A unique oak and glass table for the Casa Orengo, designed by Italian architectCarlo Mollinoin 1949.
Image source:https://iveseenthat.tumblr.com/post/44430885884/carlo-mollino-casa-orengo-1949
Carlo Mollino’s Glass and Oak Table, known as theReale, is an astonishing piece of furniture finely crafted and surelyahead for its times. In fact, it’s exceptional how Mollino was able – in the 1950s – to create, using only solid wood and capable artisans, aslender,leanandslim structureequaled only by the contemporaneous master designers the like of Franco Albini.
Image source:https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/table-mod–Real/29645A9E61DDD779
A True Masterpiece of Constructive Intelligence
The Reale table isa true masterpiece: created with a compact, transparent skeleton it is embellished with acrystal topthat seems to frame it. Articulate and complex shapes reveal aconstructive intelligenceof aperfect mechanismwhereevery element slots together由于一个精确的和专门设计的金属连接t system.
Image source:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carlo_mollino,_scrivania_cavour,_progetto_del_1949,_prodotto_nel_2003.JPG
The Collaboration with Zanotta and the Timeless Elegance of the Reale Table
In the mid-Eighties,Zanottacame across Carlo Mollino’s work and began producing items of furniture designed by this eclectic Italian architect, among which there was also the Reale:a glass and oak table哪一个took its name from theinsurance companyit was designed for.
Critically refusingInternational Stylistic theories, Mollino proposed Zanotta a table where materials and their experimental qualities are gathered harmoniously together:the organic and engineering aspects blend in a timeless elegance, in a pure taste for challenge. The “authentic” architect – as he loved to be called – becomes, thanks to a real personal style, the symbol of an era where Modernism meets Surrealism.
Image source:https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Casa-Orengo/6CCF64AA79CDD2F1
Alternative Versions
The table is available in several different versions. I can be found with a15 mm thick, plate glass top有或没有坡口或20 mm thick topeither inwhite Carrara marble, inblack Marquina marbleor inEmperador marble, with stain-resistant protective varnish, in clear matt polyester. The frame is available innatural – or in Canaletto walnut dyed -oakorpaintedwith an open pore black or white finish.
Image source:https://triennale.org/en/events/carlo-mollino-hyperformal-allusions
Curiosities
The Reale table is worldwide known for arecord auction saleat Sotheby’s in 2005, where it was sold at the incredible prize of more than3 and a half million dollars.
Nowadays, specimens of the Reale table can be found in the Larte Restaurant in Milan; Hotel La Finca in Orihuela, Alicante and Louis Vuitton boutique in Bogotá.
Image source:https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Reale-Dining-Table/99F8C012A0C08C0E
Data Sheet
- Designer: Carlo Mollino;
- Year of Design: 1949;
- Manufacturers: Zanotta;
- Provenance: Turin, Italy;
- Materials: glass and oak.
Image source:https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Table–model–Reale-/BF7D407A61E4FEEA
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