Museum 2D at Molteni Museum – Molteni&C

A two-dimensional representation, both visual and graphic, of a story spanning almost a century: this is the essence of the Museum 2D exhibition, curated by Ron Gilad, with which the Molteni Museum celebrates its foundation’s 10th anniversary, and over 90 years of Molteni&C, alongside the other companies of the Molteni Group.

After so many objects, furnishings, prototypes, and dialogues, this is an exhibition made of paper and print, of images both static and moving, of words, taglines and advertisements, of gadgets and inventions.

And it all begins with the kite created for the 1978 Salone del Mobile – a symbol of the exhibition and a recurring element that is replicated to form an installation in the museum’s outdoor courtyard, evoking the playfulness and lightness of childhood, when everything is still possible.

This is an exhibition that tells stories but, above all, showcases personalities. A community of authors, art directors, graphic designers, photographers, advertisers, filmmakers, and many others who have contributed, with their pens, strokes, and vision, to interpret and communicate a universe of things, transferring them into new symbols and languages, ready to travel the world with the immediacy and power of imagery.

“The image of a company is an aura that envelops it; it is the indistinct and collective representation of something tremendously real and tangible,” wrote architect and critic Daniele Vitale in a 2019 book celebrating 50 years of UniFor. “It takes shape as a nebulous entity that goes beyond the products and their quality, nourished by a series of events and initiatives. In the case of UniFor and Molteni, it formed subtly, almost silently, through a public profile that grew over time, shaped by opportunities yet also deliberately pursued.”

This presence is reflected in the exhibition through three main channels: words; photography and graphics; video and multimedia installations. The first features, as Vitale put it, “publications, newspapers, booklets, and small books that did not merely aim to showcase furniture and designs, but rather discuss office and home spaces, the philosophy of décor, and the history of objects. The products came later, their connection only implied. Following similar principles, many other publications have been released, linked to the Salone del Mobile, architects’ exhibitions, and installations by companies in the group. In its own way, this was an editorial policy rich in many episodes.”

**One of the most notable publications was Giornalone del Salone, conceived by art director and designer Luca Meda, which evolved into what you are now reading – M Magazine.**

“This magazine also connects to the second channel: photography and graphic design. “The design of newspapers, booklets, and small books was entrusted to Felix Humm, an excellent Swiss graphic designer,” continues Vitale. “Swiss graphic design played a major role in Italy from the 1950s to the 1970s, influencing and merging with Italian design. Humm was its heir: on one hand, he maintained the connection with typography and its artisanal dimension; on the other, he explored the relationship between layout and artistic research. In those years, UniFor, Molteni, and Dada discreetly became an experimental laboratory.”

One example is Visual Art, a photography commission project launched in 2006 and conceived for the magazine by Cristiana Colli, featuring artists such as Antonio Biasiucci, Paola De Pietri, Olivo Barbieri, Francesco Jodice, Miro and Olimpia Zagnoli, Barbara Probst, Alessandra Spranzi, Davide Pizzigoni, Mario Carrieri, and Botto&Bruno. It was a space for artistic freedom, with inspiration drawn from places, shop windows, hands at work, communication objects, and crafted artefacts. A shared, accessible, widely distributed collection.

Graphic design is also represented through the evolution of logos, from Felix Humm’s logotype for Molteni&C to Studio Cerri’s design for UniFor, culminating in the visual identity system created for Molteni Group by Nicola-Matteo Munari.

Posters, gadgets, and invitations tell the stories of the collaborations between the group’s companies and architects, graphic designers, illustrators, and art directors: Luca Meda for Molteni&C and Dada; Pierluigi Cerri for Unifor; followed later, from 2016, by Vincent Van Duysen for Molteni&C/Dada, and Studio Klass for Unifor/Citterio from 2020. Then there is advertising, with iconic campaigns such as Dagli Appendini alle Ante (From Coat Hooks to Cabinet Doors) for the 7volte7 system and the Sistema Copernico campaign: nothing short of a revolution.

Finally, moving to the third channel, even before the social media era, there were multimedia installations, digital projects, and video productions. At the Giussano exhibition in 2007, audiences watched La Vita in un Armadio (Life in a Wardrobe), a theatrical performance starring Anna Galiena with set design by Margherita Palli, dedicated to six great women of the 20th century, their wardrobes, and their life passions: Eva Perón, Queen Elizabeth II, Frida Kahlo, Marguerite Yourcenar, Maria Callas, and Marilyn Monroe.

Then in 2018, within the Compound, the preview of White Noise, a short film by Beniamino Barrese and Mattia Colombo, which pays tribute to Venice and Carlo Scarpa, and one of the fundamental elements of their architecture: water.

With the proliferation of new languages and social media, many Molteni&C projects have now spread across the web. One example is House of Molteni, a two-season web series dedicated to homes opening their doors, people sharing their stories, and narratives being written: a place where the offline world of real life becomes the online world of shared experiences.