Carlo SCARPA

Carlo Scarpa was an architect, a designer, and an innovator who lived and created through two world wars without ever halting his creative mind. Born in Venice in 1906, at the age of 2, Scarpa and his family moved to Vicenza, a city near Venice, where he spent most of his childhood. In 1919, after the death of his mother, the family returned to Venice, and the young Carlo later enrolled in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. In 1926, he obtained his qualification in Architectural Design and worked at the Venetian studio of architect Guido Cirilli until 1931, while also apprenticing with architect Francesco Rinaldo. In 1934, Carlo Scarpa married Rinaldo's niece, Nini Lazzari.

From 1933 to 1947, he served as an artistic consultant to the famous and prestigious glassmaking company Venini, and some of the most original glass designs in the history of design can be attributed to his personal artistic taste for Murano glass.

For twenty years, until well into the mid-1940s, he received numerous commissions for the design of both public and private buildings. Carlo Scarpa's architecture has been described as "the most cultured and aristocratic of 20th-century Italy," characterized by his unmistakable ability to blend a love for materials, attention to detail, skillful incorporation of Wrightian and organic poetic elements. These characteristics were not only present in his remarkable architectural designs but also in his furniture product designs, which have played a significant role in the history of Italian design, thanks to collaborations with important companies in the field such as Cassina and Bernini. Scarpa enjoyed collaborating, whether with companies or private clients, to produce unique pieces crafted by hand, works that are one-of-a-kind and avant-garde, which elevated Italian craftsmanship to an intellectual sphere with their ingenious and refined technological details and a heightened sensitivity to natural materials. This is why his work and creativity have produced timeless masterpieces that are still appreciated today.

Carlo Scarpa died in Sendai, Japan, in 1978 following a trivial accident while inspecting a singular detail of a staircase at the hotel where he was staying. Scarpa was buried in the monumental complex, the Brion Tomb in San Vito Altivole (TV), which he personally worked on in 1969 at the request of Giuseppe Brion's wife, the founder and owner of the well-known company Brionvega.

Scarpa's death was a significant loss to the worlds of architecture and design, but his work and legacy continue to inspire generations of professionals in these fields. Despite his extraordinary contributions, Scarpa was only posthumously awarded an honorary degree in architecture.