Arrigo Finzi Biography
Arrigo Finzi (La Spezia 1890 - Milan 1973) was one of the most interesting and original Italian silversmiths of the first half of the twentieth century. Suffice it to remember that in 1950 his works were the only ones judged sufficiently innovative to participate in the Italy at work exhibition. Her renaissance in design today, the important exhibition which, hosted in twelve prestigious US museums, presented the best of contemporary Italian craftsmanship, decorative arts and design overseas. Finzi's works exhibited at the Wolfsoniana refer to his production from 1919 to 1940. When, in 1909, the young Arrigo presented the project of his first laboratory, he met Antonio Sant Elia who, at that time, was working in the office technician of the Municipality of Milan. In the following years he met the famous futurist architect again. A friendship was established between the two young people: Finzi, who wanted to start a production of modern silver, was fascinated by Sant'Elia's futuristic projects and asked him to design objects characterized by new and essential lines. Unfortunately the war and the architect's tragic death interrupted the partnership. But Finzi did not forget his friend's lesson and, when he founded his company in 1919, the first pieces were inspired by Sant'Elia's drawings, as demonstrated by the Futurism centerpiece presented at the Wolfsoniana. However, these works were not commercially successful. Only later, in 1933, when the Finzi company was now established nationally and internationally, the silversmith registered the "Sant Elia" trademark with which he launched the "Nova Argenteria" season which distinguishes the production from the most modern lines, in which the futurist inspiration merges with decidedly deco motifs and, in some pieces, reveals more substantial, already twentieth-century accents.
