"My dear, you are a master and all that is left for me is to retire and live in Civate in oblivion."
-Gio Ponti writing to Ico Parisi
Career
During the second world war, Parisi enlisted in the ninth Battalion Pontieri. After he was discharged from the front in 1943, Parisi began creating iconic furniture in 1945. His designs were characteristically mid-century Modern, incorporating soft, organically-shaped woods in warm tones, complimented by jewel-colored upholstery. He married Luisa Aiani in 1948, with whom he had formed a design partnership, and this marked the beginning of his most prolific period. He studied architecture between 1949–1952 under Alberto Sartoris at the Institute Atheneum in Lausanne, Switzerland and became a member of the Associazione per il Disegno Industriale in 1956.
Parisi's ultimate interest was capturing a utopian-existential idea of living. The culmination of this research, "Operazione Arcevia", was completed around 1975 . His work was presented at the 76th Biennale of Venice and subsequently exhibited at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome (1979). This work gave rise to numerous themed exhibitions in subsequent years.