HISTORY OF THE GALLERY COLOMBARI (1981 – PRESENT)

1981 - THE BEGINNING OF THE GALLERIA COLOMBARI
Rossella Colombari was born in Turin in 1958 to a family of antique dealers for four generations. In 1981, together with her sister Paola, she founded the Galleria Colombari, dedicated to art of the twentieth century with a special emphasis on Italian design from the 1950s -1960s.

1981-82 - THE DISCOVERY OF CARLO MOLLINO
In 1981, the first Galleria Colombari was founded in the center of Turin, Italy. None spoke of Carlo Mollino yet; none remembered Carluccio, as his mother affectionately called him. After his last breath on August 27th, 1973, and for much time after his death, nothing remained which could recall his refined and eclectic spirit. During this time, a friend of the young gallery owners offered to them for sale a strange piece of furniture, with a curious shape: a long console in the shape of a torpedo in white oak, with the supporting structure stylized in the form of a rod and a frame complementing the upper segment. This fascinating and mysterious object was placed in the center of the gallery. It was their first piece by Carlo Mollino.
After this discovery, Rossella and Paola Colombari dedicated themselves to the development and research of the work of Architect Mollino, valorizing his body of work which was at the time still unknown and undervalued.
The chase after the objet trouvè had begun: where could Mollino be hiding?
He was found at the Publishing Company Lattes.
He was there, hiding in old warehouse.
And when the door opened, his entire treasure appeared as if by magic: tables with anthropomorphic shapes, arabesque tables, chairs with provocatory and shocking shapes. After eight years of silence since his death, it was possibly that strange console which the Colombari sisters acquired in 1981 which brought Mollino back to life.
In 1983, the Galleria Colombari presented at the Antiques Biennial of Montecarlo at the Palace D´Hiver the infamous conference table from the Lattes publishing company as well as the arabesque table by Mollino.

1984 – THE BEGINNING OF THE GALLERY´S COLLABORATION WITH AUCTION HOUSES
In 1984, the Galleria Colombari began its collaboration with some of the most important Italian auction houses, initially with the Casa D’aste Sermenzato in Venice and Milano, thus creating the first auction of modern design in Italy.
The sale on April 21st, 1984, of the furniture from the “Casa verso la Collina” (1949) was a success, as was the auction of an important collection of ceramics by Gallileo Chini.

GALLERY EXHIBITIONS AND HISTORY

At the same time, the Galleria began to organize a series of solo and theme shows, such as:
- 1984 Examples of Design from antique to neo-modern (Turin)
- 1984 Silver pieces from the “collezione Cleto Munari” (Turin)-retrospective
- 1986 Oki Izumi sculpture (Turin)- Solo show
- 1987 Fabrics from the 1950s ( Turin)
- 1989 New gallery in Milan
- 1989 Steel effect
- 1989 Illuminated Castles (Architect Matteo Thun)
- 1989 The Room of the Broken Muse (Architect David Palterer)
- 1990 “The Walls Come Down” – Three Artists on the Berlin Wall – Luigi Serafini, Armando Testa, Aldo Mondino
- 1990 at the Galleria Sozzani, Carlo Mollino retrospective
- 1992 ETs by designers: Serafini, Mendini, Thomas Kun, Lapo Binazzi
- 1993 Retrospective of Mendini featuring unique pieces such as the monumental “Grande Metafisico”.
-1994 “Militant Archives” by Andrea Branzi
-1994 Drout auction house, organization of events
-1995 “Olympia” , antique show in London
-1995 Publication of interior designs executed by Rossella Colombari in “Nuove Abitazioni in Italia 2”
-1996 Beginning of the collaboration with Sotheby’s London
-1998 “Carlo Mollino Photographs” at the Miller Gallery, New York.
-1999 “Contact Prints 1930-1960” (Milan)
-1999 “Carlo Mollino Works 1930-1960” (Naples)
-2000 Mollino Retrospective (Paris)
-2002 New address in Milan (Via Maroncelli 10)
-2002 “ Chair, Chairs” by Robert Wilson
-2004 “ Sedia, sedie” by Carla Tolomeo