Why is he only a thing now?: The Italian-born architect finding a new audience – Sydney Morning Herald

Like the Brutalist-style home that Volpato proposed for furniture company owner Nick Scali, his designs were booted by councils because they didnt conform with a neighbourhoods character. They stand out in the drab crowd like the Sea Princess amid a fleet of tankers, reported the Herald in 1982 reporting on Haberfield Councils rejection of another Volpato plan.

Decades before the idea of indoor/outdoor living took off in Australia, Volpato argued that British architecture was too influential, and irrelevant in the Australian climate.

His was a Mediterranean vibe: One of fun and openness with indoors and outdoors merging Id like to see the square massive style typical of Australian architecture disappear, he told Australian House & Garden in 1973.

Other than his familys archives of drawings and records, details of Volpatos work are scant.

Loading

He was typical of many post-war European designers who often worked in obscurity, said Hawcroft. They worked as furniture or industrial and architectural designers when they didnt qualify with the Architects Registration Board. Volpato was self-taught, and though he enrolled in architecture in Australia, his English wasnt proficient enough to continue.

Their name is never really on [the plan], she said. They had to work within a bigger organisation, and so their design work was never attributed ... They dont get known in the same way as people like Harry Seidler, said Hawcroft, the author of the 2017 book, The Other Moderns: Sydneys Forgotten European Design Legacy about these migrants who arrived in Australia up to 1960.

These emigre architects and designers like Volpato were doing their thing, and out of sync with the rest, she said. Many people would say his houses are ugly because they are over the top. They appealed to a cultural group that was not the majority.

Clients either loved him or hated him. But the father of six was unfazed. His son Marco Volpato said his father always broke the norm. He had no fear in expressing his own designs, and turning heads.

Marco Volpato, an architect working in Switzerland and Australia, said the public was now more open to different and fluid styles like his fathers. I often catch myself saying, Hey thats one of Dads designs. Its easy to spot them around Sydney, they are unique and stand out in the crowd.

Gino Volpatos granddaughter Sara Iarossi, and daughters Liris Iarossi and Paola Candi go through some photos of his designs at the family home in Marrickville.Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

Volpato was indefatigable. When a Sydney council rejected a house saying it conflicted with the areas red brick character, he doorknocked 150 homeowners for their thoughts. They loved it. Volpato won. The council changed its mind.

His daughter Liris Iarossi said her father never stopped. He designed and made the mural at Munmorah Power station, a shopping trolley with a brake, an electric scooter, a tape dispenser for 3M, mausoleums, aged care facilities, and modern office furniture in marble, glass and granite.

When married in the 1950s, he created a sleek modern gown for his wife Adelia, who would have preferred something traditional. And like architects Mies van de Rohe, Marcel Breuer and Harry Seidler, Volpato also designed interiors and furniture.

Working for Sabemo, he designed Wollongongs Sacred Heart Chapel and Italian Centre. Iarossi said her father also designed the pews, the Stations of the Cross and the statue of Our Lady of the Rosary. My father was a hands-on person. He was there day and night, said Iarossi.

In the weeks before he died in 2008, he completed a self-portrait, dictated to-do lists of unfinished designs and artwork for his six children, patents that needed lodging and wrote extensive instructions for his funeral.

He also came up with a design for a floating building, suspended from above, that he instructed his children to pursue.

Loading

Iarossi said her father never wasted a minute. He used to say, You know that minute that just went past? You will never get it back.

His extended family is enjoying the interest in his work. It makes me so happy knowing his legacy lives on and people are appreciating his work, said his granddaughter Sara Iarossi.

A cultural guide to going out and loving your city. Sign up to our Culture Fix newsletter here.

Go here to read the rest:
Why is he only a thing now?: The Italian-born architect finding a new audience - Sydney Morning Herald