Carlo Mollino dining table sets record as it sells for $6.2 million 

Italian art and design classics take centre stage at Sotheby's contemporary art auction in New York 

There was a record for any work of Italian design at Sotheby's contemporary art sale in New York last week when a unique dining table by Carlo Mollino sold for $6.2 million. 

This was more than double the $3 million high estimate. From the Brooklyn Museum, it was designed in 1949 and executed by Appelli and Varesio in Turin for the travelling exhibition Italy at Work: Her Renaissance in Design Today. 

This groundbreaking event, hosted initially by the Brooklyn Museum in 1950, set out to expose Italian art and design to an international audience in an attempt to stimulate Italy's economy after the Second World War. 

Carlo Mollino (1905-1973) was an architect pushing the boundaries of design whose passions included skiing, poetry, racecar driving, photography and flying stunt planes. 

He developed the technique of bending and moulding plywood and his name became synonymous with complex, sinuous lines and forms.