Serenissimo table, Lella and Massimo Vignelli, David Law - Acerbis Design
Year
1985 – 2021
Designer

The precisely delineated Serenissimo renders a table as a graphic composition, with four columns and a linear steel girder to float the table top above. In the key of Lella and Massimo Vignelli’s original design, the creation speaks through its geometry and materials.
With its elemental shapes defined by refined metallic finishes or soft tones of Venetian stucco, and by a vast glass top — up to three meters long — extended atop the altar-like base, for a harmony composed of monumental proportions.

Dimensions

Product plus

The glass is hot-moulded to achieve this particular texture of the top.

The “stucco” is applied manually over the entire base, according to tradition.

Strong material and graphic contrast.

Finishes

Tabletop: 15mm thick transparent glass, extra clear opalescent glass, black cast glass (max L300).
Frame: grey painted micaceous metal.
Legs: 4 cylindrical bases (Ø 28 cm) made with a steel tube, painted in either a gun-metal grey or orbital bronze finish, or, in Encausto’s more tactile variations, in the colours terracotta, green, and white.

Top
VT17
VT05
VT18
Base
EN01
EN02
EN03
MT14
MT13
Chassis
Transparent glass VT17

Glass slab characterised by transparency and absence of colour.

Extra clear opalescent glass VT05

Float glass slab with etched side and protected with anti-fingerprint varnish

Black cast glass VT18

Flat sheet glass slab hot-molded and back-painted black

White encaustic EN01

Decorative putty based on natural calce. Worked in three steps with a naturally drying steel trowel. Transparent satin-finish water-based acrylic protection.

Green encaustic EN02

Decorative putty based on natural calce. Worked in three steps with a naturally drying steel trowel. Transparent satin-finish water-based acrylic protection.

Terracotta encaustic EN03

Decorative putty based on natural calce. Worked in three steps with a naturally drying steel trowel. Transparent satin-finish water-based acrylic protection.

Matt painted orbital bronze MT14

Multi-layered varnishing with a "scratched" effect obtained by manual brushing. The difference between coffee tables of the same finish is characteristic of the manual workmanship, which may be susceptible to variations in tone and homogeneity.

Matt painted gunmetal MT13

Multi-layered painting with "gunmetal" effect. The difference between coffee tables of the same finish is characteristic of the manual workmanship, which may be susceptible to variations in tone and homogeneity.

Micaceous grey painted

Epoxy powder coated steel in Micaceous grey finish

From the archive

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  • 1 David Law, Lella & Massimo Vignelli
  • 2 Original drawing
  • 3 Ancient wisdom and modern lines: Serenissimo, photo by Pozzi 1984.
  • 4 Encaustic colors inspired by the nuances of the 18th century paintings of the artist, Francesco Guardi
  • 5 Colour palette, Serenissimo first edition 1984
  • 6 Encaustic colors inspired by the nuances of the 18th century paintings of the artist, Francesco Guardi
  • 7 Encaustic uses a very sophisticated technique involving the application of very fine sand plaster
  • 8 The craftsmanship makes each base unique in its colour and shades
  • 9 The stucco is applied by hand in the traditional way
  • 10 Serenissimo, photo Santi Caleca 1990s
  • 11 Cover page “Interni”, December 1985
  • 12 Cover page "Modo", November 1985
  • 13 1987. Serenissimo wins the ID Annual Review award in the United States.
  • 14 Cover page "Shitsunai" Japan, May 1988
  • 15 Serenissimo Executive, modular system for contract projects
  • 16 Interiori Design USA, December 1986

The genesis of Serenissimo attempted to recover the craft technique of Encaustic art, or “Venetian stucco”, in which a very fine sand plaster is applied with a spatula and then the colours, inspired by the 18th century paintings of the landscape artist, Francesco Guardi, are heated and fused.

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