← The Grand Tourist with Dan Rubinstein
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- [00:00]
Giulia Molteni
If you think about all the fashion brands and the automotive one, so it's not involving furniture only anymore. So it's a big festival of creativity, of trends that you can find only in Milan. So if you miss Milan, I think you miss view on what's going on next.
- [00:24]
Dan Rubenstein
Hi, I'm Dan Rubenstein and this is the Grand Tourist. I've been a design journalist for more than 20 years and this is my personalized guided tour through the worlds of fashion, art, architecture, food and travel. All the elements of a well lived life. And hello once again from Italy, where I am for Milan Design Week and the famed Salone del Mobile Trade Fair that happens each year in April. By the time I return home at the end of the week, I will have seen approximately 500 sofas, 1,000 lamps and digested 5,000 kilos of pasta and a few negro journeys. While we take a little break before season 13 starts next month, I thought I would share a little postcard of sorts from Milan, sponsored by one of my favorite names in Italian design and a dear collaborator of the Grand Tourist, Molteni and C. For those of you who might not be familiar, the Molteni name is a hallowed one in Italian design circles. Founded by the Molteni family in the 1930s and still family owned and run, which is becoming more and more of a rare thing in the 21st century. Today, as it has been for decades, the brand is known for its luxurious but always chic and understated designs by some of the most revered names, such as Gio Ponti, Jean Nouvel, Herzogen de Meuron, Rodolfo Dordoni, Norman Foster and many, many more. Today, the brand is creatively directed by designer Vincent Van Duysen. And one of their latest triumphs is the just opened Palazzo Molteni, here in the heart of the city, designed by Van Deussen. On today's episode, I'll be speaking with Marco Matturo, one of the principals of Studio Class, a young but influential firm here in the city, who is known especially for their work for the office and furniture systems company Uniphor, one of the sister brands of Multeni and C. And they're the creator of a special installation at the Museo Polli Pizzoli, which we'll get into. But first I say hello to Giulia Molteni, the head of communications for Molteni, to talk about their massive new flagship, the Palazzo Molteni, the evolution of Milan Design Week and the Saloni del Nobile that her family was so influential in starting and their latest historic re addition a classic 1970s chair called the Monk, first created by the legendary designer Toby Escarpa. Ciao, Julia.
- [02:41]
Marco Matturo
Well, thank you so much for having me. And it's amazing to be here at the incredible Palazzo Molteni. Tell me about this incredible space. Congratulations, first of all, but it's this incredible new headquarters for you here in Milan. So tell me about it.
- [02:58]
Giulia Molteni
Thank you, Dan. It's a pleasure to have you here. Today, Palazzo Montaigni is an historic residence that now tell the story of Montenici. And another step forward for the group growth internationalization strategy designed by Vincent Van Duyzen is like a house of an art collector, an historical architecture with strong monumental character. And it is an intimate character typical of many building in Milan and want to be like a rotational exhibition center of art, design, architecture, photography, in order to like build new dialogues with different discipline, a part of design.
- [03:45]
Marco Matturo
And you know, as the head of communications for Multeni and its sister brands. Tell us a little bit about the new designs that we're going to see this year from. From the. From the house. You could say yeah.
- [03:57]
Giulia Molteni
The 2025 collection under the direction of Vincent Van Duyzen is inspired by a research into our archive, especially the 70s and the 80s. And the new design is also reinterpretation with modern touch of that time. For the reason the mood plays with the relationship between historical, architectural and comp. Contemporary, cosmopolitan. In addition to creating the 2025 collection, also Van Duysen designed two pieces, Aria desk and linear armchair. But this year is very important for us because we also start new collaboration, two new designers, Christophe Delcour and Gian Fratesi.
- [04:47]
Marco Matturo
So, Christophe Delcourt, French designer, you know, tell me a little bit about what did he, Christoph do for you guys?
- [04:56]
Giulia Molteni
I did a lot of pieces of the same collection, the Emile sofa and the Odile coffee tables, as well as an armchair and different living tools that goes right inside the day area. So basically the inspiration is to the hexagonal shape with very kind of natural material as marble and aluminum, as well as the main finishing in very, let's say modern reinterpretation of the 70s, especially on the sofa, inspired to Luccio Fontana as well, through to this like kind of cut in the back. Very modern and in the same way very harmonic in the shape.
- [05:57]
Marco Matturo
And you know, aside from all the new designs, I just noticed that the room that we're in is called the Monk Room, which I'm sure might be.
- [06:05]
Dan Rubenstein
Related to the Monk chair, which you're.
- [06:07]
Marco Matturo
Reintroducing legendary design from the 70s from Scarpa. And I was wondering if you could tell this chair actually has a connection to you and to your family when it was first commissioned back in the 70s. Tell us a little about that story.
- [06:26]
Giulia Molteni
Yes, the Monk chair was designed in 1973 by Afran Tobias Carpa and was actually designed for our family country house, my grandfather country house in a grass green fabric. And I have memories from when I was a child of this chair that looked to me very big as a. For the brutalist design, probably. But now it's still perfectly in the Vincent van Duysen mood.
- [07:00]
Marco Matturo
And do you remember, like, I mean, how it was made for the house? Right. And when sort of a green fabric. In a green fabric. But today they're in leather, correct?
- [07:09]
Giulia Molteni
Exactly. In queer.
- [07:12]
Marco Matturo
And there are how many different. There's how many different colors.
- [07:15]
Giulia Molteni
And you have like seven different colors and two different colors for the structure. That can mean black oak or coffee oak. And the 70s in general are making a new comeback because of the bold, expressive style and the sense of warm and optimism that characterize that area. So we really think that the chair is still very modern even today, because that time was a time of innovation with a mix of rich material, vibrant color, and feel fresh and nostalgic today. So I think that the 70s are really the inspiration of this year collection.
- [08:00]
Marco Matturo
And how would you describe the mood this year in terms of just design, just in general here, you know, for the. For Milan Design Week, what would you say? You have such a different view of design than maybe someone like me might have. Like, what would you say is just like the most important feeling that design needs to move in for 2025.
- [08:24]
Giulia Molteni
I think there is a great exposure of the old masters even more than before, like Giovpi, if you look Prada and many others companies are looking into the great master of the 60s, probably because there is. Is a kind of nostalgic sense of quality of the past that's still such an inspiration for today. So more and more this year I see re additions around the Milan as well as probably the end, the final end of minimalism, because more and more the rooms are warm. There is, for example, boiserie and different fabrics on the wall and carpets. Everything that really make something completely domestic for interior spaces.
- [09:25]
Marco Matturo
Yeah, so it's kind of like maybe that's why the 70s are kind of in right now, is because it's the very kind of end of or after the end of modernism in the late 60s and then now before postmodernism in the 80s. So it's kind of a transition from.
- [09:42]
Giulia Molteni
One to the next. Yeah, transition period that becomes again, very, very popular. Especially if you look at the colors. For example, there are very bright colors everywhere. Yellow, green, a very strong color that was typical at that age. And maybe for some years we forget the power of color.
- [10:04]
Marco Matturo
I'll try to stump you with a surprise question. If I wanted to get gelato, where would I go? Where's.
- [10:11]
Dan Rubenstein
Where would you like to go for gelato?
- [10:12]
Giulia Molteni
And I'm in love with the Venki, for example, one, a fantastic Italian brand that you can find everywhere, even in Piazza Alicadorna, close to the train station, for example, and where you can buy also fantastic presents to bring away.
- [10:31]
Marco Matturo
Like candy and like chocolates and stuff. Yes, okay, perfect. And for dinner, maybe your favorite place.
- [10:37]
Giulia Molteni
To go for dinner, if you like pizza. I'm in love with the Specialita, for example, one of my favorite. But I also love this new club just opened in Milan called the Wild, where there is a Peruvian restaurant. So now I'm like, crazy about Peruvian.
- [10:57]
Marco Matturo
Peruvian food.
- [10:57]
Giulia Molteni
Okay, Amazing. It's called the Nina.
- [11:00]
Marco Matturo
Nina, okay. Wow.
- [11:02]
Giulia Molteni
Place to go.
- [11:03]
Marco Matturo
And a place for, like, aperitivo for cocktail.
- [11:06]
Giulia Molteni
I love Loubara at the Gamma, where there is a beautiful exhibition curated by my friend Caroline Corbett about Hugo Rondinone. That is a very important Italian sculpture.
- [11:19]
Marco Matturo
Known for his sort of totems, his giant, sort of.
- [11:22]
Giulia Molteni
Yes, yes, the trees. But also inside you can find some ballet, ladies and men, some fantastic, very poetic.
- [11:31]
Marco Matturo
Amazing. Well, thank you so much for joining me. Congratulations on this big palazzo.
- [11:36]
Dan Rubenstein
We're going to do a little tour after this.
- [11:38]
Marco Matturo
I'm so excited.
- [11:39]
Giulia Molteni
We will. Thank you, Dan.
- [11:40]
Marco Matturo
Thank you. Thank you.
- [11:43]
Dan Rubenstein
Next up, I speak with Marco Matturo, one of the founders of Studio Class. While there's a lot of talk about all the legends of Italian design, there's new blood to be found in the country as well. It's one of the reasons I find the work of Studio Class so interesting. Both their products and installation combine that Italian flair for minimalism with a real understanding of technology and the shifting needs of design today.
- [12:08]
Marco Matturo
Marco, thank you so much for joining us here for the Salone here in beautiful Milan at the Palazzo Multeni. Your studio is called Studio Class. You've worked with Uniphor, which is one of the amazing brands that's part of the Multenien c family for quite a while now. But tell me a little bit about your studio and how it first started.
- [12:29]
Alessio
Studio Class has been founded by Alessio and I already in 2009. This is the first day at the university, I mean, we started to work together in the same group, you know, at university you work in group project. And we were three. It was Alessio, me and Benedetta. And Benedict now is running Laboratorio Paravicini. And I'm still.
- [12:55]
Marco Matturo
Oh, the famous. The very well known ceramics brand. Yes, people will know.
- [12:59]
Alessio
Yes, definitely that one. And so we. I mean, we are still. Still in touch. And she was the first real Milanese, you know, woman and family, because I also met her family that I met when I arrived in Milano. So we worked together since the first exam at the university, till the last one, the thesis one. And the thesis one was a vending machine for Persol. It was a collaboration between our university and Persol, the Luxottica sunglasses brand. And this vending machine allowed people in the train station or in the airport to try on sunglasses without wearing them. Right now it's something pretty common that you can try in the website, you know, with your camera on your laptop. But in 2008 was not so obvious.
- [13:45]
Marco Matturo
It was a new idea.
- [13:46]
Alessio
Yeah, and I like to tell you, I mean, I usually don't speak about my thesis project, but in this case I like it because I think it's. I mean, it's a great. Maybe the first example of how we tried to humanize technology because There was a 3D scan camera, there was a video, but at the same time we designed this piece. It was a sort of a helmet, like a piece of furniture. So it was like a luxury piece of furniture. Let me say it was in Canaletto Walnut, for example. So this was the first example where we tried to, you know, make technology a little bit warmer.
- [14:23]
Marco Matturo
Because a lot of your work has to do with sort of, I would say a kind of very Italian sensibility on design and industrial design and environments and installations, but also married with technology. Correct?
- [14:36]
Alessio
Yes, definitely correct. I mean, we like to describe ourselves like a man of our time. And I think if you want to be a man of his time, I mean, you have to deal with technology. And if you. I mean, both Alessio and I, we are coming from two areas in the. In this. In the country, so market region and uber region. And there were these sort of masters from the arena sense. I like to say Piero da Francesca or Giotto or, you know, masters like. Like them. I also like to say that they were obsessed about technology in their way. You know, the technology was. Was different, of course, compared to. To ours. Maybe it was more like mechanics or engineer or mathematics, but they did their best because they find a way to use technology. Not just to use technology, but just to push their ability and their art and to push their boundaries. Right now, if I talk about technology, you have to consider something like AI, of course. Also cgi, like computer generating imagery. And we, as designers or art director, we have to deal with this kind of two aspects. I mean, AI. I like to consider AI not as a designer of our studio, but more like a collaborator who is great for brainstorming and maybe is not able to design, you know, because if you ask and if you work with AI for brainstorming, maybe you can open new kind of direction, new kind of possibilities, you know, that otherwise maybe just you and yourself, you wouldn't discover. At the same time, if you ask AI to design the new chair, probably. I mean, it's a stupid question, you know?
- [16:27]
Marco Matturo
Yeah. Well, in the 60s, Italian design really embraced new materials and things like plastic. And then later on, there was the technology of CNC and people doing 3D modeling. And now your generation is now dealing with digital technology and AI, and that's your kind of way of putting a stamp on history, I guess you could say.
- [16:50]
Alessio
Yeah, it is.
- [16:52]
Marco Matturo
And so what was your first collaboration with Unifor 2017?
- [16:56]
Alessio
I mean, we met in that year. Carlo Molteni became general manager at Unifer after his dad, Piero Molteni. And as soon as he became general manager, he decided to call me through some friend in common and he said, I like your design. I like your approach to design. We would like to meet you. And there is a funny story. I mean, right now, it's funny, at the time, it wasn't. I mean, the meeting was 5 April at the RAW fair, because uniform at that time was exhibiting their product at the fair. And it was the 5th of April, the meeting and the day. The day before, I had an accident with my motorbike. And it was. I mean, I was pretty good, but I went to the hospital and I mean, I arrived at the RAW Fair to the meeting with the, you know, the neck brace and a lot of injuries on my face.
- [17:52]
Marco Matturo
Okay, you're bruised up.
- [17:53]
Alessio
Yes. And it was like. Now I can say it was like. I mean, a nice breaker with the. With Uniform, with Carlo Multeni. And at the time, they asked us if we wanted to, I mean, to start a conversation with them about the office. We never work about the office since that time. I mean, till the time and I mean, after this sort of. It was not a brief. It was just a conversation. We went back to Our studio. And after a few months, I called back Carlo Molteni. Without a design. I was just saying, I mean, I have a research, okay, it was a sort of a book. It was an analysis about the situation of the office at the time we were before COVID This sort of research ended without, you know, a product, without a design, but just with an idea. And so I told Carlo, the idea is to work on a product which could be a compact workstation designed for all the consultant, freelance and managers who goes to the company, to the office. But they don't need a fixed desk. They just need something like a sort of a nest, you know, for one day. But they also want to feel part of the office. So they need a place for, I don't know, the backpack or the helmet, you know, or a place to charge the device, for example. And this is also, as a psychological aspect, an impact on collaborators, because otherwise they never feel part of a corporate of a company. And in this case with these sort of small, compact workstation, they feel a little bit part of this group.
- [19:33]
Marco Matturo
And it was sort of fortuitous in a strange way or because that was before the pandemic, right? And then. So that happened only a few years later. So it sounds like everything that you had planned came true.
- [19:46]
Alessio
This was, I mean, crazy also for us, I have to admit. I mean, we presented the workstation in 2009 at the Pinacoteca Divera. One year later, you know, everyone knows what happened. And it was perfect, you know, for the home office. And Molteni, since the beginning, asked us to develop, you know, a version for the residential field. And so it was available, I mean, a few months after the COVID But I mean, I would like to describe myself like a visionary, but we were kind of a bit lucky too.
- [20:26]
Marco Matturo
And for those who don't know Uniphore and its history and design, like, how do you describe the company's sort of legacy in design? Because it does have, like a really rich history. Even though people maybe in New York or the U.S. more in the interior design part of the business, may not know it as well because it's not residential, obviously.
- [20:47]
Alessio
Yeah, it's not residential, as you say. I like to describe uniform as something pretty unique compared to all the companies that we are used to deal with, because it's not a catalog company, it's not a company who work in the B2C. But as you say, it's more like, you know, B2B, as people of the marketing says. And I like to say that it's considered More like a partner for the architects, you know, and not like a supplier for the architects. This is not possible. It's an answer that we will never receive from Uniform, never as an architect or as a designer. And this is like the perfect formula to allow architects to fall in love with a company like Unifer, because you arrive with something with an idea, and then Uniform always helps you to do even better. So they develop the product with a better material, better solution, better joint, and they really do their best to support the architect. And this is something pretty, pretty unique. I have to say that we, as art director of Uniform and also as a designer, we are doing. We are still doing a lot. So we daily work together with them. But I also have to say that we, I mean, we learn a lot from this company, you know, we visit the company, the office, and then also we talk with the workers, woodworkers, metal workers. And every time, I mean, it's a continuous exchange, you know, of idea and of know how. And so we learn a lot from. From them. And also the passion to the. To the detail, which sometimes becomes a sort of a pathology, you know, because, I mean, most of the time there are some work workers that kind of lose the focus because the idea is always to find the best solution ever. And that this is something that all the architects, you know, that I know and that they work with, of course, love.
- [22:57]
Marco Matturo
And you have an installation this year right across the street from where we are now. We're pretty nearby, correct. And a museum, so in a beautiful courtyard. Can you tell me, first of all, tell us about the museum, where it is and the installation that you have there.
- [23:14]
Alessio
The museum is the Paul di Pezzoli Museum, which is one of probably the most important museum in the city, but also in Italy and in Europe. And there is this strange connection between our roots, because inside this museum you can. I mean, the museum hosts masterpiece from Antonelo da Messina, Piero della Francesca and Pollaiuolo, all of these kind of masters from the Italian Renaissance. Most of them are from the same area where Alessio and I come from. So the center, you know, of this country of Italy. And so last year, Molteni invited us to design the installation for the Salone. And since the beginning, we decided to, you know, to wear white gloves, because of course, you are arriving in a museum which is so important, in a courtyard which is already beautiful, like amazing, you know, designed kind of arcs. I mean, it's already enough. And then you have to try to, you know, to enter to this museum and to, I Mean to solve the question that Molteni asked you to solve with an installation. And the idea was, since the beginning, not to work on blind panels, so painted panel, but to work and to use a metal wire. So we decide to design an environment which is a sort of a conceptual apartment, but with. With this Y, which allow people to see through. Okay, so people can see through. They can see this sort of area, domestic area, but at the same time they can see also the courtyard, which is amazing too. And there is something that I like to say about this installation. I really like to work in the street, especially in the center of the city, and look around me, so around the buildings and around the apartment, and see what happened inside the windows, especially the first and the second floor, you can see inside. And then you can see just few details like the ceiling. And then you see if the ceiling is like, decorated or not. You know, you see part of the doors.
- [25:24]
Marco Matturo
Yeah, you see the books. It's very. It's very Milan, because you have this idea of it, Milan being called the hidden city, where everything is sort of. Everything good and amazing is designed as everything's behind. Behind private doors. Everything is a private space. It's all. They're all based on historic homes. And it's very much sort of a still business city, not necessarily like a museum city.
- [25:48]
Alessio
Even the installation is like. I mean, it's exactly like you said. So it's like the idea was to design an installation which is like a sort of thin line between the private and the public. So there is this conceptual apartment with the inside shown the new collection by Multini. And then you see sort of several windows who allow people to look, you know, to have a look.
- [26:12]
Marco Matturo
It's like a diorama, we would say.
- [26:14]
Alessio
Yeah, it's a diorama. There is a sort of voyeuristic aspect, which I like to say. And at the same time, you have this platform and in the middle you find a totem, a big totem covered with four screens. And these screens shows images, I mean, video and images of the most important buildings of the city, designed by the architects who collaborate in the history with Molteni, like Gioponti or Angelo Maggiorotti, Aldo Rossi and so on. And so that's why I like to say that it's like a sort of homage from Molteni to the city of Milano. That's why we call it Letters to Milano.
- [27:02]
Dan Rubenstein
Thank you to my guests Giulia and Marco, and to everyone at Multenni and C for making this episode happen. The editor of the Grand Tourist is Stan Hall.
- [27:10]
Marco Matturo
To keep this going, don't forget to.
- [27:11]
Dan Rubenstein
Visit our website and sign up for our newsletter, the Grand Tourist curator at TheGrandTourist and follow me on Instagram danrubenstein. And don't forget to follow the Grand Tourist on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever.
- [27:24]
Marco Matturo
You like to listen.
- [27:25]
Dan Rubenstein
And leave us a rating or comment.
- [27:27]
Marco Matturo
Every little bit helps.
- [27:28]
Dan Rubenstein
Till next time.