Long a bastion for pure, unfettered Italian-made design, Molteni & C. has dipped subtly and seamlessly into the world of decorative fabrics, a brand new category for the 80 year old company. Helping them move from their traditional minimal roots into something more decorative is the 31-year-old Milan-based fashion designer Marta Ferri.
'We needed a touch of womanliness in Brianza [the company's home province],' says Giulia Molteni, granddaughter of founder Angelo Molteni and the brand’s current head of marketing and communication. 'Not to mention new, fresh and young energy from someone outside the regular names everybody uses in design.'
An elegant and very stylish fixture in the city, who runs her own couture making atelier in the 5 Vie district, Ferri is indeed outside of traditional design circles.
'Unless you count the nine homes I’ve moved into over the years and decorated myself,' the designer laughs, 'I don’t have a formal design background.'
But she does know her way around textiles, specifically vintage fabrics and rich upholsteries that she digs out of hidden warehouses or derelict archives and whips up into impact-making occasion dressing gowns for her well-heeled clientele.
The main task at Molteni was business as usual for Ferri who did a 'mega research' at a Como-based fabric archive and then recreated fresh designs. Her 'Materia' collection features three new patterns, each inspired by nature, including straw, tree root and leaf patterns printed on a range of velvets, cheniles, leather and linens. The textiles, which cover several of Molteni’s new pieces, designed by Patricia Urquiola, Rodolfo Dordoni and Vincent Van Duysen, will debut at Molteni’s booth at Salone del Mobile, which Ferri has styled, as well as in the city’s Ferragamo boutique.
Ferri has also designed 'Sky-Line', a print featuring New York city skyscrapers that debuts on a series of furniture that Molteni will sell online at Luisaviaroma from 12 April.
Ferri has also designed 'Sky-Line', a print featuring New York city skyscrapers
The design debuts on a series of furniture that Molteni will sell online at Luisaviaroma from 12 April. Take a look behind the scenes of the promotional shoot for 'Sky-Line' above
'We needed a touch of womanliness in Brianza,' says Giulia Molteni. 'Not to mention new, fresh and young energy from someone outside the regular names everybody uses in design'
INFORMATION
For more information, visit Luisaviaroma's website
-
Eight questions for Bianca Censori, as she unveils her debut performanceBianca Censori has presented her first exhibition and performance, BIO POP, in Seoul, South Korea
-
How to elevate a rental with minimal interventions? Charu Gandhi has nailed it with her London homeFocus on key spaces, work with inherited details, and go big on colour and texture, says Gandhi, an interior designer set on beautifying her tired rental
-
These fashion books, all released in 2025, are the perfect gift for style fansChosen by the Wallpaper* style editors to inspire, intrigue and delight, these visually enticing tomes for your fashion library span from lush surveys on Loewe and Louis Vuitton to the rebellious style of Rick Owens and Jean Paul Gaultier
-
‘Locally anchored and globally conversant’: Salone del Mobile debuts in Saudi ArabiaSalone del Mobile lands in Riyadh (26-28 November 2025), bringing its creative and manufacturing know-how to one of the world’s fastest-growing markets and setting the stage for Italo-Saudi design relations
-
Alcova 2026 locations include a Rationalist gem and an abandoned churchAlcova returns for an 11th edition in 2026 (20-26 April), once again opening up two exclusive Milanese locations, the Baggio Military Hospital and Franco Albini's Villa Pestarini
-
Salone del Mobile 2026 will embrace collectible design with Salone RaritasSalone del Mobile has Salone Raritas, a new exhibition space at the fair (21-26 April 2026), curated by Annalisa Rosso and designed by Formafantasma
-
‘The point was giving ordinary people access to bold taste’: how Ikea brought pattern into the home‘Ikea: Magical Patterns’ at Dovecot Gallery in Edinburgh tells the story of a brand that gave us not only furniture, but a new way of seeing our homes – as canvases for self-expression
-
O Milano! Design's epic annual spectacle in photosCall us biased, but we believe that Milan Design Week is, at this moment in time, the greatest show on earth
-
‘Romantic brutalism’ rethinks Polish craftAn exhibition in Warsaw gives local makers their due, looking inside the burgeoning world of Polish design
-
Eight designers to know from Rossana Orlandi Gallery’s Milan Design Week 2025 exhibitionWallpaper’s highlights from the mega-exhibition at Rossana Orlandi Gallery include some of the most compelling names in design today
-
Bentley’s new home collections bring the ‘potency’ of its cars to Milan Design WeekNew furniture, accessories and picnic pieces from Bentley Home take cues from the bold lines and smooth curves of Bentley Motors
