Willy Rizzo

Italian, 1928–2013

Born in Naples in 1928 and raised in Paris, Willy Rizzo began as a photojournalist in the 1940s, covering the Nuremberg trials. Through the 1950s and 1960s he photographed Le Corbusier, Marilyn Monroe and Coco Chanel, among many others.

In 1966 he moved to Rome. Finding nothing he wanted for his new apartment, he designed his own furniture with local craftsmen, and in 1968 he opened a design studio. Until 1978 he produced sofas, coffee tables, consoles, lamps and seating in marble, brass, lacquer, metal and leather, for clients including Salvador Dalí and Brigitte Bardot.

He then returned to photography, describing himself as “a photographer who makes furniture.”

Each piece shown below is restored with care for preservation at our atelier in Rabat.