- What: La Dolce Vita by Nilufar and Galerie56
- When: May 29 – August 27, 2025
- Where: Galerie56, 240 Church Street, NYC
Nilufar and Galerie56 bring ‘La Dolce Vita’ to New York with iconic Italian design
Nilufar and Galerie56 unite their curatorial visions in La Dolce Vita: Masters of Italian Design, an immersive exhibition showcasing rare and iconic works of 20th-century Italian design. On view from May 29 to August 27, 2025, at Galerie56 in New York City, the presentation offers a nuanced and emotionally resonant journey through the golden age of Italian artistry. This collaboration between Nina Yashar, founder of Nilufar, and Lee F. Mindel, FAIA, founder of Galerie56 and SheltonMindel, represents a dialogue between two design authorities committed to cultural heritage and innovation.
The exhibition is set within the architectural context of Galerie56, located at 240 Church Street, where the gallery’s minimalist “white cube” space contrasts elegantly with the expressive forms of Italian modernism. The street-level installation invites both design aficionados and everyday pedestrians into a curated landscape that merges public accessibility with artistic refinement. Echoing Nilufar’s Milanese ethos—where furniture, art, and life converge—La Dolce Vita transforms the gallery into a living showcase of design as civic engagement.
Anchored by a rich selection of works from the 1930s through the 1970s, the exhibition includes pieces by seminal figures such as Carlo Mollino, Ettore Sottsass, Piero Fornasetti, BBPR, Ico Parisi, and Giulio Sterbini. Each item serves as a testament to Italy’s mastery of form, innovation, and narrative-driven design. A highlight is a rare Malachite Trumeau cabinet by Fornasetti, adapted from a Gio Ponti design, with its green lacquered wood and lithographic malachite finish standing over two meters tall—an extraordinary presence of visual poetry and historical rarity.
Nearby, six 1930s chairs by the avant-garde BBPR collective demonstrate how simplicity can achieve architectural elegance. Their linear forms are both utilitarian and sculptural, embodying a balance between progressive design and enduring craftsmanship. Opposite, a bench by Carlo Mollino—originally commissioned for the Minola apartment in Turin—fuses sculptural Ornavasso marble with the designer’s distinct sensual aesthetic, creating a one-of-a-kind piece that bridges design and fine art.
Also featured is Ico Parisi’s mahogany and grissinato wood bookcase, manufactured by Ariberto Colombo, a structure that reveals Parisi’s poetic approach to spatial composition. At the heart of the gallery lounge is a futuristic yet refined low table by Fabrizio Cocchi, engineered with adjustable height and dimensions. This innovative piece reflects post-war Italian design’s embrace of functionality without compromising elegance.
Suspended above the lounge, Giulio Sterbini’s limited-edition metal ceiling lamp combines industrial exactitude with luminous grace. Its stainless-steel structure and spherical glass shades provide both a modernist framework and a warm ambiance, showcasing how lighting design can be both collectible and ambient. The visual harmony continues with Ettore Sottsass’s Sun Carpet, where bold color and symbolic resonance converge in an artwork that transcends mere decoration to evoke emotional and spiritual engagement.
This exhibition does more than display furniture—it narrates a story of Italian resilience, imagination, and design as an enduring cultural force. It marks Nilufar’s first New York presentation outside the traditional fair setting, establishing a new chapter of cross-cultural dialogue between Milan and New York. Through this meticulously curated selection, La Dolce Vita invites the public to engage with design not just as aesthetic pleasure, but as a vital bridge between history, identity, and contemporary life.
Photography by Filippo Pincolini and Daniele Iodice, with courtesy of Nilufar, shared with permission
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