Carlo Scarpa (2 June 1906 – 28 November 1978) was an Italianarchitect and designer. He was influenced by the materials, landscape, and history of Venetian culture, as well as that of Japan.[1] Scarpa translated his interests in history, regionalism, invention, and the techniques of the artist and craftsman into ingenious glass and furniture design.[2][3][4]
Scarpa was born inVenice on 2 June 1906. Much of his early childhood was spent inVicenza, where his family relocated when he was two years old. After his mother's death when he was 13, he moved with his father and brother back to Venice. Carlo attended theAcademy of Fine Arts where he focused on architectural studies.[5] After he graduated from the academy with the title of Professor of Architecture, he apprenticed with the architect Francesco Rinaldo. Scarpa married Rinaldo's niece, Nini Lazzari (Onorina Lazzari).
However, Scarpa refused to sit thepro forma professional exam administered by the Italian government afterWorld War II. As a consequence, he was not permitted to practice architecture without associating with an architect. Hence, those who worked with him (clients, associates, craftspersons, etc.) called him "Professor", rather than "architect".
Scarpa's architecture is deeply sensitive to the passage of time, from seasons to history, rooted in a sensuous material imagination. He wasMario Botta's thesis adviser along withGiuseppe Mazzariol; the latter was the director of theFondazione Querini Stampalia when Scarpa completed his renovation and garden for that institution. Scarpa taught drawing and interior decoration at theIstituto universitario di architettura di Venezia from the late 1940s until his death. While most of his built work is located in theVeneto region, he designed landscapes, gardens, and buildings for other regions of Italy as well as Canada, the United States, Saudi Arabia, France, and Switzerland. His name has 11 letters and this is used repeatedly in his architecture.[6]
One of his last projects, the Villa Palazzetto inMonselice, left incomplete at the time of his death, was altered in October 2006 by his sonTobia. This work is one of Scarpa's most ambitious landscape and garden projects, theBrion Sanctuary notwithstanding. It was executed for Aldo Businaro, the representative for Cassina who was responsible for Scarpa's first trip to Japan. Businaro died in August 2006, a few months before the completion of the new stairs at the Villa Palazzetto, built to commemorate Scarpa's centenary.
In 1978, while inSendai, Japan, Scarpa fell down a flight of concrete stairs. He died of his injuries after ten days in hospital. He is buried standing up and wrapped in linen sheets in the style of a medieval knight, in an isolated exterior corner of his L-shapedBrion tomb at San Vito d'Altivole in Veneto.
In 1984, the Italian composerLuigi Nono dedicated to Scarpa a composition for orchestra in micro-intervals,A Carlo Scarpa, Architetto, Ai suoi infiniti possibili.[7]
Scarpa was a designer as well as an architect. At the beginning of his career, he collaborated withglassmakers inMurano. He designed jars and chandeliers forMVM Cappellin & Co. andVenini. His designs for Venini have sold for high prices at auction, including a 1940 vase that sold atChristie's in 2012 for around $309,000, and another vase, found in athrift store, which sold in 2023 for $107,100.[8][9]
Furthermore, Scarpa joined theindustrial design world in the 1960s after meeting Dino Gavina. Scarpa became the president of the eponymous company Gavina.
In 1968, after the founding of Studio Simon, Scarpa started to design industrial furniture.
He designed pieces for Simon and Bernini.[10] The Doge table (1968) and the Cornaro sofa (1973) are the most famous.[11]
^Olsberg, Nicholas; Ranalli, George; Bedard, Jean-Francios; Polano, Sergio; Di Lieto, Alba; Friedman, Mildred (1999)."Carlo Scarpa, architect : Intervening With History".Getty Search Gateway. Montreal, Quebec, Canada : Canadian Centre For Architecture New York : Monacelli Press.
^Olsberg, Nicholas; Ranalli, George; Bedard, Jean-Francios; Polano, Sergio; di Lieta, Alba; Friedman, Mildred (1999)."Carlo Scarpa, architect : intervening with history".Getty Search Gateway. Montreal, Quebec, Canada : Canadian Centre For Architecture; New York : Monacelli Press.
Giunta, Santo (2020).Carlo Scarpa. A [curious] shaft of light, a golden standard, the hands and a face of a woman. Reflections on the design process and layout of Palazzo Abatellis 1953–1954. Foreword by Richard Murphy; Afterword by Giampiero Bosoni, Marsilio, Venice,ISBN978-88-297-0654-9.
McCarter, Robert (2013).Carlo Scarpa. London:Phaidon Press. (2nd edition, 2017)
Olsberg, Nicholas; Ranalli, George; Polano, Sergio; Di Lietio, Alba; Freidman, Mildred; Bedard, Jean-Francois; Guidi, Guido (1999).Carlo Scarpa, Architect: Intervening with History (1st ed.). New York:Canadian Centre For Architecture: Monacelli Press. p. 256.ISBN1580930352.
Schultz, Anne-Catrin (2007).Carlo Scarpa: Layers. Stuttgart: Edition Axel Menges.
Semi, Franca (2010).A Lezione con Carlo Scarpa (in Italian). Venice: Cicero.ISBN9788889632260.
Sonego, Carla (1995).Carlo Scarpa. Gli anni della formazione. Venice: IUAV, (unpublished thesis, Professor Marco De Michelis, supervisor).(in Italian)
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