CARLO MOLLINO
ARCHITECTURE AS AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Giovanni Brino
[Industrial Design/Modern Italian Furniture/ Erotica] Giovanni Brino: CARLO MOLLINO: ARCHITECTURE AS AUTOBIOGRAPHY [Architecture Furniture Interior Design 1928 - 1973]. New York: Rizzoli, 1987. First edition. Quarto. Black paper covered boards decorated in white. Photo illustrated dust jacket. 160 pp. 329 black and white and 31 color images. Page edges a bit yellowed, otherwise a fine copy in a fine dust jacket.
9.25 x 11 hardcover book with 160 pages and 329 black and white and 31 color photographs, drawings, diagrams, etc. Carlo Mollino has been called a lot of things: designer, architect, sex and drug-obsessed genius, connoiseur of extreme decoration; but he has NEVER been called untalented! This monograph covers all facets of Mollino's career as a leader exponent of Italian postwar design: furniture, clothing, interiors, racing cars, and a sampling of his erotic images that are currently receiving much renown.
Carlo Mollino (1905-1973) is one of the most colorful figures in the world of architecture and Italian design. In the 1940s and 50s there was an explosion of design in Milan that established the sleek, fashionable and modern image of Italian furniture. But Carlo Mollino was 100 % Turin: working from natural and animal shapes-- tree branches, animal horns, the curve of the human body-- he established the "streamlined surreal" series of furniture designs.
His most famous pieces were designed for Zanotta in the 1940s and 50s. His "Ardea" armchair (1944) had a wood base and a shapely upholstered seat with a removable cover; he also created several plate glass tables, the 1946 "Reale" table for Zanotta and the 1950 "Arabesque" table for the interior of the Singer store in Turin. He included similar plate glass tables in the "Italian Design of the 1950s" exhibit put together by Kartell's research center, Centrokappa, as well as several chairs in beech wood with subtly bent backrests and pointy, carved legs. Zanotta manufactured his simple and lovely "Gilda" armchair, made in ash with an adjustable wood frame, in 1954.
Mollino was an avid photographer, student of the occult, a stunt flyer and race car and plane enthusiast. Mollino even designed several cars and planes, and his racecar, "Osca 1100" won for its class at the Leman's 24 hour race in 1954. A chair he designed in 1940 for Gio Ponti, supposedly calling up the image of a cloven hoof, stands for many as a lasting icon of his interest in the occult. He also worked as a designer of fashion, theater and film sets, and all of these endeavors are presented in this wonderfully comprehensive volume.