Afra e Tobia Scarpa

Afra Bianchin, born in 1937 in Montebelluna, and Tobia Scarpa, born in 1935 in Venice, were two designers who were symbolic of Italian design and culture in the 1900s. Both graduates of the IUAV in Venice in 1969, the Scarpa spouses shared and dedicated their lives to design, achieving enormous success primarily in the furnishings as well as architectural sectors.

Their main focus was always on an idea of engineering aimed at elegantly refined architecture and design both in terms of shapes as well as for the choice of materials. Their way of working was always far removed from fleeting fashions or temporary trends, allowing them to make products that were contemporary and never enslaved to the tastes of the moment.

An important phase in both of their careers was the beginning of the collaboration with Flos which started in 1962 and culminated with countless international accolades in the world’s most important museums, the MoMa in particular being one of these. In the years spent working for Flos, they designed a number of lamps that later would become icons in the world of lighting. Elegance and simplicity were the trademarks of their projects, also leaving room for stylish and contemporary aesthetics. These attributes allowed Afra and Tobia Scarpa to collaborate with prestigious companies in the furnishings industry of the likes of Cassina, B&B Italia, Molteni&C, Fabbian and many others.

In 1970, the Scarpas also won the Compasso d'Oro with the Soriana armchair for Cassina as well as other important awards. They lived their lives in perfect symbiosis with each other managing to appear almost as one in both professional and private perspectives. This strong bond, which ended with Afra’s death in 2011, gave rise to design and engineering oriented towards quality and technique, dictating new guidelines for generations of designers to come.