spirituality - lesson 22: carlo mollino

'everything is permissible as long as it is fantastic.' - carlo mollino carlo mollino loved life and loved to live life to the full. he had a reputation of being somewhat of a daredevil with hobbies such as aerobic aviation, race car driving, skiing - generally anything that was fast and technical! the 'bad boy' of design in a period where modernism was king, his streamlined surrealism certainly went against the grain. unlike popular design groups in and around milan, molino in turin was inspired by the organic forms of art nouveau and developed a style that was later to be nicknamed 'turin baroque'. in mollino's world design should express poetry, beauty and more importantly symbolic meaning. so whilst the modernists were retreating from organic form, mollino worked with natural shapes and animal like features. his work pays homage to the curves of women, the forms of animals, plants and trees and embodied what we might now call biomorphism. throughout his life carlo mollino articulates in romantic symbolism and mythical coding. his forms exude such a sensuality and feeling, that one senses a hint of eroticism. mollino patented his own way of steam forming laminated wood and this technique can be seen throughout much of his work in the late forties and onwards. he developed a few pieces for production but the majority of his work were one-offs and reflected his skill at ambientazione, the italian term for an interdisciplinary skill combining architecture, interior design, furniture, decoration and lighting to create a single work of art. carlo mollino believed that furniture should be designed for the situation it would live in. often mollino would use a piece of furniture to break up the geometry of a space by designing it asymmetrically or placing it in an unusual way. he was truly a non-conformist, even designing his own apartment without a kitchen! 'he [mollino] continued the tradition of those eclectic italian renaissance artists whose work expressed the harmonious coming-together of science and art, logic

and poetry, beauty and practicality.' - fulvio ferrari (curator of casa mollino museum, turin)

all padded bedroom with lip sofa

milo mirror, a silhouette of the famous statue venus de milo

untitled polaroids by carlo mollino, c.1962-73 image courtesy of sebastian and barquet

'stola' racing car born as the son of an achieved architect, carlo mollino never had to want for anything and at the same time was an avid student of life. in education he studied architecture and engineering. he worked as an architect, a car and aeroplane designer, a photographer and manual writer and as a furniture / interior designer. living in turin between the two world wars mollino was part of a lively scene where he was friends with many of the protagonist of culture at the time. his access to the arts, literature and science influenced his meticulous attention to the functional aspects of the material world, but his enthusiasm for the technical was paramount and in a way beyond merely cold nuts and bolts. see a short bography here applied to his drawing of a very complicated organic shape he said: 'I did the drawing imagining it in the space while I saw' its manufacture. I walked around, I entered I was thinking of every dimension and effect in relation to those of man.' carlo mollino elves and fairies fascinated mollino, who was a follower of the occult. the spiritual interiorisation not only of the world but of the ultimate reason of existence inspired much of mollino's work. as an occultist he was interested in the deeper spiritual reality that extends beyond the surface of pure reason and science. he certainly strove to show the inner nature of things in his works, whilst also trying to control it at the same time. take his photography for example, he was a master of retouching and strove to create the perfect picture. 'true residence after the necessary interval of life' - carlo mollino the city of turin has a famous egyptian museum containing many legendary objects. one of the most notable in mollino's eyes was the tomb of royal architect kha (circa 1390-1452 BC) found intact by ernesto schiaparelli in deir el medineh in the early 20th century. mollino was fascinated by this tomb and like the ancient egyptians believed that the soul is made up of different parts. there is the physical form of the soul which is our body and then there are semi-divine parts that survive death.

inspired by kha, the egypt architect who is said to have decorated his own tomb in during his lifetime, mollino bought a two story villa (now referred to as museum 'casa mollino') in 1960 and in his spare time he would decorate the interiors, slowly creating his private pyramid. the eclectic space was an homage to his own aesthetic taste and the physical objects he wanted to keep for eternity. these most prized possessions were to be with him into the afterlife to the kingdom of death. the magical and surreal 'warrior's house of rest' that mollino lovingly created in the image of his own fascinating life was, in the end, never slept in by its creator. carlo mollino died of a heart attack at his father's architectural office in 1973.