Mario Bellini Shanghai Gold Vase for Kartell
About the Item
- Creator:Kartell (Manufacturer),Mario Bellini (Designer)
- Dimensions:Height: 17.25 in (43.82 cm)Width: 14.75 in (37.47 cm)Depth: 13.25 in (33.66 cm)
- Style:Modern (Of the Period)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Place of Origin:
- Period:
- Date of Manufacture:2010s
- Condition:Wear consistent with age and use. Overall, excellent vintage condition. Like new with minimal wear.
- Seller Location:Miami, FL
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU5392239181852
Mario Bellini
Milan-born architect and designer Mario Bellini just may be the closest thing to a modern-day Renaissance man: His creative output spans genres, from electronics to furniture to architecture to cars, comprising iconic designs in each. Vintage Mario Bellini sofas, dining chairs and other seating pieces are widely coveted, and the designer has been the recipient of multiple prestigious Compasso d’Oro awards. More than 20 of his works are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
Born in 1935, Bellini studied architecture at the Polytechnic University of Milan before founding his own firm in his native city in the early 1960s. He soon branched out beyond architecture, however, first for the tech manufacturer Olivetti, where he served as chief industrial design consultant from 1963 to 1991. During that time, Bellini oversaw the design of some of Olivetti’s most popular typewriters.
His penchant for electronic design didn’t stop there: Bellini also designed cameras for Fuji, televisions for Brionvega and a slew of audio devices for Yamaha, then served as design consultant for Renault and devised the interior of the 1980 Lancia Trevi for Fiat. Meanwhile, his architecture work spans continents, including such modern gems as the Museum of Islamic Arts at the Louvre, the National Gallery of Victoria extension in Melbourne, the Dubai Creek Complex and the Milan Convention Centre in his hometown.
And then there’s the furniture: Over the last 70 years, Bellini has designed office furniture for Vitra; lamps for Artemide, Erco and FLOS; porcelain for Rosenthal and long-admired sofas and other seating for Kartell, Natuzzi, B&B Italia, Cassina and more.
His oft-imitated 1977 Cab chair for Cassina, comprising 16 individual pieces of saddle leather that create a “skin” over a minimal metal frame, remains one of the manufacturer’s best sellers today. His pudgy-legged, round tables for Cassina foreshadow Faye Toogood’s widely loved Roly Poly line. His postmodern Summa armchairs for Kartell, as well as his elegant Chiara floor lamp, still lure collectors on vintage furniture websites.
Bellini’s most famous contribution to furniture design, though, may be his 1970 Camaleonda sofa for B&B Italia (then C&B Italia). An entrant to the 1972 MoMA show “Italy: The New Domestic Landscape,” the seat takes its name from the Italian words for chameleon and wave. Its bulbous, modular form makes it infinitely flexible. The sofa was a runaway hit at the show and, once discontinued, remained so popular among vintage dealers that B&B Italia reissued it in 2020 with all recycled materials and interchangeable seat covers. “Of all the objects I have designed, Camaleonda is perhaps the best in terms of its sense of freedom,” Bellini said.
Browse an expansive collection of vintage Mario Bellini furniture — including dining tables, armchairs, mid-century sofas and more — today on 1stDibs.
Kartell
The Italian design giant Kartell transformed plastic from the stuff of humble household goods into a staple of luxury design in the 1960s. Founded in Milan by Italian chemical engineer Giulio Castelli (1920–2006) and his wife Anna Ferrieri (1918–2006), Kartell began as an industrial design firm, producing useful items like ski racks for automobiles and laboratory equipment designed to replace breakable glass with sturdy plastic. Even as companies like Olivetti and Vespa were making Italian design popular in the 1950s, typewriters and scooters were relatively costly, and Castelli and Ferrieri wanted to provide Italian consumers with affordable, stylish goods.
They launched a housewares division of Kartell in 1953, making lighting fixtures and kitchen tools and accessories from colorful molded plastic. Consumers in the postwar era were initially skeptical of plastic goods, but their affordability and infinite range of styles and hues eventually won devotees. Tupperware parties in the United States made plastic storage containers ubiquitous in postwar homes, and Kartell’s ingenious designs for juicers, dustpans, and dish racks conquered Europe. Kartell designer Gino Colombini was responsible for many of these early products, and his design for the KS 1146 Bucket won the Compasso d’Oro prize in 1955.
Buoyed by its success in the home goods market, Kartell introduced its Habitat division in 1963. Designers Marco Zanuso and Richard Sapper created the K1340 (later called the K 4999) children’s chair that year, and families enjoyed their bright colors and light weight, which made them easy for kids to pick up and move. In 1965, Joe Colombo (1924–78) created one of Kartell’s few pieces of non-plastic furniture, the 4801 chair, which sits low to the ground and comprised of just three curved pieces of plywood. (In 2012, Kartell reissued the chair in plastic.) Colombo followed up on the success of the 4801 with the iconic 4867 Universal Chair in 1967, which, like Verner Panton’s S chair, is made from a single piece of plastic. The colorful, stackable injection-molded chair was an instant classic. That same year, Kartell introduced Colombo’s KD27 table lamp. Ferrierei’s cylindrical 4966 Componibili storage module debuted in 1969.
Kartell achieved international recognition for its innovative work in 1972, when a landmark exhibition curated by Emilio Ambasz called “Italy: The New Domestic Landscape” opened at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. That show introduced American audiences to the work of designers such as Gaetano Pesce; Ettore Sottsass, founder of the Memphis Group; and the firms Archizoom and Superstudio (both firms were among Italy's Radical design groups) — all of whom were using wit, humor and unorthodox materials to create a bracingly original interior aesthetic.
Castelli and Ferrieri sold Kartell to Claudio Luti, their son-in-law, in 1988, and since then, Luti has expanded the company’s roster of designers.
Kartell produced Ron Arad’s Bookworm wall shelf in 1994, and Philippe Starck’s La Marie chair in 1998. More recently, Kartell has collaborated with the Japanese collective Nendo, Spanish architect Patricia Urquiola and glass designer Tokujin Yoshioka, among many others. Kartell classics can be found in museums around the world, including MoMA, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. In 1999, Claudio Luti established the Museo Kartell to tell the company’s story, through key objects from its innovative and colorful history.
Find vintage Kartell tables, seating, table lamps and other furniture on 1stDibs.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Miami, FL
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- Mario Bellini “The Bellini Chair” for Heller, Set of NineBy Mario Bellini, HellerLocated in Miami, FLSet of nine white sculptural Bellini chairs designed by Mario Bellini for Heller. These lightweight, versatile and stackable plastic chairs are perfect for indoor or outdoor settings.Category
Late 20th Century Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsPlastic
- Mario Bellini 401 Break Gray Leather Arm Chairs for Cassina, Set of TenBy Cassina, Mario BelliniLocated in Miami, FLRare set of ten gray leather 401 Break dining arm chairs on casters designed by Mario Bellini for Cassina Spa. The chairs have soft down filled cushions and ...Category
Late 20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsSteel
- Philippe Starck Dr. No Cream Dining Chair for KartellBy Kartell, Philippe StarckLocated in Miami, FLCream Dr. No chair with aluminum legs by Philippe Starck and produced by Kartell, Italy.Category
1990s Italian Modern Dining Room Chairs
MaterialsAluminum
- Barbara Brenner Porcelain Vase for RosenthalBy Rosenthal, Barbara BrennerLocated in Miami, FLOrganic postmodern porcelain vase by Barbara Brenner for Rosenthal, 1980s.Category
Late 20th Century German Post-Modern Vases
MaterialsPorcelain
- Barbara Brenner Porcelain Vase for RosenthalBy Rosenthal, Barbara BrennerLocated in Miami, FLOrganic postmodern porcelain vase by Barbara Brenner for Rosenthal, 1980s.Category
Late 20th Century German Post-Modern Vases
MaterialsPorcelain
- Barbara Brenner Porcelain Vase for RosenthalBy Barbara Brenner, RosenthalLocated in Miami, FLLarge organic postmodern porcelain vase by Barbara Brenner for Rosenthal, 1980s.Category
Late 20th Century German Post-Modern Vases
MaterialsPorcelain
- Kartell Shanghai Vase in Gold by Mario BelliniBy Mario Bellini, KartellLocated in Brooklyn, NYA multi-faceted vase widening from the base to the top in a swirling motion. Shanghai is like refracted light radiating from prism-like crystals with an alternating play of flashes a...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Vases
MaterialsMetallic Thread
- Kartell Shanghai Vase in Blue by Mario BelliniBy Mario Bellini, KartellLocated in Brooklyn, NYA multi-faceted vase widening from the base to the top in a swirling motion. Shanghai is like refracted light radiating from prism-like crystals with an alternating play of flashes a...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Vases
MaterialsPlastic
- Kartell Shanghai Vase in Crystal by Mario BelliniBy Mario Bellini, KartellLocated in Brooklyn, NYA multi-faceted vase widening from the base to the top in a swirling motion. Shanghai is like refracted light radiating from prism-like crystals with an alternating play of flashes a...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Vases
MaterialsPlastic
- Kartell Shanghai Vase in Amber by Mario BelliniBy Mario Bellini, KartellLocated in Brooklyn, NYA multi-faceted vase widening from the base to the top in a swirling motion. Shanghai is like refracted light radiating from prism-like crystals with an alternating play of flashes a...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Vases
MaterialsPlastic
- Kartell Shanghai Vase in Glossy White by Mario BelliniBy Mario Bellini, KartellLocated in Brooklyn, NYA multi-faceted vase widening from the base to the top in a swirling motion. Shanghai is like refracted light radiating from prism-like crystals with an alternating play of flashes a...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Italian Modern Vases
MaterialsPlastic
- Italian Murano Glass Vase Sogni Infranti Model by Mario Bellini for Venini.By Venini, Mario BelliniLocated in Milan, ItalyVase model Sogni Infranti iridescent glass with application of processing scraps polychrome glass, 1994. Designed by Mario Bellini. Signed.Category
1990s Italian Modern Vases
MaterialsGlass