Arts & Culture Magazine - January/February 2008 - (Page 60) “My father had a clear vision of what he wanted to do, and it was My job to Make that vision coMe into reality, to translate on paper what he had in Mind,” says renzo. er products, from household appliances to telephones to watches and chandeliers. Indeed, the Rivolta family has produced visionary designers and artists for three generations. Piero’s mother, Marion Rivolta Barberi, was a painter of flowers and mountains. “She did hundreds of paintings, including a big series of the Alps—huge canvases,” Piero says. Piero’s father, Renzo Rivolta, came from a family of Italian industrialists. After World War II, he started to manufacture motorcycles and other transportation vehicles. Soon, his company Iso Rivolta became a by-word for innovative design of automobiles and racing cars. “My father was not really a designer, but he had fantastic ideas,” Piero says. When Piero took over Iso Rivolta at 25 after his father’s untimely death, he continued the tradition of imaginative innovation, surrounding himself with engineers who could realize his vision. “I would always sketch, the way I do now with boats and buildings—I knew exactly what I wanted,” he says. “Others would work out the details.” Nowadays, Piero collaborates with his son Renzo, a trained architect, in all aspects of design for the Rivolta Group’s many projects. They share a gift for proportion and complement each other in approach. Piero has a unique talent for the creative use of a property. Renzo is better at details and in creating a line and shape that will be pleasing to the eye. In the case of Rivo Ringling, a high-rise condo development, Piero had the idea of creating “villas in the sky” around a central atrium. He also wanted to locate commercial space in separate out parcels, rather than on the first and second floors of the building. “My father had a clear vision of what he wanted to do, and it was my job to make that vision come into reality, to translate on paper what he had in mind,” says Renzo. Based on Piero’s initial sketches and numerous discussions, they came up with a modern curvilinear style and a maritime concept. “We wanted to keep the feeling of a boat or a yacht,” says Left to right: Model sculptures by Renzo Rivolta for The Rivo on Ringling. Italian books by Piero Rivolta. 60 : : arts and culture magazine
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