Fratelli Mannelli for Raymor Travertine U-Form Candlestick, Italy 1970s

Details

Description

Travertine at its most sculptural: a solid block of Italian stone carved into a bold horseshoe U, with a socket … Read more Travertine at its most sculptural: a solid block of Italian stone carved into a bold horseshoe U, with a socket in each arm for a pair of taper candles. This is the real 1970s article — attributed to Fratelli Mannelli, the workshop near Florence whose travertine objects defined the look, and still wearing its original label from Raymor, the legendary New York importer that brought Italian modern design to America under the slogan "Modern in the Tradition of Good Taste." That label is your dating and your pedigree in one.

The stone does all the decorating: raw, pitted, fossil-flecked texture across the curved faces, smoothly honed on top, in that warm bone-cream every room seems to want right now. Candles in or candles out, it works — as a pair of flames on a dinner table, or purely as a small abstract sculpture on a stack of books, a console, or a marble bathroom shelf. Felt pads on the base, ready to place. Vintage travertine of this quality has become one of the most collected categories of 1970s Italian design, and the U-form is the shape everyone recognises. See less