The Molteni & C compound in Giussano, 30km north of Milan, evolves continuously, making it a becoming illustration of the furnishings behemoth. Residence to its HQ and manufacturing unit since 1934, the compound can be an architectural treasure trove, the place Molteni’s inventive collaborators have left their marks over time. Examples embrace Ron Gilad’s 2014 Glass Dice, which was just lately remodeled into the Molteni Museum, and Patricia Urquiola’s 2006 Spazio Q alla M (a multimedia centre devoted to the corporate’s previous and future), in addition to a four-storey Nineteen Fifties showroom, designed by Luca Meda with parts by Aldo Rossi, with whom he usually collaborated.
‘The compound is a testomony to the historical past of Molteni & C and the nice names of design and structure which have labored with the corporate,’ says Molteni’s chief advertising officer Giulia Molteni.
The doorway to Molteni HQ, with the showroom on the left and the manufacturing unit straight forward
(Picture credit score: Stefan Giftthaler)
Molteni & C has now unveiled a brand new chapter within the compound’s architectural historical past with a pavilion complicated by its inventive director, Belgian designer Vincent Van Duysen, including a hospitality ingredient to the model expertise. The start line for the design, which is Van Duysen’s first architectural challenge for Molteni, was Meda and Rossi’s showroom, which is punctuated on one aspect by a discreet colonnade.
These columns impressed the pavilion, which is designed to function a reception space and restaurant and hospitality house surrounded by cloistered gardens. The bottom ground of the showroom has additionally been redesigned and has since been dubbed the Luca Meda Room, in honour of the designer’s work as Molteni’s inventive director from 1968 till his loss of life in 1998. Meda was instrumental within the firm’s transformation from being a conventional maker of basic furnishings to a worldwide up to date design model.
Vincent Van Duysen and Molteni & C: minimalist rigour and Mediterranean flavour
The reception space options an ’Elain’ armchair, ’Cleo’ espresso tables, a ’Paul’ couch, two ’Yoell’ armchairs and a ’Stripe’ rug, all by Vincent Van Duysen, for Molteni & C
(Picture credit score: Stefan Giftthaler)
When Van Duysen joined the corporate in 2016, the scope of the collaboration was to merge his minimalist rigour with a Mediterranean flavour, one thing he has demonstrated over time with merchandise and interiors. ‘Molteni is taken with seeing its items come alive within the context of structure, inserting them inside a wider cultural aura,’ says Van Duysen. ‘This interplay and synergy between structure and furnishings pertains to the artwork of dwelling in a really trendy means.’
The designer feels that the brand new constructing blends nicely with the unique Nineteen Fifties structure. ‘It’s a continuation of that language that I took over in a contemporary however not obstructive means. It has a number of respect for the present constructing. The extension represents Molteni’s willpower to create a holistic, all-round expertise.’
Andrea Molteni, vice chairman of Molteni & C, Vincent Van Duysen, inventive director of Molteni & C, Giulia Molteni, chief advertising officer of Molteni Group, and Giovanni Molteni, vice chairman of Molteni & C, photographed on the Giussano HQ
(Picture credit score: Stefan Giftthaler)
The design encompasses a sequence of coated walkways, lined with skinny black columns, that lead guests across the complicated, from the safety check-in space to the reception and restaurant and to the ground-floor showroom. The cloistered gardens are by Italian panorama architect Marco Bay, who created a discreet composition, mixing textures and heights to precise the concept of nature evolving over time. The out of doors areas will even be used to showcase the model’s out of doors furnishings collections, launching subsequent yr.
Molteni restaurant: redefining hospitality on the Giussano HQ
(Picture credit score: Stefan Giftthaler)
The restaurant might be a key side of the pavilion, and can type an progressive method for Molteni & C: overlooking the gardens, the house is each minimal and heat, that includes glass and concrete, with gentle oak partitions. ‘The collaboration with Vincent has all the time adopted the evolution of dwelling,’ says Giulia Molteni. ‘Because the pandemic, we now have deemed it a necessity to succeed in a simplicity of varieties, shedding the superfluous and trying to incorporate heat, lightness and a focus to element.’
The restaurant, set amongst cloistered gardens, options glass, concrete and oak, in addition to furnishings designed by Van Duysen, together with his new ‘Janet’ chairs
(Picture credit score: Stefan Giftthaler)
The whole lot within the house was designed by Van Duysen, from the benches impressed by his ‘Paul’ couch to new tables designed for the event and the ‘Janet’ chairs, a 2022 addition to the Molteni & C catalogue. The architect additionally conceived the lighting in collaboration with Nemo Lighting.
The desk settings have been chosen by Van Duysen and meals author Csaba dalla Zorza
(Picture credit score: Stefan Giftthaler)
The restaurant’s particulars create an environment that displays the Italian » method to internet hosting, and its interiors ‘symbolize the soul of the corporate,’ explains Giulia Molteni. For the desk settings, Molteni & C enlisted Italian meals author and tv persona Csaba dalla Zorza, who labored intently with Van Duysen to pick out objects that join together with his aesthetic imaginative and prescient, whereas the meals providing was entrusted to the Bergamo-based Vicook, a department of native three-Michelin-starred restaurant Da Vittorio, whose gastronomic choices embrace Italian classics similar to paccheri al pomodoro (a pasta dish served with beneficiant helpings of slow-cooked tomato sauce and Parmesan) and cotoletta alla Milanese (deep-fried breaded veal cutlets).
‘We’re proud to host inside our compound a bit of structure designed by our inventive director,’ says Molteni Group chairman Carlo Molteni. ‘A recent addition that’s built-in into the historic website and alerts the corporate’s path in the direction of the long run.’
molteni.it (opens in new tab)
vincentvanduysen.com (opens in new tab)
A model of this text seems within the December 2022 Entertaining Concern of Wallpaper*, obtainable in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple Information +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* at the moment (opens in new tab)
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