PurplePrice Mag · · 2 min read
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Molteni&C is one of the great furniture companies of Brianza. Born as a craft workshop, it has become a group that furnishes homes, offices, ships, theatres and hotels all over the world, and that still makes everything in Italy.
Angelo Molteni
The company was founded in 1934 in Giussano, in Brianza, by Angelo Molteni. After the war it made furniture through every stage, from tree trunk to finished piece. Angelo Molteni, later made a Cavaliere del Lavoro, was also one of the promoters of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, founded in 1961, which would become the world's most important furniture fair.
The turn to design
In 1969 Molteni turned entirely to design furniture. A true group grew up around the company: Unifor and Citterio arrived for office furniture and, in 1979, Dada for kitchens. Art direction was entrusted to the architect Luca Meda, the designer of many bookcase and storage systems, who brought in architects such as Aldo Rossi and Afra and Tobia Scarpa. Rossi, a master of Postmodern architecture, designed the Teatro chair (1983) with Meda and the Milano chair (1987); for Unifor he designed the Parigi armchair and the Cartesio bookcase.
Architects and designers
From the 1990s Italian and international designers and architects worked for the group, including Jean Nouvel, Norman Foster's practice, Patricia Urquiola, Rodolfo Dordoni and Hannes Wettstein. In 1994 Molteni&C received a lifetime Compasso d'Oro. More recently the company has brought back into production, with the architect's archive, some furniture by Gio Ponti, and has entrusted its creative direction to the Belgian architect Vincent Van Duysen.
Molteni today
Alongside its home collections of sofas, bookcases, wardrobes and tables, the group has a division that furnishes cruise ships, theatres, museums, hotels, restaurants and residences. It is still a family company, with its headquarters and factories in Brianza.
Sources
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