'''Tommi Anton Parzinger''' (1903&ndash;1981) was a German furniture designer and painter. Born in Munich in 1903, he later moved to New York City in 1932, starting his first company in 1939. He had begun by designing for Manhattan style-setter Rena Rosenthal. His works were collected by famous clients, including Billy Baldwin, Marilyn Monroe, and a number of high-fashion New York families. Parzinger's last showroom, on East 57th Street, was closed not long after his death in 1981. His focus turned to Expressionist painting during the final 15 years of his life, no longer working on designing furniture.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |title=A Vogue Modernist In a Rogue Market |author=William L. Hamilton |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/09/garden/a-vogue-modernist-in-a-rogue-market.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 9, 1999 |access-date=May 11, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Finish Noted In Showroom Of Furniture |author=Staff writer |author-link=Staff writer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1957/09/19/archives/finish-noted-in-showroom-of-furniture.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 19, 1956 |access-date=May 30, 2012}}</ref>

The company Parzinger had created, Parzinger Originals, was given to his friend Donald Cameron. Pat Palumbo, the owner of the gallery that sold Parzinger's pieces, worked with Cameron after Parzinger's death on reproductions of his work based on his original working sketches.<ref name="NYT"/>

== Career == Parzinger first came to the United States from Bavaria in 1935.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Parzinger |first1=Tommy |date=May 1943 |title=The Present Crisis In The Realm Of Arts And Crafts |url=https://digital.craftcouncil.org/digital/collection/p15785coll2/id/1076 |journal=Craft Horizons |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=22 |access-date=February 21, 2021 |name-list-style=vanc}}</ref> He then started his own company that focused on designing original types of household silverware. Most of the silverware he made in the company was custom, "hand-hammering" them from sheet metal. A 1939 ''LIFE'' article stated that his silverware was unique in its "light, graceful feeling and fine etched decoration". The article went on to state that Parzinger, at the time, was recognized as the "most creative original designer of silverware in the United States".<ref>{{cite magazine |author=Staff writer |author-link=Staff writer |date=November 20, 1939 |title=Silver in Modern Dress |magazine=LIFE |volume=7 |issue=21 |pages=74–76 |publisher=Time Inc. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=90EEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Tommi+Parzinger%22&pg=PA74 |access-date=May 11, 2012 }}</ref>

During this same time period, Parzinger also began working on building furniture and accessories to go with the pieces. His furniture then went on exhibition at the 1939 New York World's Fair.<ref>{{cite news |title=Another Designer Is Dusted Off |author=Mitchell Owens |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/24/garden/another-designer-is-dusted-off.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 24, 1996 |access-date=May 30, 2012}}</ref> The main years of his company saw Parzinger developing a new furniture line every year, which usually consisted of 12 to 30 items, with a number of them being custom designs, even though they were sold commercially as well.<ref>{{cite news |title=Creativity Needs Fostering To Arouse Design Talent |author=Vivian Brown |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0o5GAAAAIBAJ&pg=2243,1431228&dq=tommi+parzinger&hl=en |newspaper=Schenectady Gazette |date=January 10, 1967 |access-date=May 30, 2012}}</ref>

== Style == Parzinger's works were titled "high-style modernism", which represented a "more idiosyncratic, rarefied midcentury design". Most of the pieces he created were custom-built for large studios, with Parzinger using "cosmopolitan-looking designs, involving costly, craft-intensive materials and processes like brass work and lacquer".<ref name="NYT"/>

== References == {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [http://collection.cooperhewitt.org/people/18049811/ Tommi Parzinger] at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum * [http://departures.com/art-culture/design/heir-refinement/ Heir of Refinement]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parzinger, Tommi}} Category:1903 births Category:1981 deaths Category:Artists from Munich Category:German furniture designers Category:German emigrants to the United States Category:Artists from New York City