"A long ride, with a few obstacles and many challenges, from 1934 to the present. And the feeling that it is never enough... No, "knowledge" is not enough anymore, but we have a magnificent obsession for quality every day and in every detail."
The Thirties and Forties
Giuseppina and Angelo Molteni, Giussano
1934
Angelo Molteni, born 1912, set up his own business in Giussano, today in the province of Monza e Brianza, a furniture district. His artisan workshop soon became a byword for top-quality products.
1947
The workforce of the Giussano business already numbered over 60 people. “Arredamenti di Angelo Molteni” was developing fast, less of an artisan workshop and more of a factory.
Craftsmen and workers of Angelo Molteni furniture-making firm
The Fifties
Werner Blaser, dresser, prototype
1955
Molteni took part in the first “Mostra Selettiva – Concorso Internazionale del Mobile” in Cantù, with a design by Swiss architect Werner Blaser, which won the first prize. The chest of drawers, with a 3-fork geometric joint, was the first prototype of a modern piece of furniture.
1959
Double podium at the Cantù Mostra Selettiva, with designs by Yasuhiko Itoh and Donato D’Urbino and Carlo Volonterio, two avant-garde bookcases.
Yasuhiko Itoh, bookcase, prototype
Gli anni della Selettiva, catalogue
The Sixties
The first German machines arrive. The flat presses and the drier, to produce increasingly quality furniture on an industrial scale.
1961
Angelo Molteni joined a group of entrepreneurs to promote Milan’s first Salone del Mobile, the highly successful furniture fair that made its debut on 24 September 1961.
Poster of the 1st Salone del Mobile
Press conference in occasion of the 1st Salone del Mobile in Milan - Right foreground Angelo Molteni
1966
1968
1968. Tito Agnoli, Fiorenza, Advertising campaign 1972
A year of upheavals: in just a few months, manufacturing switched from classic to modern, well-designed furniture suitable for mass production. Luca Meda, an Ulm School graduate, was the man of the revolution, his Iride storage units were presented at the 1968 Salone del Mobile.
Luca Meda and Hans von Klier, Iride series
Luca Meda and Hans von Klier, Iride series
The Seventies
1973
Afra and Tobia Scarpa made their debut in Giussano and Turate. For thirty years they designed successful buildings and furniture, distinguished by highly refined details.
1974. MOP Afra and Tobia Scarpa
1975
Molteni&C enters the Contract world, with a furniture supply to Saudi Arabia, which will make it the undisputed leader of "turnkey" solutions
1979
"We outfitted two embassies in Saudi Arabia and a large hotel in Egypt. With those two experiences, the Molteni Contract began. [...] On one hand we customise, on the other we standardize, a double attitude and vision."
Carlo Molteni
Home Office at Taif in Saudi Arabia, furnished with Z2 sofas and armchairs, design Marco Zanuso
In 1979 Dada joined the Molteni Group, quicky gaining a prominent place in the field of quality kitchens.
The brand image is designed by Luca Meda
The Eighties
1980
Enter Aldo Rossi, a partnership that was to last almost 20 years, with highly acclaimed designs, such as the Teatro series with Luca Meda , the Carteggio desk, the Milano chair, the Cartesio furniture and the Parigi armchair.
1987 Aldo Rossi, drawing
1987 Advertisement Teatro bed
1988 Luca Meda, Capotavola
1988 Teatro chair, 7volte7 wardrobe, 1080 series dresser and Marlo 2 bed. (Photo by Luigi Ghirri, 1991)
The Nineties
Molteni&C communication evolved with the arrival of the Swiss graphic designer Felix Humm, who redrew the Molteni&C logo and created a new look for our institutional and commercial communication.
Advertising campaigns
Advertising campaigns
Poster for the Salone del Mobile, Molteni&C and Unifor
1990
In the nineties Molteni&C proposed an idea of the home and based its communication around it.
1993
Pierluigi Cerri began working with Molteni&C and Unifor for visual communication and exhibitions stands.
Molteni&C booth entrance at the Salone del Mobile
1994
Molteni&C was awarded the Compasso d’Oro for its career. “Among the key players of Italian furniture culture” according to the jury, “it has excelled in presenting a range of products designed with constant dignity, guaranteed quality and a broad vision of the cultural context”.
1994
Jean Nouvel designed the Fondation Cartier in Paris. Unifor made the furniture. This gave rise to the Less series, a world design icon.
Jean Nouvel, Less series, for the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris
The New Millennium
2003
The Gran Teatro La Fenice is inaugurated in Venice, rebuilt according to Aldo Rossi’s design, with the wooden parts made by Molteni&C.
Aldo Rossi, Gran Teatro La Fenice, Venice, drawing
Gran Teatro La Fenice
2004
To support its international expansion, Molteni&C created the Divisione Imbottiti [Padded Furniture] and, within the space of just a few years, it has become one of the world’s leading manufacturers with designs by Patricia Urquiola, Ferruccio Laviani, Rodolfo Dordoni, Hannes Wettstein and Ron Gilad, just to mention a few.
Advertisign campaign
Molteni&C plant, upholstery division
Flagship Store, Molteni&C | Dada, New York, 2008
2008
Distribution has extended beyond the Italian borders and became international. New stores dedicated to the Molteni&C | Dada brand have opened: about 600 stores worldwide including 40 Flagship Stores, also present in the most important international design metropolis such as London and New York.
The 2010s
2012
Molteni&C presented the Ponti Collection at the Salone del Mobile, furniture never mass produced, designed by the great Milanese architect.
Gio Ponti Collection Molteni&C
Ron Gilad, Glass Cube, Giussano
2014
In the Giussano industrial complex, Molteni inaugurated Glass Cube, the installation by Ron Gilad that reinterprets the distinctive themes of the Group’s corporate identity. Technology, art and design come together to create a pathway between present and future, further embellished with multimedia features.
2015
Gruppo Molteni celebrates 80 years in the business with an exhibition at Milan’s Galleria d’Arte Moderna, 80!Molteni. Curated by Jasper Morrison and with graphic design by Studio Cerri & Associati, for the first time prototypes and furniture made by all the Group’s companies narrate 80 years’ experience, quality and innovation. The exhibition has become the nucleus of the Molteni Museum in Giussano.
80!Molteni exhibition at Galleria d’Arte Moderna Milano
Vincent Van Duysen
2016
MolteniGroup.com is the Molteni Group’s new website address. Key words are storytelling, inspiration and the contemporaneity of the Molteni&C and Dada brands.
Starting from April 2016 the Belgian architect and designer Vincent Van Duysen is appointed Creative Director of the Molteni&C and Dada brands. After the success of the Gliss Master wardrobe system the new partnership will focus on coordinating the brands’ image and retail concept.
The 2020s
2021
Molteni Museum | The Molteni Group tale
A space devoted to the history of the Molteni Group - products, prototypes, stories and images - told with a glance at the present and at the future through a select programme of initiatives.
2022
60th Anniversary of Milan’s Salone del Mobile.
The 24th of September 1961 saw the inauguration of the first Milan Furniture Fair, the Salone del Mobile, which celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2022.
The union between Salone del Mobile and Molteni&C has been active, non-stop, for more than 60 years – Molteni&C is among the few founder companies to have taken part in every single edition. It’s an impressive record that testifies to the affection for the fair held by all the companies within the Molteni Group
2023
Molteni&C | Outdoor
For Molteni&C’s inaugural Outdoor Collection, Creative Director Vincent Van Duysen, guided by his trademark restrained elegance, has devised a collection that is both visually expressive and highly functional.
“Just as in the 2022 indoor collection for Molteni&C, the new outdoor proposal I again pursued an idea of softness and wellbeing, of organic playfulness in an architectural vision of the furniture. I was inspired by modernism to recall the idea of permeability and transparency between indoor and outdoor spaces, and that intimate connection with light and nature.”
Vincent Van Duysen
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