Icon Trend: October 2015

Trending - Burlwood

Icon-Baby - Redwood Burl Wood - Thomas O'BrienDesign with burl wood wardrobe

Trending: Exotic Timbers

Icon-Baby - TREND EXOTIC TIMBERS

Icon-Baby - TREND EXOTIC TIMBERS, rare 19th Cent Zebra Wood Console via

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Icon-Baby loves Bleached Sycamore

Exotic Timber via

Carpathian Burl

Italian Mid-Century sideboard / credenza by Osvaldo Borsani,1940 via

Ash Olive Burl

Lucite and Burl wood Console Table - 1970 via

Mid-Century Burlwood table from a selection at David M. - Los Angeles

CHANNELING GABRIELLA CRESPI

Gabriella Crespi

Sculptural dinner service by Gabriella Crespi

Bronze and Smoke Mirror Dining Table by Gabriella Crespi

CHANNELING GABRIELLA CRESPI Midcentury Italian Design

Gabriella Crespi

Icon came across the Milanese designer GABRIELLA CRESPI some years ago at Les Puces de Saint-Ouen in Paris, the world's biggest flea market and my antiques and vintage Nirvana. Since I saw her creations I’m having a serious love affair with anything Crespi. There is a renaissance in midcentury Italian furniture and decorative objects and Gabriella Crespi is right on the top of the list.

Sidetables with Palm-Leaf pattern by Gabriella Crespi

Gabriella Crespi wall-scone

Gabriella Crespi Organic Sideboard

1970'S Brass Floorlamp by Gabriella Crespi

Brass Floor Lamps by Gabriella Crespi

CHANNELING GABRIELLA CRESPI

Gabriella Crespi Yang Yin desk

Sophisticated glamour is one of those things that few people can learn; it’s usually inherent and people are born glamorous, or not. And ‘glamorous’ is for me anything Crespi. I love her minimal yet highly glamorous creations that are loud, experimental, bold and unafraid. She perfectly masters the balance between feminine sensuous curves and masculine materials.

Born in 1922, and originally trained as an architect in Italy, Gabriella Crespi comes from one of the richest families in Italy. She was active mainly in the 1960's and 70's and her creations graced some of the most elegant homes in the world with clients the likes of Elizabeth Arden, Princess Grace, Gunther Sachs and the Shah of Iran to Lenny Kravitz or Stella Mc Cartney. Most of her pieces were special orders, are custom made and only one-of-a-kind and therefore it comes as no surprise that they are quite expensive.

Materials Her creations comes in a huge range of materials, from metal, wood, marble and bamboo to seeds, shells and gemstones, glass and plexiglass. I’m obsessed with her highly polished or brushed metals – especially gold, mirrored effects, geometric patterns and sensuous curves.

Functionality, another element to Crespi’s work is her furniture’s inherent functionality and a clever multifunctional aspect. Coffee tables rise to dining table height, bookcases become room dividers and seating convert into beds and have hidden compartments, interesting joints and exciting opening or closing mechanisms.

Gabriella Crespi Yang Yin desk

CHANNELING GABRIELLA CRESPI

Gabriella Crespi - Bamboo Inlay Table

Trending: Dark Goatskin Covered Furniture

1970s goatskin and chromed steel round dining table Designed by Aldo Tura.

Italian Parchment Nesting Tables by Aldo Tura - Goatskin Tops with Mahogany Cone Shaped Legs

Trending: Petrified Wood

Bronze Side Tables by Robert Phandeve with a petrified wood top | 1970-80

CHANNELING GABRIELLA CRESPI

Gabriella Crespi

Gabriella Crespi Coffee-Table

Gabriella Crespi

Angie knows privilege and can acknowledge that it is not “Oh, I worked harder to get here and if some women work this hard they could be standing here too...”. But more like: “My opportunities are better because I was born into a position that made it easier to get them and I acknowledge that this is unfair.”

Trending - Tortoise Looks

Tortoise Commode - Matsuoka International

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