Just like a film. 90 Years of Made in Italy in the book “Molteni Mondo”

Text by

Molteni&C, Flagship Stores - Ph. Jeff Burton

Published by Rizzoli New York, this 416-page volume edited by the journalist Spencer Bailey, with art direction by Beda Achermann and photos by Jeff Burton, traces the history of the company founded in Giussano in 1934

The origins of timeless design pieces often go hand-in-hand with stories that deserve to be told. Molteni&C, the Italian family-run company set up in Giussano by Angelo and Giuseppina Molteni in 1934 and still helmed by the Molteni family, has chosen to do just this in a 416-page book entitled Molteni Mondo. An Italian Design Story, published by Rizzoli New York and edited by the renowned American cultural journalist Spencer Bailey, with art direction by Beda Achermann and photographs by Jeff Burton.

“2024 marks the ninetieth anniversary of our company. Studying our brand history, we realised that it coincides with the history of Italian design. It began in Brianza with the first Selettiva di Cantù, promoted by my father Angelo - an exhibition that had architects of the calibre of Gio Ponti, Alvar Aalto, and Carlo De Carli on the jury, spreading the culture of quality living throughout the world,” says Carlo Molteni. “In this important year, we want to share our goal for the future: to spread the culture of quality living all over the world.”

The book contains the profiles and opinions of some of the leading designers who have worked with the company since 1934, including Foster and Partners, Luca Meda, Aldo Rossi, Tobia Scarpa and Patricia Urquiola. It invites us into the world of Molteni&C through an interview with Vincent van Duysen, creative director since 2016, a personal reflection by Jean Nouvel around the creation of the historic Less collection (1994), a collection of essays exploring the history of the firm, its archives and rise to international fame, and an afterword by the Pritzker Prizewinning architect Jacques Herzog. The book also contains stories about iconic pieces such as Werner Blaser’s 1955 MHC.1 chest of drawers and Yasuhiko Itoh’s 1959 MHC.2 bookcase.

The book is structured cinematographically, divided into acts that explore the various subjects with photographs by Jeff Burton, narrated by texts by Spencer Bailey, Maria Cristina Didero, Salvatore Licitra, Emma Leigh Macdonald, Ali Morris, Francesca Picchi, Harriet Thorpe and Janelle Zara. “The Molteni headquarters feels not unlike being on the Hollywood lot of Paramount Pictures: there’s something cinematic and ‘lights-camera-action’ about it. In constant motion …” says Bailey in the book. The chapters range from the Molteni Compound – the set of showrooms, offices, production spaces, physical and virtual places in which the world of design can be experienced from a historical, cultural, design, productive and commercial point of view – to the Molteni Museum, by way of the Archive, Production, right up to a focus on Gio Ponti with a dive into the Gio Ponti Archives.

Today, the Molteni Group benefits from the synergies between the companies Molteni&C, UniFor and Citterio, and has a presence in more than 100 countries, with over 700 retail outlets and 100 Flagship Stores.