Lino Sabbatini (1925 – 2016) worked as a silversmith from a very early age. He learned metalworking techniques and became interested in shapes derived from natural materials. W. Wolff in Germany commissioned him to design the 1950 Boule Teapot. He moved to Milan in 1955 and met Gio Ponti, who mentored him and included him in an exhibition organised the following year. This enabled Sabbatini to receive international recognition for his work.
In the late 50s and early 60s he was active in Milan and as director of design at Christofle Orfèvrerie in Paris.
His forms were free-flowing, sculptural and straightforward, as in his 1960 tea service Como produced by Christofle 1960-1970. He designed ceramics, glassware, and metalwork for Rosenthal, Nava and Zani & Zani.
In 1964, he established his own factory Argenteria Sabattini, Bregnano, near Como. He executed the 1976 Saucière Estro sauce bowl. Also produced by his firm were his 1986 Insect Legs silver and black titanium tableware and flatware, and 1987 Connato silver-plated brass-alloy vase.
Sample of Work
More on Silversmiths
-
Fred G. Minuth (1884 – 1966) American Silversmith
Fred G. Minuth was an American Silversmith. He was professionally active in Chicago.Read More →
-
Peter Raacke (b.1928) German metalworker and designer
Hessische Metallwerke commissioned Raacke to produce metal cutlery, kitchen equipment, and cookware, most notably his “Mono-a” line (v-33), with silverware available in stainless steel and sterling silver.Read More →
-
Masterful Craftsmanship and Modern Ornamentation: The Legacy of Erna Zarges-Dürr, German Silversmith
Erna Zarges-Dürr (1907-2002) was a German silversmith. She was professionally active Pforzheim, Leipzig, Berlin. and Stuttgart. Between 1924-27, she trained at Bruckmann und Söhne, Heilbronn, as the first women in the silversmiths’ department. From 1927, she studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule, Pforzheim, under Theodor Wende and others. Read More →
-
Anatomy of a Hallmark 🤔
A hallmark is a symbol or device struck at an assay office on gold or silver, indicating that article conforms to legal standards of manufacture established by the monarch, local guilds, government etc. Literally, mark applied at Goldsmith’s Hall (London assay office since 1300) but extended to cover e.g. all five stamps found on Victorian…
-
Edward Spenser (1872 – 1938) British metalworker
Edward Spenser (1872 – 1938) was a British metalworker, silversmith, and jeweller. He was professionally active in London. Spencer was a junior designer at the Artificers’ Guild. When Montague Fordham took over the Guild in 1903, Spenser became chief designer. Read More →
-
Wiwen Nilsson (1897 – 1974) Swedish Silver Designer
He was trained in the workshop of his father Anders Nilsson. He studied at the Konigliche Preussische Zeichenakademie, Hanau (Germany), and in the Paris studio of Georg Jensen while at the Académie de la Grande Chaumiere and Académie Colarossi.Read More →
-
Arne Petersen (1922 – 2002) Danish Metalworker
At the Copenhagen firm C.C. Herman, Petersen learnt silver and goldsmithing methods. He joined the Georg Jensen Solvsmedie in 1948 and worked in the hollow-ware department until 1976. His 1975 Bottle Opener, made of stainless steel soldered with brass, received a lot of attention. Read More →
-
International Silver Company (ISC) American Silversmiths
The International Silver Company was founded in 1898 by a group of independent silversmiths from New England. Ashbil Griswold, who established his pewter shop in Meriden, Connecticut, in 1808, is credited with starting the early records of this industry.Read More →
-
Henri Navarre (1885 – 1970) French Metalworker
Henri Navarre was a French sculptor, architect, silversmith, and glassmaker who was influenced by Maurice Marinot and exhibited his work at Galerie Edgar Brandt and Maison Geo Rouard.Read More →
-
Bertel Gardberg (1916 – 2007) Finnish Jeweller and Metalworker
Bertel Gardberg was a Finnish jeweller and metal worker. Between 1938-1941 he studied at Taideteollin Korkeaukoulu, Helsinki. He began his working life in Copenhagen. Gardberg moved to Helsinki where he maintained a studio between 1949-1966. He was responsible for stainless steel and silver designs produced by the Georg Jensen Solvsmedie; Galeries Lafayette department store, Paris…
-
Louis Rault (1847 – 1903) French sculptor, engraver and jewellery designer
Louis Rault (1847 – 1903) was a French Sculptor, engraver, silversmith and jewellery designer.Between 1868 and 1875, Rault worked in the Boucheron workshop on the Place Vendôme in Paris. At the end of the nineteenth century, he set up a workshop where he produced silver and jewellery in the Art Nouveau style.Read More →
-
Julius Olaf Randahl (1880 – 1972) Swedish silversmith
In 1901, he moved to New York and worked for Tiffany and Gorham Manufacturing. In 1907, he worked at the Kalo Shop in Chicago before opening his own Randahl Shop in Park Ridge, Illinois, in 1911.Read More →
-
Marius Hammer (1847 – 1927) Norwegian silversmith
Hammer was head of one of Norway’s largest silversmithies. He was best known for his plique-a-jour enamelled spoons popular with tourists and exported in large quantities. He produced the ‘Norwegian brilliant enamel work’ spoons offered in the 1896 and 1898 Christmas catalogues of Liberty, London. Read More →
-
Ampulla receptacle used in churches
Ampulla is a type of vessel used to hold chrism in churches.The pouring hole is in its beak. The cover is its head. LEARN MORERead More →
-
Harry Bertoia (1915 – 1978) Italian sculptor, furniture designer
Harry Bertoia was a sculptor, printmaker, jeweller, and furniture designer. He was born in San Lorenzo, Udine, and worked in the United States professionally. During World War Two he worked with Ray and Charles Eames on moulded-plywood technology. He worked primarily as a sculptor from the mid-1950s onwards. His sculpture was prominently featured in many…
-
Brian Anthony Asquith (1930 – 2008) British silversmith
Brian Asquith (1930 – 2008) was one of the principal figures in British silversmithing during the 20th century, now regarded as the industry’s heroic age. Read More →
-
Georg Arthur Jensen silverware designer and manufacturer
Georg Jensen was a Danish metalworker. He was born in Faavad. He was apprenticed as a goldsmith. cl895-1901, he studied sculpture, Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi, Copenhagen. Read More →
-
Alma Eikerman (1908 – 1995) American jewellery designer and silversmith
Alma Eikerman (1908 – 1995) was an American jewellery designer and silversmith. Eikerman was born in Pratt, Kansas, and graduated from Kansas State College in Emporia with a B.Sc. in 1934 and an M.Sc. in 1942. Read More →
-
Franz Rickert (1904-1991) German Silversmith
He worked as a silversmith from 1926 and became one of the most important silversmiths in Munich and an outstanding enameler. 1935-72, he taught at the Staatsschule (later Akademie) fur angewandte Kunst in Munich. In the 1950s and 1960s, he designed numerous religious objects.Read More →
-
Helicon Vase symbolises music and poetry
A Helicon vase is a centrepiece named after Mount Helicon in Greece. It was sacred to the ancient Greek muses. Read More →
-
Arno Malinowki (1899 – 1976) Danish sculptor and metalworker
His jewellery designs of a kneeling deer, a dolphin in the rushes, and butterflies on a flower, which he created in 1937, were produced for many years. In 1940, he created the ‘Kingmark’ to commemorate King Christian’s seventieth birthday. It was mass-produced and worn by Danes to demonstrate their allegiance to Denmark and opposition to…
-
Emmy Roth (1885 – 1942) German / Israeli Silversmith
In 1916, she established her workshop in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Her early work was influenced by the Baroque, but her later work was more straightforward, as evidenced by her fruit dish in The Studio, 1929.Read More →
-
Silver and twentieth-century design
The impact of silver metal technology has driven the development of modern furnishings throughout the 20th century. The transformation of a chair into a sculptural statement, for example. Interior metal objects have not always been at the forefront of modern design within a multi-function. With the emphasis on warmth and comfort in the home, the…
-
Gunilla Jung (d. 1939) Finnish silversmith and lighting designer
Gunilla Jung was a glass and lighting artist and Silversmith. She designed glassware for Karhula (later Iittala) in the 1930s at the Institute of Applied Arts in Helsinki. Maybe best known for her pioneering lighting projects, such as in Helsinki’s Savoy Theatre. Taito created her first silver designs and, later in the 1930s, others by…
-
Cylinda Line Teapot by Arne Jacobsen
The Cylinda Line featured a close design connection among all aspects and the consistency of features throughout, including logo and packaging. It was designed over three years by International Style architect Jacobsen in collaboration with its manufacturer, Stelton. Read More →
-
Jean Puiforcat (1897 – 1945) French Art Deco Silversmith
His silver work was based on the geometric series and had smooth surfaces. Pieces were embellished with ivory, onyx, lapis lazuli, and rosewood. He also used gilding.Read More →
-
Erik Magnussen (1884 – 1961) Danish silversmith and designer
Danish silversmith of Art Deco and Cubist works Erik Magnussen was a silversmith and designer from Denmark. He lived in the United States from 1925 to 1939, first as artistic director of the Gorham Manufacturing Company in New York City and subsequently with his workshop in Chicago and Los Angeles.Read More →
-
Robert Welch (1929 – 2000) English designer and silversmith
He studied painting at the Malvern School of Art under Victor Moody from 1946 to 1947 and 1949 to 1950. Silversmithing at Birmingham College of Art between 1950 and 1952. Between 1952 and 1955, he studied silversmithing at the Royal College of Art in London, mentored by Robert Gooden.Read More →
-
Tias Eckhoff (1926 – 2016) Norwegian designer, metalworker, ceramicist
Tias Eckhoff (1926 – 2016) was a well-known industrial designer in Norway. His production was constrained, but many of his products have endured as timeless design classics. In addition to the design of RBM Ana, RBM Bella, and Low-back Bella, he was also responsible for the famous Maya cutlery and Glohane tableware, to name a…
-
Carl Hugo Pott (1906 – 1985) – German Metalworker & Silversmith
Carl Pott studied design and metallurgy at technical school in Solingen and Forschungsinitut unf Profieramt für Edelmetalle, Schwäbisch-Gmünd.Read More →
Sources
Byars, M., & Riley, T. (2004). The design encyclopedia. Laurence King Publishing.
You may also be interested in
The joy of geraniums – Encyclopedia of Design
Is there anything more joyous than geraniums? Bright, resilient and utterly undemanding, these pleasers of the botanical world
Glyphs – Road to International Understanding – Encyclopedia of Design
Glyphs are the graphical symbols that are more or less universally used. Typical are the plus and the minus signs in mathematics. Margaret Mead, the American Anthropologist, suggested them as a means of a new international language. As a “Graphic Designer,” I like the particular meaning of Glyph as a symbol that is supposedly independent of language and culture.