Mario Papperzini

Almost nothing is documented about Papperzini beyond the work itself. He designed for the Brooklyn firm of John Salterini in the 1950s and 1960s, and the Amalfi group is what carries his name: lounge chairs, sofas, ottomans and chaises in hand-hammered iron, with strap lattice backs and brass ball finials.

Where Maurizio Tempestini, Salterini's other outside designer, went toward organic modernist curves, Papperzini stayed closer to a classical vocabulary. The Amalfi line outlived the Salterini firm and its aesthetic was carried on by later makers, including Janus et Cie, into the 1980s.

Iron this old has almost always been repainted. Original verdigris and honest surface rust are worth keeping where the metal underneath is sound, and a stripped, powder-coated frame reads as new even when the frame is period.