Strong material and graphic contrast

The precisely delineated Serenissimo renders a table as a graphic composition, with four columns and a linear steel girder to float the table top above. In the key of Lella and Massimo Vignelli’s original design, the creation speaks through its geometry and materials. With its elemental shapes defined by refined metallic finishes or soft tones of Venetian stucco, and by a vast glass top — up to three meters long — extended atop the altar-like base, for a harmony composed of monumental proportions. The glass is hot-moulded to achieve this particular texture of the top. The “stucco” is applied manually over the entire base, according to tradition.

Lella and Massimo Vignelli are a husband-and wife team. They studied in Venice, Italy, and in 1960 established the Massimo and Lella Vignelli Office of Design and Architecture in Milan, working with graphics, products, furniture and interiors. In 1965 they founded Unimark International Corporation, and, in 1971, Vignelli Associates, with an office in New York and liaison offices in Paris and Milan. The Vignellis’ work has been awarded numerous prizes and exhibited several times in sector publications, in the United States and abroad. Several of his works are included in the permanent collections of several museums.

Dining table. The structure consists of 4 cylindrical bases (Ø 28 cm) made with a steel tube, painted in either a gun-metal grey or orbital bronze finish, or, in Encausto’s more tactile variations, in the colors terracotta, green, and white. The metal frame that holds together the 4 bases and supports the table top is painted micaceous grey.

Tabletops are available in either a square or rectangular version and in the following finishes:

Transparent glass, float glass plate characterized by transparency.

Extra clear opalescent glass, float glass plate with smooth and glossy upper side, acid-etched lower side.

Cast glass, glass plate hot molded with smooth and glossy upper side, wrinkled (for casting) and semi-transparent back-lacquered lower side, in the colors black, mustard yellow, english green, pink.

Lacquered frosted white glass, float glass plate with acid-etched upper side (silky effect to the touch), and back-lacquered lower side.

Encausto: also known as “Venetian stucco”, encausto uses a highly sophisticated technique in which a fine sand plaster is applied in successive layers, the last of which is colored with natural earth. In this stage a fluid malleable mixture of limewash is used to burn the color, changing it as it dries (in fact, “encausto” is a Latin term that derives from the Greek word “enkaustikos” or “to burn in”). In the “tallocciatura” phase, which refers to the process of manually smoothing the plaster through the skillful use of a spatula, the colored mixture is unevenly incorporated in the plaster, giving the surface the characteristic appearance of this ancient artisan tradition.