Zanotta unveils 'Vertebra'
Zanotta announced it has acquired the Carlo Mollino archive and will unveil a new table called 'Vertebra' during Milan Design Week, tying an archival name to a fresh product reveal (wallpaper.com). The reveal is scheduled as part of this year's citywide design programming, positioning the piece within Milan's exhibition calendar (wallpaper.com).
Zanotta said it has won exclusive rights to produce a group of Carlo Mollino designs and will debut a table called “Vertebra” during Milan Design Week. (wallpaper.com) The Italian furniture company announced the deal in Milan on April 15, 2026. Zanotta said the rights were granted by the Italian State after a public tender. (zanotta.prezly.com) Zanotta said the agreement covers 30 works from Mollino’s artistic archive. Milan Finanza also reported the archive package as 30 projects, drawings and sketches by the Turin-born architect and designer. (zanotta.prezly.com) (milanofinanza.it) The first release from that archive is the Tavolo Vertebra, which Zanotta said has never before been realized through industrial production. The company plans to show it during Milan Design Week, which its press release dates for April 20-26, 2026. (zanotta.prezly.com) That timing places the launch inside the busiest week on the furniture calendar in Milan, when brands use the citywide fair and off-site exhibitions to introduce new work. Wallpaper said Zanotta tied the archive acquisition directly to this year’s programming in the city. (wallpaper.com) (designweekguide.com) Mollino is not a new name for Zanotta. The company’s designer profile says he was born in Turin in 1905 and that Zanotta has already put several of his designs into production over the years. (zanotta.com) (salonemilano.it) Salone del Mobile says Zanotta has included eight Mollino pieces in its collections since 1981, based on designs dating from 1938 to 1959. That history helps explain why the company framed the new archive rights as an addition to its existing design heritage work. (salonemilano.it) (zanotta.prezly.com) “Vertebra” also carries weight in Mollino scholarship. Agnes Select described a late-1950 table by that name as one of only two large molded-plywood dining tables by Mollino, and said another related table sold at Sotheby’s for more than $6 million in 2020. (agneselect.com) Zanotta is using Milan Design Week to turn an archive acquisition into a market launch: a state-backed rights deal on April 15, followed days later by a public debut for “Vertebra” in Milan. (wallpaper.com) (zanotta.prezly.com)
