The presence of a large number of design icons in our homes is often due to figures linking reflection and practice, figures that are anything but secondary: Dino Gavina and his Bologna-based company were the spark of production for Marcel Breuer’s Bauhaus chairs, as well as for the world-famous pieces by Le Corbusier and Perriand, or one of the most disruptive debut pieces in the history of design manufacturing, such as Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni’s Sanluca armchair. A man of ideas and ramified relationships, founder first of Gavina Spa, with Carlo Scarpa as a chairman – and author of a showroom that is now a highlight of all art walks in Bologna – then of Flos, Gavina welcomed Domus at his home when the directorship was entrusted to another great art director, as well as designer and critic: Alessandro Mendini, who in those very years was bringing revolutions to Alessi that would mark an era. Without any magniloquence or celebratory ambition, these are the ‘warehouse of useful objects’, the ‘house in the house’, and the world of design that Gavina told Domus about in September 1982, on issue 631.
A house within a house
A cube containing clothes, a bed and other things, leaving the rest of the house as a store for other objects. Furniture by designers of the past works of art books and photographs: the ingredients used by Dino Gavina to organize his house in Bologna. In this interview he talks of his ideas on design, living and furnishing.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
I don’t feel I’m exercising my trade when I'm working and I seem to be doing it when I’m not working.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
What does your house mean to you?
Dino Gavina: A house is a relationship with light and sun. If I built a house with an architect, I would ask him to provide a room with a large balcony where I could lie naked in the sun in summer and where, in winter, I could watch the sky and moving clouds.
