Interior designer, photographer-and architect: Carlo Mollino was a legendary figure in 20th-century art and design. This is the authoritative book on his work in architecture.
Italian architect and designer Carlo Mollino (1905-73) is known to many for his furniture designs. Although none of Mollino's designs were mass-produced, they command high prices among collectors of twentieth-century furniture and are part of the collections of major design museums. Others recall Mollino for his large secret stash of erotic Polaroids, taken throughout the 1960s and recovered among his personal effects after his death. The risqué photos have been the subject of several exhibitions and have inspired fashion designers, including Jeremy Scott, who drew on them when creating a recent collection for Moschino. Much less attention has been devoted to Mollino's contribution to architecture.
With Carlo Mollino: Architect and Storyteller, Napoleone Ferrari and Michelangelo Sabatino offer the first carefully researched and comprehensive study of Mollino's architectural work. Drawing on rich archival materials, as well as Mollino's own writings, they argue persuasively that, while Mollino realized relatively few projects, his contributions to architecture-and, in particular, the modernist movement-are both significant and distinctive due to Mollino's strong affinity with surrealism. The book features both built and unrealized projects, including masterpieces like the Teatro Regio and the Torino Chamber of Commerce and early, lesser-known works like the Torino Horse Riding Club and the Lago Negro chairlift station in the Italian Alps. Lavish illustrations and essays by Ferrari and Sabatino round out this overdue tribute to an extraordinary personality of twentieth-century architecture.
Named one of the Most Beautiful Swiss Books 2023.
"
Architect and Storyteller
is a an excellent survey of Mollino's architectural designs and constructions, with a good commentary on Mollino's complex legacy. Beautiful photographs and inclusion of new translations of Mollino's texts make this an indispensable guide to the man and his works." Alexander Adams
"
Carlo Mollino: Architect and Storyteller
, handsomely designed by Zurich-based graphic design studio Elektrosmog, is both well-structured and large in size. It provides a much-needed overview of Mollino's life and works. I loved this book. I recommend it to anyone interested in Mollino or, more generally, anyone who wants to learn more about how a successful multihyphenate navigated the world." Josh Itiola,
archpaper.com
Lecture by Michelangelo Sabatino and Napoleone Ferrari:
Carlo Mollino Architect & Designer
at Yale School of Architecture available on YouTube!
Take a look at the discussion at the AIA Center for Architecture, New York, this September with Fulvio Ferrari, Founder, Museo Casa Mollino, Turin, Napoleone Ferrari, Director, Museo Casa Mollino, Turin Michelangelo Sabatino, Professor and PhD Program Director, and John Vinci Distinguished Research Fellow, IIT College of Architecture. Respondent and Q&A Moderator is Alicia Imperiale, PhD, Adjunct Associate Professor, Pratt Institute, School of Architecture. Full lecture available on vimeo!
