Mid-Century Modern Wooden Bench by Ico and Luisa Parisi, Italy, 1950s

The Italian architect, artist and furniture designer Ico Parisi (1916–96) and his wife and frequent collaborator, Luisa Parisi (1914–90), formed one of the most prolific and spirited European design teams of the postwar period. Together they created a magnetic aesthetic that combines the refined angularity and elegance of the work of Gio Ponti with the liveliness and lightness of the furniture of Carlo Mollino. 

Ico Parisi — his first name is short for Domenico — was born and raised in Palermo. He moved to the northern Italian city of Como in the early 1930s and lived and worked there the remainder of his life. He initially studied and worked as a civil engineer, but later became an associate in the office of architect Giuseppe Terragni, a leading light of the stern and formal Rationalist design movement. Ico moved in artistic circles that included Lucio Fontana and Bruno Munari; after he married Luisa Aiani — a former student of Gio Ponti’s — in 1947 their design studio became known as an artists’ salon. The couple’s big break as designers came the following year when their work was shown, along with that of Carlo Mollino, Paolo Buffa, Franco Albini and other greats, leading to contracts with manufacturers such as Cassina and Singer Sons.

What attracted these firms was the Parisis’ fluency with a wide array of furniture forms. No two looks are quite alike. Their body of work includes a series of coffee and dining tables and consoles for Singer Sons created in the early 1950s that feature notch-edged tops and javelin-shaped legs, and cabinets and credenzas such as those with plain fronts and molded-teak and plywood detailing for MIM Rome (1959). Their chairs range from sleek dining pieces with supple, bone-shaped backrests for Singer Sons to the lush Model 813 Uovo, or Egg chair, for Cassina (1951). Then, as now, Parisi furnishings can fill an entire decor, yet seem eclectic and at the height of style.