Molto Depositi
The new Molto Collectibles show room In the ATAC Depot of piazza Bainsizza, in Rome
Inauguration (by invitation), Monday 6 May 2024 from 11.00 to 20.00
From Tuesday 7 May the space will be open by appointment by sending an email to info@moltocollectibles.it

Introduces Lorenzo Bassetti,
founder of Molto Collectibles

We were born virtual, and today we stand in the place that has set in motion the history and beauty of Rome. Molto Collectibles emerged some years ago from my passion for art and that marvelous art, envied by the rest of the world, which is Italian craftsmanship. Today, after showcasing our creations online and receiving significant international acclaim, I wanted to provide a home, a stage for our furniture and furnishing collections. And this extraordinary, fascinating, and unique space is the Deposito Vittoria, the ATAC tram depot in Piazza Bainsizza, inaugurated in 1920, when trams were the epitome of modernity in communicating the Eternal City. Some of this historical duality remains in the arrangements that Molto Depositi will unveil starting May 6th, alternating for at least two years to welcome not only the most important pieces from our collection but also masterpieces from Italian and international design luminaries. Among them, names such as Gio Ponti, John and Elinor McGuire, Achille Castiglioni, Luigi Caccia Dominioni, Aldo Longhi, Ernestin, and last but not least, Bonacina, the historic Italian brand linked to the beauty of bamboo, which, not coincidentally, is also our primary material

Bamboo is a wonderful material, essential, originally intended for outdoor furnishings, almost an extension of its natural environment, yet it also shines magnificently indoors, infusing warmth, elegance, balance, and its own form of classicism. This is a lesson that I learned from Giusto Puro Purini, architect, designer, and avid traveler. The project to preserve the artisanal traditions linked to bamboo, supported by Molto Collectibles, pays homage to the genius of this figure in Italian architecture. One of my objectives is indeed to create a network of artisans, and moving in this direction, which I consider vital, I have acquired the operations of a historic bamboo workshop, ensuring its preservation and continuity. Following this initial encounter, many others have ensued across various regions of Italy, where I have initiated projects aimed at training new generations of artisans. It’s a repository of skills and sensibilities, dedicated to the future.

But let’s return to Rome and Molto Depositi. Let’s revisit the presence that was once commonplace in these spaces, the tram. And so, we must talk about cinema, about that 1950s cinema, filmed right here in Rome, which I deeply love. I think of magnificent films like Vittorio De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves, Mario Monicelli’s Big Deal on Madonna Street, and Federico Fellini’s Roma. In each of these films, the tram is not just an urban presence but the character that sets the story in motion. And something of this narrative richness, this decidedly vintage speed, has also remained in “our” depot.

The decision was easy: leave everything as it was despite years of abandonment. We carried out a restoration that is seemingly invisible, and every space, from the entrance to the ticket office, from the office of the “Movement Chief” to the personnel office, all the way to the “Union Hall,” has returned to narrate its past naturally, serenely, gracefully. The walls speak through layers of plaster and color, and one in particular, an almost greyish blue, reminiscent of sky and dust, an azure that resembles the Normandy sky and opens up the horizon, has become the guiding color that unites every space. Sometimes it’s a band running along the walls, other times it’s just a trace, a memory resurfacing. 

I like to think about the lives that this place has intersected. Small and grand stories of women and men of all ages, waiting in line for their turn, and on the other side of the counter, the four windows in the entrance hall, a hand handing out the ticket. Today, from those same niches, four different cocktails will emerge to enliven the evenings as we celebrate a rich calendar of events. Molto Depositi has preserved this richness of journeys and destinies, and from the very first exhibition that launches our display adventure, we will bring together and intersect different fates. Alongside the classics of international design, alongside the news of Molto Collectibles, from chests of drawers to modular sofas, from consoles to bookshelves,  crafted in bamboo and rattan and all handcrafted in limited copies, I wanted to present the work of artists very dear to me.

The first dialogue, of formidable intensity, will be between the furnishings of Molto Collectibles and a selection of artist tapestries from the A Collection founded by Giovanni Bonotto and Chiara Casarin. Opening the exhibition is the imposing Gardening The Trash, made from recycled plastic, inviting discovery of works by Jaime Hayon, Christian Fogarolli, Giovanni Ozzola, Guglielmo Castelli, Thomas Braida, The Cool Couple, Francesco Arena. A tribute to the ancient tradition of weaving and its inventions, which I reinterpret personally, since my history is tied to fabrics, tailoring, and that distinctly Italian taste. Our collaboration with Dedar, a company born in 1976 in Como, at the heart of silk and the most precious and innovative fabrics manufacturing, draws inspiration from the same memories, the same pursuit of quality and uniqueness.  

Telling one’s story through passions. A narrative that has also given life to my art collection, and in this first Molto Depositi event, as well as in the subsequent ones, there couldn’t be a lack of very significant presences for me. In the “red room,” for example, alongside a table by Tommaso Buzzi and some furniture lacquered by our workshops, there will be two works by Alessandro Piangiamore and my “scarlet” portrait signed by Marco Colazzo. At the entrance, guests will discover the trompe-l’oeil screen by Marco Emmanuele, an artist who has also created a highly original piece in my Roman residence. It will be a sandblasted glass screen-wall, it will be art that conquers every surface until it becomes an object, a domestic, everyday, indispensable presence. Molto Depositi aims to be precisely this, a space that contains others, a fluid, musical space, a space where one can meet and encounter those objects, those furnishings, those talents, those harmonies that will also make our homes unique. Unique as our portrait.