Metal Vanessa bed by Tobia Scarpa for Gavina, 1970s.
Born in Venice in 1935, Tobia Scarpa is the son of the famous architect Carlo Scarpa. Together with his wife Afra, he began working at the Venini glassworks in Murano in the 1950s. In 1960, the couple opened their own design studio in Montebelluna and soon collaborated with major companies such as Flos, Cassina, B&B Italia and Knoll. Their design style embraces a distinctly modern aesthetic whose priority is elegance and comfort, and the couple's products are admired above all for their simplicity and elegance, which makes them easy to combine with more classic designs.
Gavina Spa was founded by Dino Gavina in 1960, who took over as CEO and named architect Carlo Scarpa as president. The company's historic headquarters are located in San Lazzaro di Savena, in a building designed by Pier Giacomo Castiglioni in 1959. In 1963, thanks to state incentives for the development of southern Italy, Dino Gavina opened an office in Foligno. In 1962 Gavina met Marcel Breuer in New York and convinced him to rework and realize his designs from the 1920s. Designers who worked for the company include Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Achille Castiglioni, Carlo Scarpa, Ignazio Gardella and Tobia Scarpa. After the sale to the American company Knoll in 1968 and the closure of the Bologna-based brand, several products from the Gavina collection were sold under the Knoll brand name; some of them were later sold to other manufacturers (such as the Sanluca armchair). Knoll still uses the Foligno site to produce its collections for European customers.
.png)
SILVER Seller in Padova, Italy
