Umberto Riva

Umberto Riva (1928-2021) was an esteemed Italian architect. He was a pupil of Carlo Scarpa in Venice, from whom he drew an interest in an architecture far from easy minimalist temptations and a taste for daring spatial research. In the interiors designed by Riva, the plans are never trivially orthogonal, the rooms surprise and take on a different perspective depending on the point of view, often giving life to suggestive plays of light. Riva, who was also a passionate painter, devoted most of his career mainly to small-scale projects such as villas and apartments, among which those of Casa Frea in Milan and Casa di Palma in Sardinia stand out. he park of official awards, dedicating the greatest honors to him - including a Gold Medal from the Triennale for his career - only in the last years of his life. He also worked as a product designer, focusing above all on lamps, with brands such as Fontana Arte, Francesconi or Barovier & Toso. In recent years, several of his best-known creations have been re-edited by Tacchini.