Furniture, drawings, models, paintings, and original cyclostyled materials from his lectures among the unpublished and original works of De Carli
The work and thought of Carlo De Carli – winner of the Compasso d’Oro award in 1954, the first in history – are more relevant today than ever: his experimental approach to the use of both traditional and new materials, pushed to the limits of their potential; the precision of his drawings in defining the forms of architecture and furniture, and above all, his foundational idea of Spazio Primario, where only the human action and its relationship with the environment and the object define its meaning.
The concept of the exhibition "Carlo De Carli Corollario" organized and hosted by the Politecnico di Milano from March 17 to May 7, 2025, curated by Lola Ottolini, Margherita De Carli, Claudio Camponogara, Gianni Ottolini, and Roberto Rizzi, is intriguing.
Chiesa San Gerolamo Emiliani. Photo courtesy of Topuntoli
At its core, the exhibition presents unpublished and original materials, never before displayed in such a significant number or in a single event. Furniture, drawings, models, paintings, and original cyclostyled materials from De Carli’s lectures given daily to his students, editorial writings for the magazines he directed – Il Mobile Italiano (1957-1960) and Interni (1967-1971) – as well as notes, letters, and drawings from friends and colleagues such as Carlo Mollino, Gio Ponti, Luigi Moretti, Lucio Fontana, Roberto Sambonet, Marco Zanuso, Giovanni Muzio, and Mario Sironi.
De Carli e Albini, 1maggio1968. Courtesy of Archivio Carlo De Carli
For De Carli, there is no substantial difference in thought between designing a house or a chair: both are based on attention to the gestures and lives of the people who inhabit them, with only the specific functional aspects and the material and aesthetic variations changing. Carlo De Carli Corollario investigates the architect’s design philosophy through various insights, the "corollaries," which, when combined into a comprehensive picture, describe his methods and lines of research: Thought and words, The gift of painting, Correspondences of senses, Relevance of furniture, Exhibition structures, Architectural research, Furniture design, Teaching and the school.
Chiesa Sant'Ildefonso. Courtesy of Archivio Carlo De Carli
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