A chest of drawers, model D154, in painted wood with brass cast elements, designed by Carlo de Carli, manufactured by Sormani, Italy, 1963. The intense red color characterizes this three-drawer piece designed by Carlo de Carli.
A true symbol of Italian design, the D154 chest of drawers is a furnishing capable of embodying the entire creative momentum of an irreplaceable era. Splitting his focus between architecture and interior design, in 1963, the same year he designed the famous chest of drawers, de Carli emerged as an established designer. A decade earlier, he had won the Compasso d'Oro and was an active intellectual in architectural theory. At the pinnacle of his career, the Milanese designer, at 53 years old, felt the need to deeply explore the genesis of the design process and its meanings, as well as the roles that artifacts, whether in wood or reinforced concrete, aspire to represent once they abandon the drafting table to inhabit the world.
The D154 piece and other architectural works of the period can be seen as responses to these inquiries. Throughout his professional and academic career, De Carli demonstrates an approach focused on conceiving Space as a place devoid of formal determination, where the encounter between Technique and human demands such as Ethics, Morality, and consequently politics, takes place. A clear vision of reality capable of manifesting with equal power in both architecture and object design. De Carli views the role of the designer as that of a creator of "relationships" between objects, environments, and large buildings. Antitheses once considered archaic, such as the opposition between interior/exterior of a dwelling, street/home, private garden/park, thus blur. And so does the clear functional division of domestic spaces lose its significance.
Thus, the idea of a chest of drawers like the one presented comes to life, recognizable for its striking color and characteristic brass knobs. Terminals with such reduced sections that openly question the canonical relationship between perceived weight and volume extension. The entire piece of furniture presents itself as a clear break from the past and detached from its identity as bedroom furniture. Free to fulfill its function as storage furniture, the D154 piece is capable of creating that intimate connection between physical space and the necessities of living, which revolve around human needs and desires, both individual and collective.
This is the message that an architect like Carlo de Carli wanted to convey through his achievements, university lectures, and literary activity. A message still contemporary and readable through the proposed piece of furniture.
Professionally restored in and original in all its parts, the piece measures: 145W x 54D x 80H cm
