STORIA
40
–
41
HISTORY
importance of designing domestic
objects in the light of changes in the
home. This diaphragm-style bookcase,
a “substance of hopes”, originated
from a pivotal moment in history, the
start of the Second World War, at a ti-
me when many architects and artists
felt the need to put a message in a
bottle and hurl it beyond the sombre
threat of impending disaster: like a
dream of the future, a seed of “design
hope”. A small yet unparalleled story,
like an unanswerable enigma: more im-
portant for the design ideas it inspired
than for the age-old concerns over its
delicate immobility. Named “Veliero” by
Albini’s partner Franca Helg because
of its references to nautical carpentry,
the bookcase was the product of the
fundamental furniture design school
combined with Albini’s passion for the
poetry of experimental engineering.
The purity and the geometric precision
of
the
bookcase’s
“magical
ab-
C
After appearing on the cover of Do-
mus in July 1941, the “Veliero” bookca-
se soon became an icon of Italian de-
sign culture: a mysterious and fascina-
ting object which almost turned into an
obsession for many designers and. A
unique and special “item of furniture”
designed by Franco Albini specifically
for his own home in 1939/40, the “Ve-
liero” bookcase represents the Italian
trend of applying multiple and complex
functions to a domestic object. If, as
Bruno Zevi wrote, Albini “transformed
empty spaces, enhancing their refined
design with adjectives able to make
them resonate”, then without doubt
“Veliero”, meaning “Sailing Ship”, was
the most harmonious and resonating
adjective of all. For a long time, the spi-
rit of this airy structure inspired Italy’s
idealistic and sometimes utopian rese-
arch into design, and for many it re-
mains one of the most stimulating mo-
dels for reflecting on the meaning and
The Veliero and the “prophecy”
of italian design
straction”, its “exasperation with im-
mobility stretched to breaking point”
and its concept of ethereal and floa-
ting “atmospheric space” are the la-
tent features of a symbolic object
whose particular nature also repre-
sents the beginning of a new principle
of domestic design. In this sense the
“Veliero” is in keeping with the formula
which art historian Raffaello Giolli attri-
buted to a temporary light installation
designed by Edoardo Persico, one of
Albini’s great mentors: “Often, and only
in these circumstances, the world’s
masters allow new architects the free-
dom to “play around”. It is only in this
way that Persico (and so Albini [ed.])
were given exhibition space. But when
architecture reaches this point, they
only need one day to live.”
In effect, if to some extent the “Veliero”
became the embodiment of an almost
mythical dimension, this was also due
to the fact that it was almost exclusi-
vely viewed as an idealistic object and
was not eroded by time unlike other fa-
mous temporary installations which
made modern architectural history:
the Le Corbusier Esprit Nouveau pavi-
lion in Paris in 1925, the Mies van der
Rohe pavilion in Barcelona in 1929, Al-
var Aalto’s Finnish pavilion in New Yor-
k in 1939, and all of the magnificent
1930s installations, including Albini’s,
at the so-called “rationalist” Triennale
di Milano, to name but a few. On the
other hand it must be remembered
that as a real object and the only
example ever created, the “Veliero”
was only ever seen by visitors to Albi-
ni’s house in the period between 1940
and around 1965. The “Veliero” was
constructed as a single piece to form
the centrepiece in the living room of
the architect’s home on Via De Togni in
Milan. It remained in use for just over
twenty years until a strong sound vi-
bration from an overly loud music sy-
stem shattered a number of the bo-
okcase’s glass shelves, leading to its
subsequent collapse. Since then the
“Veliero” has only been resurrected
by Giampiero Bosoni
