Molteni&C renovates The Art of Living project, presenting its latest collections at villa La Ricarda in Barcelona, one of the most important icons of Catalan Rationalism. The story of a family, a legacy and a passion for things beautiful and for finely crafted furniture, a culture forged and nurtured within the firm.
A home, a palazzo, a villa set amongst pine trees, the hill between woods and the Venetian lagoon, modernity and classicism, different eras and stories coexist in the interiors that house the Molteni&C and Dada collections. The palazzo was restored by a great architect, Carlo Scarpa, who created a project that was at once ancient and modern.
The same harmony that is found in the rooms of the mansion designed at the end of the 1930s by Romeo Moretti, and in Ricardo Gomis’s refuge for intellectuals and artists in Barcelona, designed by the architect Antonio Bonet Castellana. Iconic homes, in which the art of living encounters beauty, where the classics of the Heritage Collection converse with contemporary pieces, Molteni&C icons and sophisticated Dada kitchens.
Because industry had already fallen in love with art, because the link between past, present and contemporary is heritage, to be cherished and enhanced. Once again, stories of family, determination and challenges. And of visions, which have their roots in the Italian landscape.
The villa was designed at a distance, because Bonet was in exile in South America, but constantly in touch with the couple. A lengthy and emotional creative adventure featuring 900 square metres planned in the minutest detail – every line, material, colour, furnishing and finish – all according to a precise design.
La Ricarda, otherwise known as Casa Gomis, designed in 1953-54 in an area of Barcelona surrounded by pine trees, by the architect Antonio Bonet, in cooperation with the owners, Ricardo Gomis and his wife, Agnes Bertrand Mata.
Each part of the house has a virtual counterpart in the open air. Terraces and verandas look out over the garden with floor to-ceiling windows.
Several pavillions, arranged asymmetrically, make up the body of the building. The ondulating arches echo the profile of the pine trees, in an interplay that reveals and conceals nature and human construction.
