Molteni - Piroscafo bookcase

To find the genesis of this original domestic architecture we have to take a step back in time.

On a cold afternoon, two friends, Luca Meda and Aldo Rossi, are walking through the Fontivegge Centre, the headquarters of the Umbria Regional Council. The two friends were talking animatedly and suddenly stopped to look at the large green glass facade next to the former Perugina chimney, a true relic of industrial archaeology. It was the moment of intuition: take the building’s facade and transform it into furniture!
In a few months, their intuition became reality. At the 1991 Salone del Mobile, four large compositions were presented, two with a white façade and two in Prussian green, which stood out in the centre of the Molteni&C stand. In 1993, based on an idea by Luca Meda, at the Salone del Mobile, a gigantic Piroscafo, 13 metres long, complete with red and black funnels reproducing a real ship, welcomed visitors.

It was an immediate success that has now lasted for thirty years.

Aldo Rossi

Aldo Rossi was Born in 1931. In 1949 he graduated in architecture from Politecnico di Milano where he met Ernesto Nathan Rogers, who initiated him into collaboration with the magazine "Casabella" (1950-1964). Later he began his apprenticeship in the studios of Ignazio Gardella and Marco Zanuso and participated in the editorial staff of the magazine Società e Il Contemporaneo. He was one of the greatest Italian architects of the 1980’s. His Molteni Group collaboration marked his passage from masterful architect to an industrial designer. He created models and furnishings for the Museum of Maastricht, the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa and the reconstruction of the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. Aldo Rossi designed items that were destined to become icons of the 20th century.

Later he also dealt with the Brianza furniture, Rossi also began collaborating with Alessi, which resulted in such works as the collection of Tea & Coffee cups Piazza (1983), made in ninety-nine examples in hand-worked silver, the coffee pot La Conica (1984) and La Cupola (1988), so named because of their characteristic geometric physiognomy.

Molteni

Angelo Molteni, born in 1912, began his entrepreneurial activity in Giussano, now the province of Monza and Brianza, the furniture district. His workshop becomes, in a short time, synonymous with high quality product. The 60s began in the best way, in fact Angelo Molteni is in the founding committee of the first Salone del Mobile in Milan, which opened on 24 September 1961 with great success. This is the decade of the revolution: in a few months, the production is converted from classic to modern, to create well-designed furniture, designed for the series. Luca Meda, a student of the Ulm School, is the man of the revolution, his Iride containers presented at the Salone del Mobile in 1968. From the 70s until today, Molteni grows, is renewed and concretizes in a definitive way its value, and the undisputed style in the world panorama. In 2008 the distribution expanded beyond the Italian borders and was structured with foreign branches. New molteni&c | Dada monobrand stores are opening: about 600 in the world, including 40 Flagship Stores, also present in the largest international design metropolises such as London and New York. Moltenigroup.com is born, the web address of the new website of the Molteni Group. Key words are narration, inspiration, contemporaneity of molteni&c and Dada brands. As of April 2016, Belgian architect and designer Vincent Van Duysen has been appointed creative director of molteni&c and Dada. After the success of the Gliss Master wardrobe collection, the new collaboration focuses on image coordination and the retail concept.