The book collects profiles and opinions of some of the main designers who have collaborated with the company since 1934, including Foster and Partners, Luca Meda, Aldo Rossi, Tobia Scarpa And Patricia Urquiola. The volume invites you to enter the world of Molteni&C through an interview with Vincent van Duysencreative director since 2016, a personal reflection by Jean Nouvel on the creation of the historic Less collection (1994), a series of essays exploring the company’s history, its archives and its rise to international prominence, and an afterword to the book by the Pritzker-winning architect Jacques Herzog. The pages of the book contain stories of iconic pieces such as the MHC.1 chest of drawers by Werner Blaser from 1955 and the MHC.2 bookcase by Yasuhiko Itoh from 1959.
The editorial structure is structured like the scenes of a film, which explore the different subjects with the photographs of Jeff Burton told by the texts of Spencer Bailey, Maria Cristina Didero, Salvatore Licitra Emma Leigh Macdonald, Ali Morris, Francesca Picchi, Harriet Thorpe, Janelle Zara. “The Molteni headquarters is reminiscent of a Paramount Pictures Hollywood set: there is something cinematic and ‘lights-camera-action’. Constantly moving…” Bailey states in the book. The chapters range from the Molteni Compound – the set of showrooms, offices, production spaces, physical and virtual places in which to experience the world of design from a historical, cultural, planning, productive and commercial perspective – to the Molteni Museum, passing through the Archive, Production, up to a focus on Gio Ponti, through a dive into the Gio Ponti Archives.
Today the Molteni Group takes advantage of the synergies between the companies Molteni&C, UniFor, Citterio, and is now present in over 100 countries, with over 700 sales points and 100 Flagship Stores.
