GENTLEMAN’S VALET BY ICO PARISI FOR FRATELLI REGUITTI

In 1947, he married fellow designer Luisa Aiani, the talented former protegée of Gio Ponti. Also a member of Alta Quota, the pair founded their studio La Ruota in Como, in April 1948. Between 1949 and 1952, Parisi studied architecture under Alberto Sartoris at the Institute Atheneum in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1952, he became a member of the Art Club of Milan, and In 1956, he became a member of the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale (ADI).

Parisi ultimately became one of the most influential Italian designers who shaped the look of the 1950s. The Sicilian-born architect considered himself a Renaissance man, and he was prolific as a filmmaker and designer of furniture, glass, and jewelry. Alone or in collaboration with his wife, Luisa, a student of Gio Ponti, Parisi worked to create desks, chairs, and upholstered sofas in wood and metal for high-end clients, as well as designing numerous interiors. Parisi’s work epitomizes the funky, modernist style of the early atomic age.

Their studio was a meeting place for collaborations between established artists and designers of the day. Clients included Singer & Sons, Altamira, M.I.M., Longhi, and Cassina.  Ico, in collaboration with architects Silvio Longhi and Luigi Antonietti, designed the Living Room Pavilion (Padiglione per il Soggiorno) for the tenth Triennale di Milano. Resembling the form of a circus tent, the reinforced concrete and glass walls formed a spiral-shaped living room. Parisi and his team dedicated the space to a large communal lounge with a library and bar.

Featured in the prestigious Domus magazine, the Parisis were celebrated for their organic designs and interiors. The Parisis’ friend Gio Ponti famously wrote to Ico Parisi to say: “My dear, your egg chair is a marvel. You are a master, and all that is left for me is to retire and live in Civate [near Como] in oblivion.” The duo’s collaboration with Cassina was a fruitful one, resulting in many other famous designs including the Model 691 Chair (1955) and the Model 839, which were both short-listed for the Compasso d’Oro award in 1955.

Luisa Parisi passed away in 1990, followed six years later by Ico.

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