There was a record for any work of Italian design at Sotheby’s contemporary art sale in New York when a unique dining table by Carlo Mollino sold for $6.2 million. This was more than double the $3 million high estimate. From the Brooklyn Museum it was designed in 1949 and executed by Appelli and Varesio in Turin for the travelling exhibition Italy at Work: Her Renaissance in Design Today. This groundbreaking event, hosted initially by the Brooklyn Museum in 1950, set out to expose Italian art and design to an international audience in an attempt to stimulate Italy’s economy after World War II. Carlo Mollino (1905-1973) was an architect pushing the boundaries of design whose passions included skiing, poetry, racecar driving, photography and flying stunt planes. He developed the technique of bending and moulding plywood and his name became synonymous with complex, sinuous lines and forms.
