Tobia Scarpa


1935 

Tobia Scarpa was born in 1935 and has spent his career in Italy. The son of architect Carlo Scarpa, he collaborated with his wife, Afra, on designs for nearly every major international company, including Flos, Cassina, Knoll and B&B Italia. Together, they developed a vocabulary for accessible luxury design based on expanding technology and a wide variety of materials.

Scarpa was commissioned, along with Pier Castiglioni, to design the first models for the lighting company Flos started by Dino Gavina. His later "Papillion" lamp for Flos 1973 was one of the first designs to use the new halogen technology. Tobia and Afra Scarpa also worked in commercial architecture and interior design, especially later in their career. Some of their best-known work was for the Benetton clothing company. They are credited with several interiors for them and for their prototype store in Italy. Tobia has also been a lecturer at the School of Industrial Design in Venice. Throughout his career he worked with the motto that design "is a profession without a rule book...that which remains is that final and concrete result: the object.