Romeo Rega Brass, Chrome And Smoked Glass Square Italian Coffee Table, 1970s

Elegant brass, chrome and smoked glass square coffee table. Romeo Rega designed this elegant coffee table during the 1970s in Italy.

The unique combination of straight and pure lines with superb materials, makes this item a go-to for Italian midcentury lovers.

This piece smoked glass top will add seductive elegance to a midcentury living room or a studio.

Measures (cms):
width - 70
depth - 70
height - 40

Romeo Rega is born in Rome on 10 October 1925, third of six children, born and raised in the Trastevere district, in the heart of Rome.
In 1943 , at the age of 18, he joins the army as a driver, a position that he holds for the next two years. In 1945, the year of Liberation, he comes into contact with whom he himself calles “the Master”, an excellent blacksmith and forger, from whom he learnes the art of iron. This way he starts his path after his father Piero, also a craftsman. Nine years later he gets married and opens a small shop in Via della Pelliccia, in the Trastevere district. Here he starts to work wrought iron, discovering himself capable of inventing, designing and realizing gates, railings and iron furniture.
He is 27 years old when, in 1957, he enrolls in the Albo provinciale delle imprese artigiane (Provincial Register of Craft Enterprises) and opens his first workshop in Vicolo della Frusta 6, where he collaborates with talented masters of wrought iron and forging. At this point arrives the first important order: the design and manufacturing for Cinecittà of the chariots for the American colossal film Ben-Hur, which will be published in 1959. He stays in Vicolo della Frusta until the end of the 1960s, a period in which he dedicated himself to his favorite activity: the design of his own pieces and the relations with people. Among his clients there are personalities from the world of cinema and entertainment, such as Marcello Mastroianni, Renato Rascel and his wife Giuditta Saltarini, Massimo Ranieri.
In 1970 he met the filmmaker Massimo Saraceni who encouraged him to broaden his entrepreneurial horizons. The 1970s represent a real revolution for the Italian culture, here start the “golden years” of design. In this roaring context, Romeo manages to apply with creativity the traditional methods usually used to process forging and wrought iron to new industrial materials such as brass, steel and perspex. This is how the famous “Romeo Rega” brand is born, and the serial production of his furniture starts in Vicolo Pian due Torri, in the Magliana district of Rome. The “four-rod” tables, the “Z-shaped” consoles and the “obelisk” lamps are some of his most famous pieces.
With the growing popularity of the Romeo Rega brand, the company crosses the national borders and organizes a foreign distribution network in the European and US markets. Dozens of shops and exhibition spaces open between France – Paris, Lyon, Nice, Bourdeax, Cannes, Marseille, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Monte Carlo, England – London, Florida – Miami and California – Los Angeles. The distribution headquarters is the prestigious store in Via di Ripetta – inaugurated in 1971 – which soon becomes the reference point for the Italian and international market.
In recent years, the commitment to carry out creative projects involving artists, architects and designers of various backgrounds proceeds tirelessly. The concept of design with new materials, articulated and rigorous volumes, highlighting objects and strategies on different scales was explored. Moreover, numerous and established collaborations were born between 1977 and 1981, involving different realities such as Associazione Axrom on the occasion of the Salone del Mobile, Vivai del Sud, Tommaso Barbi, Fabriziani & Calandra, as well as the famous Gruppo Ripetta, which is a collective of more than a dozen of nationally well-known artists and designers who contribute to giving new life to the now well-established shop. This led to a creation of a limited series of art furniture, numbered, signed, and presented on the occasion of an exhibition in 1977. Subsequently Rega opens a prestigious studio in Via Margutta 62, together with his son, the architect, Claudio, in which he develops projects related to the vision of the living space. He passed away prematurely at the age of 59.

Condition report:

Good