Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig & Gino Levi Montalcini Large Cabinet

Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig & Gino Levi Montalcini, large cabinet, buxus covered wood, 1928

This cabinet designed by Giuseppe Pagano Pogatshnig and Levi-Montalcini, defined according to basic symmetrical criteria, both deeply functional to the role for which it was created and extremely different for the 1920s. This cabinet is made in wood and covered in a buxus cellulose based coating. This piece of furniture is a part of a large architectural project that Pagano and Montalcini designed commissioned by lawyer Riccardo Gualino in 1928.

Giuseppe Pagano Pogatschnig (1896-1945) was born in Parenzo (Poreč) in what is now Coratia (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). After attending the Italian language Lyceum in Trieste, he joined the Italian army at the onset of the World War I and adopted the Italian name, Pagano. After having participated very actively in the First World War and having participated in the enterprise of Fiume, he graduated in Architecture in Turin in 1924.

In 1927 he was called upon to direct the technical office of the Turin International Exposition called for the following year: he designed numerous pavilions, some with Gino Levi Montalcini and other young avant-garde architects. In 1928, the lawyer Riccardo Gualino entrusted him with the design of the Palazzo degli Uffici Gualino, located at Corso Vittorio in Turin, a job that Pagano tackled with his friend and for some years a regular collaborator Gino Levi Montalcini. This work, revolutionary for its accentuated functional character, despite the still twentieth century structure, is greeted by controversy and great curiosity. The furniture is a unitary creation, made up of sets. Pagano and Levi Montalcini create 67 different models including chairs, desks, armchairs and cabinets for the interior. The project received immediate critical acclaim as one of Italy's first fully realised examples of Rationalist architecture, with Domus devoting an entire issue to the commission in the summer of 1930.

Please note that this item is in used condition. It shows signs of age and wear on several parts. We kindly ask you to reach out to our design specialist to explore desired possibilities regarding refinishing or restoration in our atelier.

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