Carlo Mollino

Carlo Mollino was born in Torino, Italy in 1905. He was the son of Eugenio Mollino a prominent engineer and architect. He received his architecture degree from the Torino Politecnico in 1931 and soon began working with his father.

Among his early influences were the ‘Second Futurism’ of the post-war period and a close friendship with the painter and scholar Italo Cremona.

He struck out on his own with a commission to build the Confederazione degli Agricoltori (1933–4), Cuneo, and the headquarters of the Società Ippica Torinese (1935–9; later destroyed) in Torino.

He began producing furniture, like his "Milo" mirror, shaped like the Venus de Milo, and designing interiors, like the "Miller House", all in the same year. His interiors were characterized by their use of draped fabric to divide a room and by the use of sensuous upholstery like padded velvet. The "Miller House" also had an innovative lighting system, a mounted fixture on a track, which curved around the ceiling.

The furniture that he designed was often short run or one-off pieces produced specifically for the client whose house he was decorating. Consequently his pieces are very rare today. The factory that produced the bulk of his work was the Apelli & Varesio joinery in Milan.

His other well-known interior was for the "Minola House" in 1944. The pieces he created for them included a radio-gramophone and a small glass table.

Several of 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, produced in bright colors. 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. The "Arabesque" has an upper and a lower glass surface, supported by a cascading piece of molded plywood, which is bent to form a magazine rack. 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.

His many hobbiesm daring-do personality and his escapades with a multitude of women characterized Mollino almost as much as his furniture designs. He 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 race car, "Osca 1100" won in 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.

Lastly, Mr. Mollino worked as a designer of fashion, theater and film sets, although sadly these pursuits were not well documented.

Mollino died in Torino August 27, 1973.

Current Zanotta reproduction of the Reale Table