Romeo Rega Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Romeo Rega (1925 - 1984) was a furniture designer and master iron forger. He followed in the footsteps of his father Pietro, also a craftsman. Read the full biography

Romeo Rega (1925 - 1984) was a furniture designer and master iron forger. He followed in the footsteps of his father Pietro, also a craftsman. He apprenticed to a master blacksmith and forger from whom he learned the art of ironsmithing. At the end of the 1940s he opened a small shop in Trastevere, Rome, where he began working with wrought iron, designing and creating iron gates, railings and furniture. In 1957 he opened his first studio where he collaborated with talented masters of wrought iron and forging. In 1959 he received an important order for Cinecittà for the design and creation of the chariots for the film Ben-Hur. Among his clients there are famous people from the world of cinema and entertainment, such as Marcello Mastroianni, Renato Rascel and his wife Giuditta Saltarini, Massimo Ranieri, Renzo Arbore. In the 1970s Romeo Rega was part of a pack of Italian designers who combined inventiveness and elegance with a strong modernist influence. Working with Willy Rizzo and Gabriella Crespi they supported Modernist Glam, still very popular today. Begin applying traditional ironworking methods with materials such as brass, steel and lucite. Four-rod tables, zeta consoles and obelisk lamps are some of his most famous pieces. The Romeo Rega brand with the double "R" was first used on New Year's Eve 1969 and is the symbol of the transition to the 1970s. The company produced until 1981.