Carlo Mollino seems as relevant today as when he was alive. The designer left his mark on the world of 20th-century industrial design through one of a kind pieces, introducing new techniques and materials that were developed in the form of collector's items rather than serial productions. His legacy as an artisan lives on today, with countless artists and designers following in the footsteps of an innovator who valued craftsmanship over mass production.

Born in Turin, he was one of the most eccentric Italian architects and designers, a complex personality who rather than limit himself to design, brought his passions and obsessions to the center of his work.

For Carlo Mollino, separating his private and professional life wasn’t an option. To understand the architect, artisan, designer, and photographer, you have to understand the pilot, the racer, the writer, the mountaineer, the skier, and the playboy.

Photography had always held a special place for Carlo, and he would use it both as a tool for expression as well as to catalog his work. Among his favorite subjects were architecture and domestic still life, speed in all its forms, from flight to races to the human body in movement, down to his obsession: the female figure and portraits.

Chi era davvero Carlo Mollinopinterest
Dimod61 via Wickimedia Commons
Headquarters of the Turin Chamber of Commerce

Headquarters of the Turin Chamber of Commerce. Photo Dimod61 via Wikimedia Commons

His collection of erotic female images included over 1,300 Polaroid photos depicting women in provocative poses, sprawled out among fabrics, eclectic accessories, and furnishings designed by Mollino himself.

These furnishings would take after the sinuous lines of his models on set, which doubled as the homes he was busy designing. Characterized by an elegant surrealism, mirrored surfaces distort the perspective and broken objects appear as they would inside a wunderkammer. The perfect backdrop between irreverent elements with an elegant aura of mystery and mysticism.

His designs and projects are emboldened with an unmistakable character that goes back to his photographic research. Trademarks include the sultry lines evoking fast-moving aerodynamics inspired by movement itself.

For Carlo Mollino, chairs and tables take the form of a nude female, like the Gaudì chair, the Arabesco table (1950), or the Agra chair for Casa Cattaneo, designed for Apelli & Varesio in 1949. On the other hand, the Reale table was derived from the concepts of aeronautics, just like the Gilda high-tech armchair and the Cadma lamp, which recalls the form of an ellipse.

Balance and velocity take over in his mountainous architecture. The Station at Lago Nero of Sauze d’Oulx is a refuge, which just like an elegant skier, slides down the white incline with natural leanings.

The architect also designed two important institutional buildings in the Piedmont capital, anticipating styles to come with original forms and international appeal: the Chamber of Commerce with its broad glass surfaces giving life to a suspended body and the RAI Auditorium of Turin.

But for Carlo Mollino, it’s the interiors that represent some of his most interesting developments. The designer’s skill showcases how a space can emanate the same eroticism of a provocative woman. Just like his furnishings, Mollino’s interiors are experimental and evocative.

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Interpreting the physical environment as a scenography of existence, spaces become a stage for the surrealistic. Never completely separated from photography, his obsession for sexuality infiltrates his entire production and the omnipresent seduction of his interiors gives life to a new domestic arena, freeing the modern man from the confines of conventional morality. It’s all on display in the bedroom designed for the 1940 Casa Devalle.

Admired long after his death, Mollino’s decor can be found at New York’s Moma and London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. Some of his idyllic architectural designs have since been constructed posthumously, like the Rifugio Gressoney, in Gressoney Saint Jean in Valle d’Aosta, based on the model of Casa Capriata. The initiative aimed to showcase the value and relevance of the original project as a manifesto on technological innovation and prefabricated buildings.

In recent years, the Casa Mollino Museum has opened his Turin home to the public. Here, the eclectic interiors give insight to innovation and isolation, revealing a versatile and timid personality.

Among the many curiosities of Carlo Mollino’s private life is his collaboration for the Bisiluro Damolnar, a flaming red race car with which he passed the rigid selection of the 24 Hours in Le Mans, a famous sports car race held every year in France.

The aerodynamic lines of a speeding racer come to represent him well. Mollino was an anti-conformist, surrealistic showman who simultaneously sought isolated introspection — exactly the kind required to launch yourself at 150 km/h (it was only 1955) into the history books.

Opening photo: THE BISILURO DAMOLNAR RACING CAR. PHOTO: LEONARDO DA VINCI NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, MILAN