PHOTOGRAPHS: FABRIZIO NANNINI PHOTOGRAPHY; REX FEATURES/SHUTTERSTOCK0123456789INTERIORS REPORTJust how do family-run, long-established design houses continue to
innovate while remaining true to their roots? Peter Howarth investigatesGeneration game
T
wo black and white
photographs hanging in the
Molteni Museum in Milan tell
a story familiar to family businesses the
world over. The first shows a young
Italian couple, wearing new long coats, in
front of some factory gates. This is 1941,
in Giussano in the province of Monza and
Brianza, a district known for furniture
making; Giuseppina and Angelo Molteni,
who had set up their business seven
years earlier, are smiling and clutching
playfully at each other.In another image, this time from 1947,
a large group of men line up outside an
industrial shed. The Molteni craftsmen- some 60 in number – accompany their
boss, Angelo. Standing, frowning, near
the front, is a small blond boy of four.
This is Carlo Molteni, Angelo’s first born,
who would inherit the business from his
father and become a prominent figure in
the world of Italian furniture. He is still
CEO today.
Part of Molteni’s evolution has been
down to a program of collaborations
with architects and designers. Pieces by
Aldo Rossi and Gio Ponti rub shoulders
with others by Jean Nouvel Design and
Foster + Partners in the museum, next to
the factory, which still stands on the
same site in Giussano. But last year, the
Molteni family – Carlo’s sister Mariangela
and daughter Giulia are board members- took the step of appointing a creative
director to the firm. And he’s not Italian.
Vincent Van Duysen, the Belgian
architect and designer known for his
minimalist approach, was brought in to
ensure that this Italian family business
continues to evolve. Giulia Molteni, the
founder’s granddaughter, who heads
up marketing and communication at
the company, says: “The idea behind
appointing Vincent was to have a neutral,
external point of view on our creative
strategy.” The man who was named
Designer of the Year at Belgium’s
Biennale Interieur 2016 says he
became involved organically, through
collaborating with Molteni like so
many before him. But unlike previous
partner-designers, Van Duysen was
asked to sign up. Molteni will continue
to work with a roster of other creatives,
but Van Duysen gets to oversee things,
and contribute his own creations. His
new partners are effusive: “To be in
discussion with a north European genius
helps our Italian, Milanese elegance, I
think,” says Giulia.
But bringing in new talent is not the
only way to stay relevant. Going back as
far as the 18th century, the Venetian
textile brand Rubelli is synonymous with
almost every historical landmark you
care to mention. Now run by the fifth
generation, its rich velvets, damasks and
lampas fabrics furnish such illustrious
spaces as La Fenice, Palazzo Ducale and
the Gritti Palace in Venice, La Scala in
Milan and, most recently, the
refurbished Bolshoi in Moscow.
But how does a brand so steeped in
history keep contemporary appeal?
Nicolò Rubelli, the brand’s suitably
stylish and endlessly energetic co-CEO,
has a simple answer: “We break
the rules!” Over the past 50
years, the company has grown
into a group of four distinct lines,
all with a unique identity: Rubelli
Venezia, Dominique Kieffer,
Donghia and Armani/Casa
Exclusive Textiles by Rubelli.
“While of course staying true to
our technical roots, our mantra
is that every fabric needs to be
different. Every fabric has to
have its appropriate quality. So
that is why we have so many
outlets. With Armani, for example, the
emphasis is on color and design and
trends in fashion. Whereas for Kieffer,
she thinks outside the box.” It is also
why the range and breadth of the Rubelli
fabric portfolio is so diverse. While
Nicolò might cite Giotto and Brahms asinspirations, he is likely to talk about
“synthetic” fabrics, “crackling viscose”
and “flame retardant” techniques in
the same sentence. Staying relevant,
then, is a case of keeping attuned to
developments in fabric technology and
the opportunities this creates for the
designers utilizing their products.
Another Italian family design business
is equally grounded in the study of a
particular material. “My family is bound
by a passion for one of the noblest
materials: wood,” says Romeo Sozzi.
“Wood is alive and represents the past,
present and future of my family’s life.”
Sozzi explains how his grandparents
ran a business restoring and repairingcarriages for the local nobility. “My
father has a carpentry workshop and
it is there that I learned how
to work with wood.” Sozzi
explains that he founded
Promemoria in 1988 when he
“felt the need to have my own
business producing pieces
that could not be found easily
on the market.”
Now that Sozzi has brought
his sons on board, there is a
fourth generation of the family
working with wood-based
design. “Involving my three
sons in the company allows me
to see a future – improving in
technological research but
always keeping in mind this philosophy:
attention to detail and very high-level
standards,” he says. The Promemoria
style is “timeless,” says Sozzi. It is also
elegantly eclectic, a look that speaks of
multiple influences. A visit to the family
home, which sits on the banks of Lake
Como, gives an insight into this
aesthetic: modern pieces of furniture
mix with antiques and collections of
vintage cameras and cars.
As for staying relevant, Sozzi believes
there are several ways of achieving this.
“One is for sure the importance of
listening to our clients,” he explains. “We
have a very demanding clientele looking
for high quality products, often made to“MY FAMILY IS BOUND
BY A PASSION FOR
ONE OF THE NOBLEST
MATERIALS: WOOD”Italian furniture
company Molteni
& C and Venetian
textile brand Rubelli
have managed to
stay relevant while
remaining true to
their long family
heritageBelow left: furniture maker
Romeo Sozzi has brought his
sons – the fourth generation
of the family – into his wood
based businessLeft: Romeo Sozzi’s
villa in Varenna, Italy, is furnished
with beautiful handmade pieces70 71
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