Molteni&C is celebrating its 90th anniversary. The company has helped to spread the culture of quality living all over the world
by Francesco Michienzi
It is difficult to summarise 90 years of history in a few pages. Molteni&C, the Italian family firm founded in Giussano in 1934 by Angelo and Giuseppina Molteni and still run by the Molteni family today, has chosen to do so in a remarkable 416-page tome. An Italian Design Story, published by Rizzoli New York, was edited by the American journalist Spencer Bailey, with artistic direction by Beda Achermann and photographs by Jeff Burton. Carlo Molteni said: “In this important year, we want to share our goal for the future: to spread the culture of quality living throughout the world. 2024 will be the ninetieth anniversary of our company. When we studied the history of our brand, we noticed that it coincided step by step with the history of Italian design”.
Vincent van Duysen.
The connection with the local territory and the entrepreneurial and design culture of the district are assets that have been further strengthened by Van Duysen, the brand’s creative director since 2016, known for the minimalist and Nordic influence of his work as an architect and designer.
The Molteni Group has celebrated its 90th anniversary with an evocative event hosted in the industrial setting of the Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan. Guests were welcomed by a special installation consisting of two multimedia maxi-boxes projecting a series of images fromMolteni Mondo, An Italian Design Story, the tribute book that tells the long and rich history of the company.
When Angelo Molteni, Class of 1912, started his entrepreneurial activity in the Italian Furniture District, he had a precise vision of where he wanted to go. His artisan workshop soon became synonymous with top-quality products. So much so that by the 1950s it employed more than 60 people. Today, the company has 1,207 employees and associates. Over the years, “Arredamenti di Angelo Molteni” became less of a workshop and more of an industry. An enlightened Molteni took part in the first international furniture design competition in Cantù with a project signed by the Swiss architect Werner Blaser, assistant to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and won first prize with his chest of drawers with a three-fork geometric joint. It was the prototype of modern furniture.
MOLTENI MONDO IS AN ITALIAN DESIGN FACTORY THAT HAS MADE PRODUCTION A PROCESS TO BE RESPECTED, HANDED DOWN AND DEVELOPED FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION.
The Molteni Compound includes the showroom, offices, production, the Pavilion and a cultural area that tells the company’s story: the Molteni Archive, the QallaM installation by Patricia Urquiola and the Molteni Museum.
In the 1960s, the first machines purchased in Germany, flat presses and dryers, were used to produce quality furniture on an industrial scale. In 1961, Angelo Molteni was part of the founding committee of the first Salone del Mobile in Milan, which opened on 24 September 1961 to great public acclaim. 1968, however, was a year of upheaval: in just a few months, the company transformed its production from a classic to a modern style, producing well-designed furniture designed for mass production. With the collaboration of the most famous designers and architects. A production that, thanks to the first delivery of furniture to Saudi Arabia, has finally established Molteni & C on the world market.
Among the designers who have created pieces for Molteni&C are some of the masters of international design, past and present: Michele De Lucchi, Tobia Scarpa, Ron Gilad, Patricia Urquiola, Francesco Meda, Aldo Rossi and Vincent van Duysen.
SINCE 1934, THE ENTIRE PRODUCTION CHAIN HAS BEEN BASED IN GIUSSANO, ITALY. THE COMPANY HAS 5 PRODUCTION PLANTS AND 4 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTRES.
Finally, in 1979, an important piece was added to the puzzle of the group’s expansion: Dada joined the Molteni Group, which quickly established itself as a leader in quality kitchens. A successful ascent that became unstoppable in the years to come and was rewarded in 1994 when the Brianza-based company was awarded the Compasso d’Oro. Today, it is celebrated as one of the leading players in Italian interior design culture. That is no coincidence.
1. Molteni&C 90th anniversary. 2. Andrea Molteni – Vincent Van Duysen – Carlo Molteni – Giovanni Molteni. 3. Giulia Molteni and Ning Chang. 4. Blanca Mirò. 5. Matteo Ceccarini and Eva Riccobono. 6. Beda Achermann and Jeff Burton. 7. Ron Gilad – Francesca Molteni – Vera Rossi. 8. Francesco Meda. 9. Csaba Dalla Zorza. 10. Vincent Van Duysen – Alex Riviere – Christian Sieber. 11. Alessia Lanza. 12. Nicola Gallizia. 13. FoodFitLovers. 14. Marta Ferri.
The importance of Gio Ponti
In 2012, after a long process of in-depth research, study and careful selection in the archives with the heirs of designer Gio Ponti, Molteni launched a line dedicated to him, featuring historic pieces designed by this master of Italian design. A homage to one of the most complex architects of the 20th century which emphasises the exclusivity of the company from Brianza as well as its ability for innovation combined with the exquisite quality of its products. All constants that have remained unchanged since 1934. And which, like a fil rouge, have consistently marked the evolution of a giant among the world’s leading interior design companies for three generations. Today the district is technologically advanced and the old generations have given way to the new.
THE CONSOLIDATED TURNOVER OF MOLTENI&C SPA, UNIFOR SPA AND CITTERIO SPA IN 2023 IS APPROXIMATELY 480 MILLION EUROS. 5% IS REINVESTED IN RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT EVERY YEAR.
Carlo Molteni, Angelo and Giuseppina’s eldest son, tells us: “The foundry where the brass feet were forged is still there. So are many of the people I have known since I was a boy who had just joined the company. We have evolved, but we have all grown up together. Our main suppliers are concentrated within a thirty-kilometre radius. This is not just for logistical reasons – it is a precise choice, because we want to be immersed in a culture where we all understand each other immediately, or, we could say, where there is a collective inclination that I would call “taste for craftsmanship”.
Andromeda collection.
Going beyond the production of recycled products, the Molteni Group has created a new department dedicated to the ESG policy. This department revises existing products to meet the new standards and directs future business developments towards greater compliance with these principles.
TODAY, THE MOLTENI GROUP IS PRESENT IN MORE THAN 100 COUNTRIES. IT HAS OVER 700 POINTS OF SALE AND 100 FLAGSHIP STORES.
The book, An Italian Design Story, allows you to relive the most decisive moments of a beautiful story about Italian family entrepreneurship. It features the profiles and opinions of some of the key designers who have collaborated with the company since 1934, including Foster and Partners, Luca Meda, Aldo Rossi, Tobia Scarpa, Patricia Urquiola and Vincent van Duysen, the brand’s creative director since 2016. Some of the most interesting contributions are a personal reflection by Jean Nouvel about the creation of the historical collection Less (1994), a collection of essays that explore the company’s history, its archives, and its ascent to international fame, and an afterword by architect and Pritzker Prize winner Jacques Herzog. The volume also includes stories about iconic pieces, such as Werner Blaser’s chest of drawers MHC.1 from 1955 and the bookcase MHC.2 by Yasuhiko Itoh from 1959. The book is structured like a film, divided into different scenes or acts that explore the different topics with photographs by Jeff Burton and texts by Spencer Bailey, Maria Cristina Didero, Salvatore Licitra, Emma Leigh Macdonald, Ali Morris, Francesca Picchi, Harriet Thorpe, and Janelle Zara. “Molteni’s headquarters doesn’t feel very different from Paramount Picture’s plot in Hollywood: there’s something cinematographic and ‘lights-camera-action’ about it. Always rolling…” as Bailey says in the book. The chapters range from the Molteni Compound – the series of showrooms, offices, production facilities, physical and virtual spaces where you can experience design from a historical, cultural, creative, manufacturing and commercial point of view – to the Molteni Museum, with its archive, production and Gio Ponti sections.
(Molteni&C – An Italian Design Story – Barchemagazine.com – October 2024)
