Carlo De Carli

Carlo De Carli (1910-1999) was an appreciated Italian post-war architect. Friend and follower of Gio Ponti, with whom he collaborated both at the university level and by being part of his studio for a year, he was Ponti's successor in 1962 on the prestigious chair of interior architecture at the Milan Polytechnic, from which he helped to form a entire generation of designers. He was also dean of the Faculty of Architecture at the Polytechnic from 1965 to 1968, going through the difficult years of student protests, and collaborated for a long time with the Milan Triennale. His work, especially important from a theoretical point of view, follows in the footsteps of Gio Ponti's thought and develops the theory according to which architectural practice had to be the same both in the design of large buildings and in small everyday objects, “from the spoon to the city”, according to a lucky expression by Ernesto Nathan Rogers. He implemented these theories by collaborating with various artisan realities in Brianza, with whom he will create furnishings with dynamic lines with a typically Mid-Century taste, capable of overcoming certain rigidities typical of Rationalism. Among the companies with which he collaborated are Cassina (with which he won the Compasso d'Oro in 1954 for the 683 chair), Tecno, Longhi, Sormani, which today, however, no longer have any of his creations in their catalogue. Instead, he is present in the selection of products by Tacchini and Gubi, brands renowned for their ability to give new life to masters of the past. In the architectural field, he carried out his most famous projects between the end of the 1940s and the 1950s, including the building in via dei Giardini and the church of Sant'Ildefonso, both in Milan.