Carlo Molteni at home in Brianza, Italy with his daughter, Giulia

Carlo Molteni, 65, is president and managing director of the Molteni Group, one of Italy’s leading furnishing companies. After graduating in economics from Milan’s Cattolica University he joined the family business, founded in 1934 by his father. In the 1970s he launched a contract division, which has completed big projects worldwide including IBM’s New York headquarters, Fondation Cartier in Paris, the refurbishment of Teatro La Fenice, Venice, a concert hall in Athens, hotels and embassies in the Middle East, cruise liners and private yachts. He lives in Brianza, Italy, with his wife, Luisella.

Where did you grow up?
Giussano in Brianza, which is an area north of Milan where many furniture manufacturing companies are based. My parents had a small house, built around 1935, where I grew up with my brothers, Piero and Luigi, and my sister, Mariangela, so the house was always very busy and noisy. My father, Angelo, started Molteni & C as a small craftsman’s business in a building behind the house and I used to play there every day after school so I virtually grew up in the factory, learning from an early age how furniture was made. In fact, our factory is still in the same building today, although it has greatly expanded over the years. At home I was also surrounded by Molteni designs because we used the prototypes and some of the finished furniture in our house.

Where do you live now?
In 1982 I asked the Italian architect and designer Tobia Scarpa to create a totally new house in Carimate for me, my wife, two daughters and our son and this is where I still live today. I’d seen Scarpa’s own house in Venice and knew he would design a remarkable home for us. After we talked about the project he came up with a very precise and mathematical plan. All the lines of his design were very precise so even if I had wanted to change anything it would have been difficult. I love the house for its clean lines and big open spaces. It still looks very modern even by contemporary standards. It has a brick exterior, five bedrooms and two vast windows, five metres tall by eight metres wide, in the big living space. It is in a very quiet location and you can’t hear any noise except for my Labrador, Leo.

Which is your favourite room?
The living room, because it has such wonderful views of the garden and when you open the big windows it’s as if the garden comes right into the living area. It really does bring the outdoors inside.

Do you have other homes too?
We have a holiday home in Engadine, Switzerland. It’s a small house that was once used as a hotel. It originally looked like a Swiss chalet but was rebuilt in a more modern way before I bought it in 2000 as a place to visit a few times a year with my family. I love the mountains and when I was young I was a champion skier. I also have a small house near Portofino where we spend the summer holidays. I have a small sailing boat moored at Lavagna and enjoy the peace and quiet of sailing along this coast.

MY FAVOURITE THINGS

Abstracts and adaptables

The marble table in our living room was made by Marco Rotelli, an Italian artist. I love its height and simple black and white appearance.

A brightly coloured abstract painting by Nino Mustica, a renowned Italian contemporary artist. I’m very fond of a drawing by Aldo Rossi of La Fenice, which my company refurbished after the opera house was damaged by fire.

A wooden chest of drawers by Werner Blaser, made in 1952, which came from my parents’ house. It has nostalgic associations for me and I like its style.

A wooden, oval, art deco table made in the 1930s, because it is beautifully made and is also the perfect size for 12 people in our dining room. Patricia Urquiola’s Night & Day sofa is comfortable and very adaptable, as it can be a sofa, bed or seat.

How have you furnished your homes?
With a mix of our prototypes and simple, old farmhouse-style furniture. I like being surrounded by our prototypes because they are all about the designers’ initial ideas. We have Jean Nouvel’s Less table and Skin sofa, Hannes Wettstein’s Reversi sofa, Aldo Rossi’s Carteggio bureau, Arik Levy’s circular Quake table, Patricia Urquiola’s new Night & Day sofa and the Teatro chair designed by Aldo Rossi and Luca Meda. Norman Foster designed a kitchen for Dada [part of the Molteni Group] in 1998 and we have some of the units at home in our big, open-plan kitchen. We also have an Eames Lounge chair by Vitra, which is an old favourite of mine.

You have worked with many big names in design and architecture and are clearly passionate about good design. Are you a collector?
Indirectly because we have the prototypes they designed for Molteni & C in our home but that’s because we love and use them every day. Also they are part of our lives and have many stories associated with them. I remember how difficult it was to make Jean Nouvel’s Less table, which was a really new shape in the 1980s, because the top is so thin. He said he wanted an “envelope with four legs” and it took us a while to achieve that. Eventually the prototype of our new outdoor, glass-topped table by Norman Foster – the version with an aluminium base – will end up in our home. Molteni has always worked in partnership with Italian and international designers and to know these designers personally and work alongside such genius is a real pleasure.

Who has most inspired you?
Luca Meda. He was Molteni & C’s chief designer and art director and I worked with him from the 1960s until he died in 1998. From the 1970s onwards we worked on a series of designs for every room in the house – from wardrobes to modular sofas and furniture for home offices. It was an inspiring collaboration that aimed to combine the experience of a long tradition of craftsmanship with discreet, yet innovative, technology.

Which do you feel is more important in contemporary design – aesthetics or new techniques?
Design must be a response to the needs of people. A chair must be comfortable, not too heavy, well-crafted and sufficiently durable to last 30 years. Durability is an issue that, I believe, will become increasingly important in the future.

What kind of style do you try to create in your properties?
Comfort is my top priority so I don’t want anything too extreme in terms of style.

Are you a city or country person?
For sure I am a country person – but I’m glad that Milan is just half an hour away.

Which facilities could you not live without?
I couldn’t live without newspapers or books. I read three or four Italian newspapers and the Financial Times every day. I read a lot of design and architecture books and other types of books suggested by my eldest daughter, Francesca.

Do you have a dream home?
I am happy where I am.