After celebrating its 90th anniversary, Molteni&C decided to go big. With the inauguration of Palazzo Molteni, the Italian kitchen and furniture manufacturer launches into a new era. The brand’s via Manzoni showroom resides in a 19th-century neo-Renaissance-style building in Milan, the former home of Prospero Moisè Loria, who founded Milan’s Humanitarian Society. Belgian architect (and Molteni&C creative director) Vincent Van Duysen didn’t just renovate the venerated address — he crafted a dialogue between the interior and the exterior, between the palazzo and the city.

The star of the revamp is the internal courtyard, where a massive glass roof that puts a modern twist on the building’s coffered ceilings situates you in the centre of the palazzo, its seven storeys (including two newly added ones) rising around you. In this large central atrium, Van Duysen’s own designs for Molteni&C are given prominence; his Augustus sofa in a “monumental” version anchors the seemingly floating space. From here, a staircase winds visitors through the building: its five floors of showroom plus two corporate levels called Molteni Galleria. Along the way, soothing motifs recur, from the large swathes of avocado-coloured marble and rough-finished, ivory-toned plaster of the walls to the light travertine with coffee-coloured dark oak for the floors. At the top, a new terrace deposits you amid the city’s plant-filled balconies and clay rooftops; on the street level, you stand opposite Poldi Pezzoli Museum, where Molteni&C staged its first of many co-produced exhibitions, Letters to Milan.

Bring it Home – Molteni’s top Salone novelties

1

Monk by Tobia Scarpa

Tobia Scarpa’s iconic Monk is reintroduced with a solid wood frame made of two trestles and a seat and backrest in buttery leather.

2

Pénélope by Christophe Delcourt

It’s all about that base: Christophe Delcourt’s Pénélope is anchored by two rigid polyurethane structures and topped with marble or wood — each with a high-gloss edge.

3

Lia by GamFratesi

Scandinavian simplicity meets Italian refinement in GamFratesi’s bouclé-upholstered Lia, which features scythe-shaped oak armrests.