Perfection is often an enduring combination of persistence and skill. The Minotti brand has come a long way from its initial influences, and yet, the marked style of the Minotti sofa remains as untainted as ever.
As Aristotle put it, “Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work.” Perhaps it is this zeal and enthusiasm for his work that places Rodolfo Dordoni in the higher echelons of designers. His refined vision is nothing less than art, perhaps even comparable to Botticelli’s elegance in his paintings of the Madonna and child.
Dordoni’s ability to adjust the design direction of Minotti according to modern trends, while staying true to the brand’s design DNA is on display every year as Minotti releases their collection at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Milan. Minotti’s sofas play a vital role in grabbing attention at the event that is often considered the Holy Grail for furniture enthusiasts.
Over the years, under the leadership of Dordoni, the company has released several sofas that have become iconic Minotti pieces. One such example is the Andersen Sofa system. The sophisticated design of the Anderson Sofa floats above the floor on a metal base and feet, coloured in an exclusive in-house shade of pewter. The cushions are padded in goose down for extraordinary comfort, and the sofa may also be modified to include an optional headrest.
The Minotti Andersen Sofa
In keeping with the timeless, stylish relevance of all Minotti pieces, the Anderson Sofa is perfectly proportioned with elements reminiscent of a graceful cube, consistently featuring ninety-degree angles.
The Anderson line sofa also includes a one armrest piece and an ottoman. Arranged in diverse ways to complement the surrounding space, the Anderson line can be used to create never-ending seating patterns.
Bowing to creative and market needs, the Anderson Sofa is produced in several versions. These include the Andersen Line Sofa, Andersen Slim 103 Sofa and Andersen Slim 90 Sofa. These are also available in Quilt versions, denoting seven additional versions of the Anderson sofa to choose from.
The Minotti Andersen Line sofa
The quilt styles are characterised by a lightly quilted motif on the seat cushions of the sofa, making them contemporary but true to brand Minotti’s aesthetic.
Minotti has always been proud of its remarkable craftsmanship, along with its keen eye for detail. The brand believes in creating pieces that have strong individualistic personalities that are soft enough to be blended with other design elements. Consistent with this philosophy, the Hamilton Sofa was introduced by Rodolfo Dordoni for Minotti.
The Minotti Hamilton Sofa
The unique flexibility that the Hamilton Sofa offered immediately made this one of Minotti’s best-selling pieces. More than ten years after its launch, the Hamilton sofa continues to radiate a strength in design and technological finish that is rarely seen in the current disposable culture.
The Hamilton Sofa was a pioneer in its own right, paving the way for a flurry of low height sofas in the furniture industry. It is perhaps one of the best symbols of brand Minotti, owing to its exceptional union of classic, uncompromising finish along with a modern interpretation of fabrics, shades and the ability to blend in and stand out in any space.
The Hamilton sofa featured in Boston magazine’s top 5 high-end couches that “make sense”, with Marni Elyse Katz calling it “The Super Bowl Sunday couch”, possibly referring to the sofa’s comfortable cushions padded with goose down. The Hamilton sofa also featured on LA Times’ list of bestselling sofas in Los Angeles.
Another definitive illustration of Rodolfo Dordoni’s sense of refined exuberance is the Seymour Sofa. Part formal precision, part soft, curved lines, the Seymour sofa is an exercise in melding influences to create a unique and distinctive product.
The Minotti Seymour Sofa
The Seymour sofa was perhaps created as an ode to the need to go beyond impersonal devices and mingle with those closest. Its arresting comfort is almost feminine and sensual, having been inspired by dynamic, sinuous architectural elements.
Acting as a foil to the strict geometric shapes of the Yang seating system, the Seymour sofa is delicate and yet sturdy, resting on extruded Aluminum legs that are an exclusive Minotti Studio design.
This sofa was also praised as a superior model that “works well in tight spaces”, in a post by luxury magazine Departures, in an article on the season’s best designs in the fall of 2015.
In our humble opinion, there could be no better tribute to the founder of Minotti, Alberto Minotti and his wife Ileana (current Honorary President of Minotti) than the Albert & Ile sofas. Originally created by Gigi Radice, the Albert & Ile sofa designs were drawn from the Minotti archive and were redesigned on the company’s 70th anniversary.
The Albert & Ile Sofa
The Albert sofa draws inspiration from the Fifties, while the Ile is closer to the versatility found in the Sixties. In terms of design details, both share a sturdy wood structure and slender metallic retro legs, with an anti-fingerprint finish.
The Albert and Ile Sofas are true to the original Radice designs and are a testament to the importance the brand places on manual skills and elegant sartorial tailoring. The bright hues of the Albert and Ile seating family range from Mink, Blue Ocean and Titanium to Cobalt and lend a dynamic vibrancy to any home or commercial space.
Rodolfo Dordoni continues to surprise with new sofa designs, a case in point being the West Sofa designed by him for the 2019 annual Minotti collection. The entire collection was a melting pot of influences, textures and forms. The West sofa stood out with its stylistic sense of surprise.
The Minotti West Sofa
The West sofa is intended as a conversation starter, as a technique to break up the clichés ever-present in prevalent modern cubic designs. With elements available in avant-garde pentagonal or hexagonal forms, the West sofa is a challenger to conventional seating configurations, while remaining firmly grounded in the Minotti DNA of subtle sophistication.
Designed around the notion of complete modularity, offering the incomparable comfort of Gold label, Assopiuma certified, channelled goose down padding is the Daniels Sofa. Linear shapes are broken up by curves and ellipses, lending an air of playful creativity to the design.
The Minotti Daniels Sofa
The Daniels seating collection as a whole is remarkably creative in the shapes used, leading to countless ways of arrangement. The sofa is available in multiple versions, including all-fabric, all-leather, and a third combined option with the base and armrest of the sofa in leather and the cushions in fabric.
The Daniels sofa was praised as a sectional sofa that provided bespoke perks, as mentioned in an article on the American Architectural Digest website. Australian critic, John Engelen, compared it to “a landscape design project where carefully plotted combinations of elements create a new domestic scenery…” on his blog.
Also part of the 2019 annual collection was the Lawson seating system including the Lawson Sofa. This sofa and indeed, the entire line was an experiment in innovation. Under Dordoni’s ingenuity, different lines and textures were contrasted to display an increased versatility, quite unlike other contemporary collections exhibited at the Milan Salon.
This ability to adapt has been one of Minotti’s signature strengths, and the Lawson Sofa has found widespread acceptance in both residential and commercial hospitality sectors.
Available in a variety of upholstery fabrics, ranging from black leather to velvet and chenille, the Lawson Sofa can be modified to suit any environment it is placed in. It can be an attention-grabbing, statement piece, or it can blend into the room with ease. The polished chrome or pewter finished legs add a chic finish, making it a stunning example of brand Minotti.
An individual with astute observation skills will realise that no matter the collection or sofa, there is an underlying trait of finesse in every Minotti piece.
With the inclusion of several international designers in the Minotti brand, the flavour of newer pieces might be decidedly more urbane and cosmopolitan, but the sartorial elegance that is exhibited on every single occasion is quintessentially classic Minotti at heart.
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