Zanotta revives Mollino table

Zanotta said on April 15 that it had secured the Carlo Mollino archive and would start producing his “Vertebra” table for the first time. (zanotta.prezly.com) The Italian company said it obtained, through a public tender run by the Italian State, an exclusive license to produce 30 works by Mollino. The state property agency said the license runs until 2043. (zanotta.prezly.com) (agenziademanio.it) The archive includes projects, original drawings and sketches by Mollino, the Turin architect, designer and photographer who died in 1973. Italy’s state agency said the material is held at the Politecnico di Torino. (zanotta.prezly.com) (agenziademanio.it) The first release from that deal is the Tavolo Vertebra, a design Zanotta and Wallpaper both described as entering production for the first time. Zanotta said it will present the piece during Milan Design Week 2026. (zanotta.prezly.com) (wallpaper.com) That timing puts the launch just ahead of Salone del Mobile.Milano, which runs from April 21 to April 26, 2026, at Rho Fiera Milano. In Milan, brands often use the week around the fair to stage showroom debuts that reach buyers, editors and collectors at once. (salonemilano.it) Zanotta framed the deal as an extension of a relationship with Mollino’s estate that dates to 1981. Wallpaper said the company has spent decades issuing researched re-editions of his work. (wallpaper.com) (zanotta.prezly.com) Mollino occupies an unusual place in Italian design history because many of his furniture pieces were produced in tiny numbers, remained prototypes, or circulated mainly through drawings and photographs. That scarcity has helped turn original works into museum and collector objects. (wallpaper.com) The new arrangement also shows how Italian design estates are being managed through public-private deals rather than left only in archives. The state agency said the agreement is meant to protect and promote a twentieth-century design legacy while moving selected works back into production. (agenziademanio.it) For Zanotta, the immediate test is whether a table that existed as an archival design can become a commercial product without losing the aura that made Mollino collectible in the first place. The company has set Milan Design Week 2026 as the moment to make that case in public. (wallpaper.com) (zanotta.prezly.com)