Showrooms

"Metaphora" Black Marquina Marble & Glass Coffee Table by Lella & M. Vignelli

Creator: Lella & Massimo Vignelli
Offered by: Domus Aurea

Description
Impressive metaphora coffee table in very good condition and with a great patina! This coffee table was designed by Lella & Massimo Vignelli in 1979.
Four forms of the Euclidean geometry, the cube, the cylinder, the sphere and the pyramid, made of black marquina marble, represent the basis of the table. The marble forms support a thick clear glass top of 1,5 cm. The four elements are independent and can be positioned freely, without the table losing its own identity regardless the position of the elements it consists of.

Lella Vignelli (born Elena Valle, August 13, 1934 – December 22, 2016) was an Italian architect, designer, and businesswoman. She collaborated closely throughout much of her life with her husband Massimo Vignelli, with whom she founded Vignelli Associates in 1971. She was known for the "spare, elegant style" of her architectural and Industrial Design work, as well as her management skills and entrepreneurial expertise. She is famously quoted as saying that, "If you do it right, it will last forever."

Starting in the mid-1950s, Lella Vignelli's professional concentration was interior, furniture, and product design. She was also involved in the formation of the ADI (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale), an Italian professional design organization which was founded in 1956.
Some of the Vignellis' notable designs from this period are their brand identity commissions for clients such as Knoll International, for which they led a comprehensive review of the company's visual presence starting in 1965; the graphic identity and logo of American Airlines, designed in 1967; as well the design of as a collection of melamine plastic stacking dinnerware for Articoli Plastici Elettrici in 1964 (later marketed in America by Heller). The Vignelli Stacking Dinnerware was still in production in 2023, nearly 60 years after it was first introduced.
In 1971, the Vignellis established Vignelli Associates and opened offices in New York, Paris, and Milan. The firm's commissions included corporate identity programmes for Bloomingdale's department store in 1972, Lancia automobiles in 1978, and Ducati motorcycles in 1992, as well as the signage system for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in 1997. Lella continued to focus on the three-dimensional design work of the practice, and also served as Chief Executive.
In 1978, the Vignellis founded Vignelli Designs, a separate company which focused on product and furniture design, and for which Lella served as president. Their furniture designs included the Handkerchief chair for Knoll (1985); the Serenissimo table (1985) for Italian manufacturer Acerbis; and the Magic coffee table (1990) for Acerbis's lower-priced Morphos label. Other Vignelli designs have included retail layouts for Artemide, jewelry for Cleto Munari, and glassware for Venini and Steuben Glass Works.

Size: 120 x 120 x 26 H cm.

More Information

Documentation:	Documented elsewhere (similar item)
Origin:	Italy
Period:	1950-1979
Materials:	Transparent Glass & Marquina Marble
Condition:	Good.
Creation Date:	1970
Styles / Movements:	Modern, Mid Century
Incollect Reference #:	634655