An integrated business model Mo.1950 works across several channels — private clients, architects, real estate and flagship stores. Where does this strategy come from, and how do these areas interact? Where do you see the greatest growth potential today?
The decision began in 2008 and matured in 2010. Our hybrid nature made it possible: we started as a carpentry workshop and multi-brand furniture showroom, and today we are a system combining high-end retail, contract, and custom-made design.
For us, these channels are not separate divisions, but parts of a single ecosystem. A private client may discover us through a multi-brand showroom or a flagship store, but they may also reach us through an architect or developer. Each area feeds into the others: retail becomes a testing ground for design, while contract gives us the scale to grow.
Today, I see significant potential in residential contract, which has traditionally been particularly strong in Milan and is now expanding across Italy. The market increasingly requires structured, single-point partners who can guarantee quality, delivery times, and tailored services.
How much of your business currently comes from retail and how much from contract and real estate?
Residential contract and B2B relationships with architecture practices currently account for about 60% of our turnover, while retail, across mono-brand and multi-brand locations, represents around 40%.
It is a dynamic balance. Retail remains fundamental because it is our showcase and where we listen to clients, experiment with design languages, and develop sales approaches that we can then apply to larger projects.
Expanding beyond Milan Milan was your starting point. You are now in Bologna and looking towards Rome and Turin. What is guiding your expansion?
Beyond Milan, we want to establish a presence in the most dynamic residential markets, where we see strong demand for quality, including Rome, Bologna and Turin.
Bologna was the first step for both practical and strategic reasons. Launching an important development, Meridiana Prestige, required a physical location that could support and enhance the project.
The objective is not to open everywhere, but to establish a presence in key cities with showrooms that can become hubs for architects, developers and private clients — places where we can expand our research and innovative offering while gathering input from different contexts.
From Cesar Cucine to a broader design ecosystem Cesar Cucine was your first strategic partnership in Milan. How did that experience become a replicable model?
When we started working with Cesar Cucine in 2010 at the Via Larga showroom, we were beginning our journey. Cesar believed in us when we did not yet have an established name in the market, and that means a great deal to me.
Since then, we have built a relationship based on mutual trust, exchange and growth. Over the years, the mono-brand showroom has confirmed its strategic role as a flagship, thanks to its location, a team with specialist expertise in kitchen design and its evolution into a genuine hub for relationships.
The Milan experience with Cesar helped us consolidate a method and mindset that we now apply to other areas. This has also led us to invest significantly in the complete redesign of the Via Larga showroom, which will reopen in April 2026.
The kitchen sector has been a turning point for Mo.1950. How do you see its evolution today, and what role will it play in the coming years?
The kitchen increasingly combines a functional environment with a space for representation and conviviality. It is the centre of the home, around which countless narratives can be constructed.
It is also the environment most closely shaped by individual habits, traditions and the pursuit of wellbeing. At the same time, the kitchen sector continues to innovate through technology and materials, enabling high performance, quality of execution and durability.
For us, it will remain a field of research, both in retail and contract, because it represents the meeting point between aesthetics, technology, and everyday life.
Flagship, multi-brand and the material library You manage both mono-brand flagship stores and multi-brand spaces. What are the main differences, and how do they complement each other?
In our flagships, we can fully express our partners’ identity and values, giving clients access to the universe of a single brand. In our multi-brand spaces, however, we find our fullest expression: this is where Mo. 1950’s values, rooted in versatility, emerge most clearly.
The material library at Molino delle Armi is also fundamental to our approach. It is a living space for exchange and experimentation, where designers and clients can meet and work together with finishes and materials.
It is a laboratory that stimulates creativity and new perspectives, supports professional development and allows each project to be interpreted through a genuinely tailored approach.
“Integrating different brands and design languages is one of Mo.1950’s strengths: we establish our own identity while giving voice to our partners.”
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An abstract from the October 2025 issue of Progetto Cucina
In its October 2025 issue, Progetto Cucina featured an in-depth interview with Corrado Molteni, exploring the origins, evolution and business model of Mo.1950. We reproduce an extract from the publication below.
You can access the complete PDF here.*
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*Progetto Cucina published this article in its October 2025 issue. The translation is provided for editorial and informational purposes only. The original Italian version remains the reference text and is available in the publication linked below.
