Born in Naples in 1929, the Italian architect and designer Cesare Lacca created countless furniture and metal objects during the 1950s. Although information about his private and professional life is scarce, there are fairly reliable sources to document his elegant brass designs – work for which the designer is best known. Like many 20th-century Italian designers, Lacca moved to Milan after World War II to launch his career. Before the age of 21, Lacca was selected by a group of American curators to be part of the very famous exhibition Italy at Work: Her Renaissance in Design Today, which toured 12 US museums between 1950 and 1953 - the first major exhibition of Italian design outside of Italy. The exhibition collects and displays the work of the most talented and notable Italian designers who embrace and develop modernist principles, revolutionizing the Italian artisan tradition, including Carlo Mollino, Franco Albini, and Gio Ponti In the exhibition catalogue, the curator Meyric R. Roger illustrates Lacca's successes and skill in working with brass, underlining "the variety and quality of his creations", which "place him among the most influential architects and designers of the current [modernist] movement." Rogers adds, “The quality of his work shines for decorative effect, without giving in to exaggeration or effort.” Lacca designed over the course of his career a large number of tea and serving trolleys (which correspond to the majority of his pieces available on today's market), coffee tables, and magazine racks. The designer's most iconic trolley, produced by the Italian company Cassina, features various carved woods, and brass details, with a removable glass shelf that can be used as a tray. In addition to his trolleys, Lacca is also known for creating high-backed armchairs, which are regularly included in Arredoluce advertisements for Angelo Lelli's lighting - and speaking of lighting, Cesare Lacca's lamp designs, of which at least one was exhibited in 1950 at the Brooklyn Museum, they are very difficult to find, which is why they are pieces of enormous value on the vintage design market. Almost all of Lacca's famous designs were created in the 1950s, and unfortunately the subsequent evolution of his career is unknown. Today Cesare Lacca is considered one of the greatest creators of the identity of design in Italy, as well as an artist of brass processing.
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