in India for almost two decades and documented her experiences in the book Ricerca di Infinito, published in 2007 upon her return to Europe.

In the last decade of her life, Crespi contributed to a number of fashion and design collaborations, such as a limited-edition jewelry collection with Stella McCartney for charity in 2008 and a retrospective exhibition with Sergio Rossi in 2013. In 2015, Galleria Rita Fancsaly in Milan presented New Bronze Age, a series of new limited-edition designs by Crespi. In 2012, Crespi established an archive of her works, which is managed by her daughter Elisabetta. The Wave Desk—with its undulating curved form in signature Crespi gilt metal—was her last design.

The designer passed away on February 14, 2017 in Milan, Italy.

Delivered cleaned, waxed, polished and ready for many years of use. less