More than the sum of their parts: Minotti

For a few years now, premium Italian manufacturer MINOTTI has been working with some of the world's best designers, combining cultural diversity with their own design DNA. A fruitful strategy, as the 2020 Collection proves.

By Dominic Lutyens for

Minotti

September 14, 2020 | 10:00 pm CUT

With its deep seat and inclined backrest, Marcio Kogan’s indoor Daiki armchair pays homage to the laid-back yet elegant mid-century modern style

A few years ago, Italian furniture brand Minotti made an important strategic move – to collaborate regularly with an international roster of high-profile designers and architects, from Rodolfo Dordoni and Japanese studio Nendo to Brazilian starchitect Marcio Kogan, Italian-Danish duo GamFratesi and French designer Christophe Delcourt. It naturally takes time for companies to nurture and cement new relationships with external designers but Minotti’s mature, well-rounded Collection 2020 indicates that it has achieved this.

Its art director, Rodolfo Dordoni, who has overseen Minotti’s collections and coordinated the brand for over 20 years in conjunction with Minotti Studio, the company’s creative department, is well-positioned to comment on this phase of the brand’s evolution: ‘The main difference between Minotti’s collections this year and last year is not just the products but also its blending of cultures,’ he says.

Rodolfo Dordoni’s Blazer sofa with its comfortable seat features a softly quilted surface using state-of-the-art stitching

‘For years, Minotti and I worked on our own. When we began collaborating with other designers three years ago, we communicated the key principles of our aesthetic and core values to them. It has been a journey getting to know each other and learning how best to work together. But today they are fully integrated into the brand – we’re a team. There’s no need even to provide a brief. With their intimate knowledge of our ever-expanding product catalogue, they propose a unique concept, usually for one design, such as a chair, which then grows into an entire collection.’

Minotti is increasingly committed to producing high-end, exquisitely crafted pieces and these international designers’ thoughtful creations make a vital contribution to this project. One major influence on this extensive new collection is the famously sophisticated but laid-back Californian mid-century style. Slender legs support many of the pieces, rendering them modern, unimposing, light.

Top: An inviting, sociable living room furnished with Dordoni's Connery seating system and Kogan's Boteco coffee table. Above: Nendo's Torii family includes a sofa, an armchair and a coffee table

The collection also stands out for its versatility and considered details. Take Dordoni’s modular Connery seating system with its unusual combination of rectangular and curvilinear forms, enriched by a choice of sophisticated materials and refined upholstery techniques co-opted from haute couture. Its base can be lined with high-quality leather, fashioned using the same skilled technique deployed when crafting upscale leather luggage.

Equally flexible is Nendo founder Oki Sato’s Torii collection, which encompasses compact and larger sofas, with high or low backrests, complemented by bergère armchairs, armchairs in different sizes and dining or lounge chairs. Sato likens the horizontal metal element cradling its seating to the traditional torii gates fronting Japanese shrines – hence the collection’s name. A versatile line, Torii is equally suited to residential and hospitality projects; indeed it now features prominently in the Seaview Resort and Lodges destination, The Club, at Carmel-by-the-Sea in California, an ideal virtual setting for this mid century-inspired collection. Other Minotti pieces by Rodolfo Dordoni, Marcio Kogan and GamFratesi also grace the resort.

Top: Marcio Kogan’s minimalist Linha dining table. Center: GamFratesi’s Fynn armchairs with their characterful swooping, elongated armrests. Above: Kogan’s Boteco sideboard with built-in drinks tray highlights the architect’s penchant for clean lines

This year, Minotti has also launched Kogan’s pared-down Linha dining and coffee tables, Boteco sideboards and coffee tables and Japanese-inspired Daiki collection with armchairs with frames made of Santos palisander, ash wood or teak for outdoor seating. And GamFratesi’s new collection comprises indoor and outdoor armchairs with gracefully sloping armrests, benches, footstools and coffee tables which channel the informal, ergonomic qualities of functional yet comfortable Scandinavian design. This year, Minotti also unveiled an update of French designer Christophe Delcourt’s 2017 Lou collection of streamlined sideboards in lacquered wood and marble.

Minotti also unveiled the Lou 2020, an update of French designer Christophe Delcourt’s 2017 Lou collection of streamlined sideboards in lacquered wood and marble

Yet, while markedly cosmopolitan, Minotti’s new creations could not have been realised without the technical know-how and aesthetic finesse of Italian craftsmanship. Now the 2020 Collection of indoor and outdoor furniture in all its cultural diversity is showcased in a new 600-sqm showroom – Superset – which is taking shape next to the company showroom at Minotti’s HQ in Meda, northern Italy.

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Meda, Italy