CARLO ENRICO RAVA (1903 - 1986) - Occasional tray table, Italy, c. 1940

Biography : Carlo Enrico Rava played a pivotal role in the history of Italian Architecture and Design. Referred to by Alberto Sartoris as the ‘driving force’ behind the Gruppo 7, he and six fellow rationalist graduates of the Milan Polytechnic founded the movement in 1926, with the intention of establishing a new architecture based on logic and rationality.  Their manifesto appeared in the Rassegna Italiana that same year, and the group would ultimately serve as the launch pad for the development of rationalist architecture in Italy.  They organized a series of exhibitions in the years following and achieved international acclaim in 1927 at the Deutscher Werkbund exhibition in Stuttgart. The group’s celebrated Casa Elettrica, though sadly no longer extant, is considered a benchmark in early 20th century Italian architecture. In 1928 Rava would serve as one the founding members of the CIAM, among others including Karl Moser, Pierre Chareau, Hannes Meyer, Pierre Jeanneret, Alberto Sartoris and Gerrit Rietveld. That same year he exhibited an early series of rationalist furniture designs along with Luigi Figini and Enrico Griffini. Despite his leading role however, Rava left the Gruppo 7 in 1929, stating: “Today is no longer a question of being ‘rationalists’, it is only a question of being modern Italian architects…each searching