Molteni&C is one of the most important Italian brands in the sector of
design furniture. It is a company which production brings together the passion for beauty, the endless pursuit of quality (be it technical, functional and of the materials to be used) and of the diffusion of the Made in Italy in the world, to the extent it was awarded the Compasso D’Oro for its career in 1994. A company that has played a role in the history of the Italian design; born in 1934 as a furniture workshop in a period of transition from the “tailor-made” to the mass production and in which the artisans, or as they were called “the artists of wood”, were transforming in real entrepreneurs. Mass production but always accompanied by a quest for quality, achieved through the collaboration with illustrious personalities of the design of that time;
Angelo Mangiarotti,
Tito Agnoli,
Luca Meda,
Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Aldo Rossi, to mention some of them. From that moment on Molteni became a solid industrial group that today encompasses 4 different brands to offer a top level production in diverse furnishing sectors. Apart from the Molteni&C SpA (home furnishings and kitchens), there is Unifor SpA (office furniture) and Citterio SpA (divider walls and office furniture). The Molteni Group in its composition can boast a distribution network of more than 700 retails spread in over 80 countries of the world; it is one of the few furniture brands able to grant a production Made in Italy for 100%, along the full productive chain, from the sourcing of the materials till the final product.
Molteni&C, a brand that made the history of design
Molteni was founded in Giussano, in the province of Brianza, by Angelo Molteni in 1934 and already in 1955 received an important acknowledgment. The chest of drawers signed by Werner Blaser, one of Alvar Aalto’s students and assistant of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, won the first prize at the first edition of the Selettiva in Cantù, as the first prototype of a modern piece of furniture. The economic boom of the ‘60s in Italy favored the brand evolution from an artisan to an industrial setting and the company soon became one of the most outstanding in the furnishing sector. In 1961, Angelo Molteni was among the 13 visionary and longsighted entrepreneurs who gave life to the first edition of the Salone del Mobile in Milan, that sealed the union between creative designers and mass production. With the support of technology the way was paved for the future of industrial design. In the ‘70s the first Molteni modular solutions saw the light to suit different areas of the house, from the wardrobe to the living and the study area like
sistema 505, Gliss 5th or Pass. In addition the
contract division was inaugurated with projects for hotels, shops, museums and cruise ships. Starting from the ‘80s the company initiated an enduring collaboration with Aldo Rossi who designed for Molteni a series of functional and refined pieces of furniture; in 2012 the
Gio Ponti Collection was launched at the Salone del Mobile, as a creation born out of the collaboration with the Gio Ponti Archives, resuming the pieces drawn by the architect from Milan in the ‘50s that had never undergone mass production. It is possible to find Molteni&C
modular systems,
sofas and
wardrobes in indoors all over the world, always in step with the times and with a continual search for innovative solutions.
Molteni&C: collaborations, awards and special projects
In synergy with other companies of the group, Molteni&C is always at the forefront of technological innovation, research, design, to keep up with the significant evolution of the every-day living. It can rely on a remarkable history, steady, that is not rustled up, while carrying out projects that diffuse a design culture for a mission that goes beyond raising profit. This vision has generated projects such as the Molteni Museum, that collects the material used in 2015 for the staging of the exhibition hosted by the Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Milano, curated by
Jasper Morrison, on the occasion of the brand 80 years anniversary, a project that gathers a large portion of the archive material and that narrates the company history. With the same aim to convey and pass on the history and culture, the
Heritage Collection was born to collect unique pieces or pieces drawn in specific occasions to be revived in a limited and numbered series with the prestigious signatures of designers such as
Gio Ponti, Werner Blaser, Yasuhiko Itoh, Afra and Tobia Scarpa. Under the guidance of the art director
Vincent Van Duysen, today the company collaborates with outstanding names of the design panorama such as Jean Nouvel, Alvaro Siza, Foster + Partners, Herzog & de Meuron, Renzo Piano, Pierluigi Cerri, Rodolfo Dordoni, Patricia Urquiola, Ron Gilad. On the occasion of the Salone del Mobile 2018 The Collector’s House exhibition was presented, a selection of contemporary artworks curated by Caroline Corbetta and in line with Molteni&C and Dada design. The main theme is the dialogue between art and design, promoted through the contamination among and talents of young artists in a fluid harmony between avant-gard and tradition.
Molteni&C products for sale online on Archiproducts
The
products of the Molteni&C brand are on sale in the Archiproducts online shop: sofas, armchairs, tables, chairs, for home and contract.
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