Large mirror with console from the 1950s.
Designer: Pier Luigi Colli for Cristal Art
Dimensions: cm 228x136
Pier Luigi Colli
It was 1855 when Pietro Colli founded MIRAM (Italian hand embroidery manufacture), a company specializing in the production of embroideries and upholstery for armchairs and sofas, which was born as an evolution of a previous company, Calligaris-Colli & C., of which Colli became the owner. The company is based in the heart of the city's historical centre, in Piazza Castello 16. In 1921 Pietro Colli sold the business to his children, among whom the figure of Pier Luigi emerged almost immediately, destined to lead it successfully for several decades. 1926 represents a turning point for the life of the company: the Martinotti company, which has been producing quality furniture for almost a century, was acquired. This allowed the Turin company to realise all the components in the field of luxury interior design.
The bombings of 1943 damaged the laboratory in via Barbaroux 9, already home to Martinotti, making it necessary to open a new headquarters in via Giordano Bruno 9. After the war, the company enjoyed increasing success, to the point that in the 1950s it reached a quota of one hundred employees. Alongside his activity as an interior designer, Pier Luigi Colli also realised projects commissioned by famous designers, including Gio Ponti and Carlo Mollino. Among the most significant works, we remember the seats of the Aula Magna of the Rectorate of the University of Turin and the interiors of the car used by Pope John XXIII.
Upon the death of Pier Luigi Colli, the reins of the company passed to his daughter Claudia, who led it until the early 1980s, when the activity ceased.
Cristal Art was a Turin company active in the furniture sector and in particular in furnishing accessories. Founded by Giuseppe and Giovanni Donna in 1944, the artistic director was the designer Giuseppe Raimondi. The company's flagship sector was the production of mirrors and crystal furniture.
A peculiar characteristic of the company was the decoration with gold and silver mirrors and the patent for the execution of shaded mirrors from transparent to mirrored, which allowed the designers who collaborated with the company to invent exclusive products.
Present at the main exhibitions in the sector starting from 1949 (furniture fair, Milan trade fair, Paris and Lyon Salon), it soon became one of the most successful manufacturers of crystal home accessories together with Fontana Arte of Milan (still in existence) and the defunct Sant'Ambrogio & De Berti of Lissone, Brusotti of Milan.
The company closed in 1996.
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