SERGIO MAZZA (ITALIAN b.1931) FOR ARTEMIDE
Preview: Colville Road

SERGIO MAZZA (ITALIAN b.1931) FOR ARTEMIDE: A ‘Toga’ chair, circa 1960s, moulded resin in red, impressed stamp to underside, (repaired),

63cm high x 79cm wide x 81 cm deep

Notes: Created in 1968 by Sergio Mazza, the "Toga" chair is one of the objects of furniture that have gone down in the history of Italian industrial design, becoming a popular icon as it became a permanent fixture in the television scenes of the 1960s, such as "Space 1999".

The Italian architect Mazza founded the Artemide brand in Milan with the aeronautical engineer Ernesto Gismondi. Despite the artisanal beginnings, the start proved fruitful: in a short time, Artemide established itself as one of the most qualified brands in its sector, beginning to collaborate with designers such as Magistretti, BBPR, Gio Ponti and Livio Castiglioni, thus laying the foundations for its future expansion.

In the 1960s, Mazza designed his most famous lamps for the brand, those in nickel-plated brass, opaline glass and crystal: cult objects and part of the heritage of prestigious international museums, from hanging lamps such as Delta and Tau to the Clio wall lamp. The peculiarity of Artemide's products from that period is that, on the one hand, they guarantee the aesthetics and essential technologies of industrial design, but at the same time, they manage to express Italian tradition through the sophisticated choice and processing of materials.