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M&C 13 - 2019

M&C 13 - 2019
25Pages

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Happy Birthday, UniFor! Born in 1969, this lady with a vocation for architecture is celebrating her first 50 years with the story of a family – the truest portrait of the Italian design industry. A book, an installation, an exciting future. It all began, as with many industrial design traditions, in Brianza, the heart of Italy’s furniture district. This was a time when design culture was ferrying craftsmanship over to industry, all in the service of aesthetics and practicality. UniFor developed from the story of a family into a whole new chapter in Italian history. Originally, it was an idea of a community cherished by its founding fathers, brothers, cousins, relations and friends, all of whom shared the same vision and talent. But it was also testament to exceptional far-sightedness, skills, competence and creativity. Very soon, UniFor established itself as synonymous with elegance, reliability and innovation – design for life, if you will, rather than just a design industry. And so, this year sees Molteni&C open three new flagship stores, all designed by Vincent Van Duysen, in cities that never fail to amaze: New York, London and Tokyo. This publication chronicles new and unexpected encounters, new worldwide projects and new designers from every continent. It also reviews a major Gio Ponti exhibitionat at the Paris MAD. Living is not just a question of style, or, as the great Gio himself said: “Architecture is an interpretation of life”. Chapeau les artistes!

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Installation 9 – 14 April 2019 Palazzo di Brera via Brera 28 Milano Monday – Saturday 10.00am – 21.00pm Sunday 10.00am – 19.00pm Tuesday 9 April Cocktail Party 18.00 – 22.00 by Francesca Molteni It was 1968, the year of great and definitive events that left their mark on consciences, cultures, populations, lifestyles, and consumer habits. That year, the name of which became the symbol of an era, was many things, including the ethics and aesthetics of 2001: A Space Odyssey, a cult film on the identity of man and the role of knowledge, information access, and technology. In the midst of that...

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A commitment to architecture by Fulvio Irace Concentrating on winning the race, the runner looks straight ahead: they care only about the finish line, not the starting point. The reporter has a different point of view. Sitting in the stands, they give an account of the event and then, at the end of the race, they comment on the performance, reconstructing the wait, the sprint, the speed, and the duration. Like a runner, a captain of industry rarely thinks about the past, except perhaps as a reference to do better in the future. At the beginning, their entrepreneurial story is always...

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In 1994, for the opening of the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, I designed a few furnishing pieces: a desk-table; a double rotating totem that saves space without needing to be placed against the wall; and a long, low bench-table inspired by Jankélévitch’s philosophy of almost-nothing. In order to succeed, I needed a determined and outstanding furniture maker. I looked around and found Piero Molteni, head of the great Italian brand UniFor: an entrepreneur in love with his products, a demanding perfectionist, an inspired engineer. He loved the tension that emanated from these...

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Cerri’s architecture and designs have also taken on the challenge of the public space, from the extraordinary installations in the shop windows on Corso Matteotti to the trade fair stands – places where the rigor of graphic design adds to the sober celebration of the product, which is both objective and fitting, as if the ideal way to display things in the foreground were the absence of a background. These activities are flanked by sponsorship of events that serve as both workshop experiences and investments in the brand. In Cerri’s analysis, “the coordinated vision of the identity began...

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Shanghai Superflux The Hub Performance and Exhibition Centre Muxin Design Studio, Neri&Hu. The Hub Performance and Exhibition Centre by architects Neri & Hu Inspired by forest tree canopies and rock formations, The Hub Performance and Exhibition Centre by architects Neri & Hu aims to evoke a calming, natural environment. The main atrium of this mixed-use complex demonstrates an eye-catching ceiling constructed of walnut- and oak-covered aluminium sticks arranged to look like “a floating canopy”. This feature stands out sharply from the rest of the centre’s cavern-like interior, clad in...

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Neri&Hu Between the Day and the Night Three new Flagships Interview Oli Stratford Twelve A.M. is a new bed designed by Shanghai-based architecture and design practice Neri&Hu. Launching this year at Salone for Molteni&C, Twelve A.M. sees studio founders Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu play with proportion, materiality and typology to create a bed that breaks with the norm. Here, they discuss the ideas behind their new design. Neri&Hu Founded in 2004 by partners Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu, Neri&Hu Design and Research Office is an inter-disciplinary architectural design practice based in...

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London Calling Molteni Group’s third London location is testament to the city’s key role in the contemporary design scene. Based in the heart of the Museum District, the new two-storey 700sqm store is housed within a residential building built in the late 1800s. “We used the same concept as the New York Flagship Store, but in a historical building context,” Van Duysen explains. “It is a typical house in the Knightsbridge area, with period details like the arches between rooms and niches in the basement. The big staircase connecting the ground floor with the basement reflects the importance...

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The 1,161sqm space is set out over two levels linked by a dramatic walnut-clad staircase with travertine marble steps. The spaces within the new store range from an intimate private home to a contemporary office. Remaining faithful to the building’s original features, Van Duysen has introduced distinctive elements such as winter gardens brimming with luxurious botanicals and partitions between rooms interspersed by tall travertine marble-clad portals. Various shades of bone and warm greys have been teamed with sophisticated, golden-hued natural materials. The first floor features the...

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