Gabriella Crespi

Crespi steel coffee table

Crespi steel coffee table

Gabriella Crespi coffee table

A quasi-surreal or space age ‘Polished Steel Coffee Table’ by Italian architect and designer Gabriella Crespi looks like a metal crystal formation of some kind. It’s circa 1970s, year unknown. Very beautiful as well as multifunctional. The staggered leaves are retractable, like drawers, and it’s covered with a mirror-finish steel. It’s unfortunate that Crespi’s work never went into mass production—she did a lot of custom work—and that she eventually pulled away from design altogether. Read her bio by clicking below, via Todd Merrell Antiques. If I could have anything on his website, and I like most of it, it would probably be this.

Via Todd Merrell Antiques:

Gabriella Crespi (b. 1922, Milan) Trained as an architect in Italy, Gabriella Crespi designed furniture, decorative items, mobiles, jewelry and flatware for nearly thirty years. Like Willy Rizzo, Crespi would produce elaborate drawings and bring them to various local craftsmen or artisans around Milan to realize her designs. Her experience as an architect shouldn’t be dismissed. Several of the internal mechanisms that supported the concealed compartments in her tables were patented because of her innovation. Many of her pieces are unique and are often signed or numbered. Despite the duration of her career her output is limited to extremely limited quantities as many pieces were customized special orders. While her designs favored a range of materials, including mirror, bamboo and Plexiglas, her creations in brass (or other metals) are most iconic. One of her most popular series was the Yang Yin collection (1979), which appropriately featured two contrasting materials (such as brass and ebony). In a generous summation of her career, the New York Times praised her designs explaining that “the multifunctionality of her furniture is a Crespi trademark. Despite a lengthy career producing glamorous furniture, she abruptly closed her entire business in 1987 to devote herself to studying Eastern spirituality. Although she is in her eighties, she spends several months every year in a remote part of India.

And this one:

Gabriella Crespi coffee table

Gabriella Crespi coffee table

Gabriella Crespi coffee table

1 comment

Leave a comment