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When architecture and design meet high speed and sport: Carlo Mollino.
02/07/2021

When architecture and design meet high speed and sport: Carlo Mollino.

by Giulia De Sanctis

Multifaced in nature, Carlo Mollino was an architect, artist, designer, and photographer of the industrial Turin of the 50s. Being a fan of motors and winter sports, he made all his passions collide in his creative poetics.
"The architect, as well as a poet and mathematician, must also be a mechanic, accountant, lawyer, becero, master of fine manners, swallower of toads and charmeur, a dancer with old lady, snake charmer; death penalty if he refuses", declared Turin architect Carlo Mollino in an article by "Domus" of 1950, demonstrating his eclectic personality. Son of the well-known engineer Eugenio Mollino, he adopted architecture as a fundamental element in the construction of his character without labels that fully represent his facets. He liked to define himself as an "authentic" architect, with a completely personal style in an era in which Modernism meets Surrealism. His architectural projects, many of which were born from the commitment in numerous competitions, were carried out mainly in Piedmont and Turin, including the Auditorium Rai together with Morbelli, the new Teatro Regio - rebuilt after the fire of 1936 - and the palace of the Chamber of Commerce of Turin in Via San Francesco da Paola. As an interior designer since the '40s, Mollino often creates products in unique pieces or in limited series drawing from his passions such as skiing and aviation: with sinuous curves reminiscent of its snow-covered and automobile tracks and in which elements of aeronautical engineering are found, as in the metal joints present in several of its creations. It is therefore a fusion between the artisan construction techniques and the experimentation of new materials and technologies: particularly, the cold working plywood bending technique will make Mollino armchairs, chairs, and tables famous during the 50s.
During the last days of June, well-known Genoa-based auction house Wannenes has celebrated the personality of Mollino through the top lot of the Design’s auction: a brass and painted tin suspended lamp, dated 1953 and estimated 80.000 - 100.000 €.


Carlo Mollino, Suspended lamp, Wannenes Art Auctions

"Mollino knew the trade and was always looking for technological innovation, putting culture, sensitivity, emotions, ideals and attraction to the "symbol", the one that characterized the "way" daring his artistic expression"; through the testimony of Piercarlo Jorio, one of his students, we have a vivid image of the architect who left an important mark in the collective imagination and in the style of post-war Italy.




After graduating from language high school, love for art led Giulia De Sanctis (Turin, 1998) to obtain Communication and Enhancement of Artistic Heritage’ degree at the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti in Turin. She collaborated with art galleries in Turin as an assistant, dealing with the cataloging of the works, the preparation of exhibitions and the press office. She collaborates actively with various magazines and web publications of the art sector.

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