I've been asked before how I come up with some of my post topics. I usually just write about what piques my interest. Sometimes, it's a magazine article or sometimes, this being New York, a special event or exhibition. Such was the case when I received an invitation to attend the
Willy Rizzo exhibition of photographs and furniture at Mallett sponsored by Mallett and Paul Smith. Too bad the Post Office decided to deliver the invitation two days after the event had taken place. But it was too intriguing to just throw away so I decided to do some investigating and luckily I found the catalog in the office.
I love to learn about interesting and fascinating people and Willy Rizzo doesn't disappoint. I also really love how the exhibition came about because when I think of Mallett, I certainly don't think about photography or furniture from the 1960's and 70's. For those of you who don't know,
Mallett is a very well known and well respected purveyors of rare English and Continental antiques and object d’arte. Nearly a year ago Thomas Woodham-Smith, a Director of Mallet and Nicholas Chandor, Head of Interiors for Paul Smith were having a discussion about who in the world of design and period furniture they really admired but who was also not as famous as they should be. Apparently they both immediately thought of Willy Rizzo.
Willy Rizzo is well known to the 20th century dealing fraternity but outside that world he has been woefully neglected. He is a superb portrait photographer working for many years for
Paris Match and a designer whose imagination and severe neo-classical style defines the Italian style between 1965 and 1980. The range and quality of his work is truly outstanding and has and will stand the test of time. His legacy is a body of work which is both pleasing to the eye and stimulating to the intellect.
They were able to source many items that have never been on the market before as they have come from the Rizzo’s themselves. There are two experimental designs from the 1970’s that were never produced commercially and the furniture is accompanied by a selection of some of Willy Rizzo’s finest portraits displayed in frames exclusively designed for the exhibition by Rizzo, something he has never done before. Both these frames and the images are being produced in a limited edition of eight.
Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Cardin, 1965, Paris
‘I invited them to my studio without making them aware of each other's presence, as they were not then on very friendly terms. They mellowed later.’ 
Salvador Dali, 1950
‘When I arrived at his place, I searched the apartment to find the best angle for the shot, but his face was so spectacular that when he asked me, ‘What are we going to do?’ I picked up the magnifying glass from the desk and just photographed him.’
The reason behind Willy Rizzo's decision to start designing furniture came about after he bought a commercial space in Rome in which he planned to make an apartment and decided instead of decorating with antiques, he would start from scratch. He had never intended to become a furniture designer but of course his friends wanted him to design for them as well. His style is mostly clean with simple lines and incorporating chrome and brass that suited a leisurely lifestyle, hence the built in basins, perfect for holding champagne bottles, that are seen in many of his tables. It's completely unconventional but somehow works. I love the juxtaposition of the sectional sofa and modern coffee table against the antique chinoiserie screen.
I hope you'll check out more of his designs online because they really are original and very chic. Many thanks to Mallet and Paul Smith for introducing this interesting and innovative photographer and designer to a whole new audience. I must say I was very impressed and I look forward to the next designer they choose to exhibit.
"It was never about recreating classic styles in modern furniture, that wasn't the point. It was about creating something new for a traditional setting."
I just wanted to clarify that the Chinese wallpaper from Harewood House being sold at Mallett was from the Chintz Dressing Room. The other wallpaper that was found was from the Chintz Bedroom and was restored and installed at Harewood House and can be seen in these photos.
"Thomas Chippendale's commission of 1767 to 1778 to furnish Harewood House for Edwin Lascelles was not only the most valuable of his career but also the most sumptuous. The commission was for a complete decoration of the house and included the hanging of wallpaper and supplying of damask and paper. The Chippendale bill for the early years of the commission is now missing but, in 1772, £3,024 19s 3d was carried forward on to the existing bill."
"It is not possible to ascertain whether Chippendale himself provided this wallpaper, as was the case at Nostell Priory, or, as was more normal because of its rarity, whether Lascelles acquired it personally. Series of such panoramic paper became fashionable in the middle of the 18th century and were exported from China via Canton. There is but one known reference, of 1755, to paper forming part of a ship's cargo, so it is assumed that it was carried on commission by ships' captains of the East India Company, thereby avoiding the wallpaper tax."
"It is the Day Work Book kept by Lascelles' steward, Samuel Popelwell, noting how Chippendale's workmen spent their time from 1769 to 1775 which enables us to identify this wallpaper. It is recorded that a Mr James arrived at Harewood on 18th October 1769 and 'stayed until Christmas fully employed papering, unpacking and fixing furniture'. Between 14th and 16th December that year he spent twenty-eight hours 'Hanging the India paper in the Chintz pattern cotton bedchamber' and between 21st and 23rd December he spent twenty-six hours 'At the patterns in the Chintz pattern cotton room'."
"This suite of rooms with their oriental 'India' paper inspired the green japananed furniture made for them by Chippendale, comprising a clothes press, dressing commode, pier glass, shaving table, night table and two bedside tables. This furniture was recorded as still in these rooms in an inventory of 1795. However, at some time in the 19th century, probably during the remodelling of the house by Barry in the 1840's, the wallpaper was removed and put into storage." This wallpaper from the Chintz Dressing Room and the Chintz Bedroom was discovered in 1988, rolled up in the carpenter's shop at Harewood.
"The conservation report notes that the decorative painting is an early example of its type and is of extremely high quality. A great deal of the paper is still in its original condition where as many papers have suffered from years of over painting."
The East Bedroom (Chintz Bedroom) before the restoration and rehanging of the wallpaper. 
According to the 
