Willy Rizzo — Photographer and designer between glamour and modernism
Willy Rizzo (1928–2013)
Willy Rizzo is an extraordinarily original figure in the landscape of 20th-century Italian design and visual culture. A world-renowned photographer even before becoming a designer, Rizzo brought to the world of furniture the same sophisticated elegance and refined aesthetic sense honed over decades spent immortalizing the most famous faces of the 20th century.
Photographer to the stars
Born in Naples in 1928, Rizzo moved to Paris at a very young age, where he built an extraordinary career as a fashion and portrait photographer. His images appeared on the covers of Paris Match, Life, Vogue, and Harper's Bazaar. He photographed Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí, and Coco Chanel — a visual archive that is now part of the cultural heritage of the 20th century.
The shift toward design
In the 1970s, Rizzo complemented his photography with a second career as a furniture designer. His approach was that of someone who had lived in the world's most refined environments: his pieces reflect a glamorous and cosmopolitan aesthetic, with a skillful use of industrial materials — chromed steel, glass, brass — combined with a purely Mediterranean formal sensitivity. During this same decade, designers such as Carlo Bartoli and Riccardo Arbizzoni were also active, contributing with different styles to the golden age of 1970s Italian design.
The collaboration with Mario Sabot
In Italy, Rizzo collaborated with Mario Sabot, a manufacturer specializing in high-quality accessories and furnishing complements. Among the most characteristic pieces of this collaboration are dining chairs in bent beechwood and velvet, extendable tables with sculptural bases in brushed steel, and chromed steel wall-mounted coat racks — functional objects elevated to domestic sculptures, a perfect synthesis of industrial design and elegant decorativism.
The style
Rizzo's pieces are recognized for:
- Chromed and brushed steel as the dominant material — shiny, modern, and timeless
- Essential geometries with sculptural details
- Declared functionality — every piece is first and foremost a functional object
- Glamorous aura — the unmistakable mark of someone who lived among art, fashion, and high society
The legacy
Willy Rizzo represents a unique case of dual creative excellence: a photographer and designer of equal stature. His furniture pieces, produced in limited editions, are highly sought after today by international collectors, particularly in the French, British, and American markets.
