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When he isn’t sitting as a model for Wolfgang Tillmans and Prada, Berlin-based art director and editor Karl Kolbitz enquires into concepts that may otherwise have slipped unnoticed. His latest offering is a book that exhibits a comprehensive collection of public and private Milanese entrance halls.
Kolbitz’s ‘Entryways of Milan – Ingressi di Milano’ has been published by Taschen, created in collaboration with photographers Paola Pansini, Delfino Sisto Legnani and Matthew Billings. “How can it be that this city, which has exported its design all over the world, has kept so silent about its exuberant and profuse entryways?” the curator asks in the foreword, before opening doors to 144 hidden interior gems. It is this very surprising notion of silence around the topic that makes seeing the concealed places all at once so refreshing. ‘Entryways of Milan’ is a unique study of interior architecture, presenting entrance spaces from the 1920s-70s, characterised by their dazzling use of colour, material and Italian modernist form. Marble and mosaic tiling are two recurring features, creating geometric lines and contrasting murals from floor to ceiling. The photographs capture a vivid presence of character in each lobby and hallway, laid out alongside texts from experts offering historical and architectural contextual information. With the book presenting maps and locations for each site, we are somewhat introduced to an alternative travel guide–it goes without saying that Kolbitz may have inspired a few holiday trips to Milan this year.
