For MDF Italia, design is about shaping matter with ideas. More than simple products, the results of this process are thought forms. Our vocation has always been to create objects that not only become icons but will also succeed in defining the canon of contemporary design.
We believe that design must reflect the surrounding context and the complexities of today’s world. From the outset in 1992, together with our designers and craftspeople, we have placed this idea at the forefront of our work. A number of distinctive features have made us both unique and identifiable: formal simplicity, volumetric lightness, long-lasting design and innovative use of materials.
We have taken up the challenge of bringing together contrasting forces: minimalism and emotion, synthesis and narrative, function and wonder. We are pioneers in finding new ways of envisaging space.
mdf italia since 1992.
The history of Italian design is also shaped by the names of entrepreneurs, brands, and designers – names that sometimes overlap. Such is the case with Cassina, a family name that in 2007 marked a new chapter in the world of design by acquiring MDF Italia and taking on a challenge that reinforced its commitment to creative innovation.
Before coming under the guidance of the Cassina family, MDF Italia flourished thanks to the vision of its founder, Bruno Fattorini, an entrepreneur and designer. In 1992, Fattorini established a company built on creativity, innovation, technology, and design. During those years, minimalism evolved from a niche movement into a source of inspiration for a new creative approach. MDF Italia interpreted minimalism in its own way, through research that expressed a radical and innovative perspective. Aluminium, a technical material traditionally associated with workspaces, was introduced into domestic settings; products, minimalist in appearance, concealed avant-garde technology and deep design thinking. Awards and recognition quickly followed, while pieces such as the Minima and Random bookshelves, the Le Banc bench, and the Tense table became true icons of design.
Simplicity
Our philosophy is inspired by simplicity. Everything we do is the fruit of a dialectic eliminating all traces of the superfluous in order to encapsulate, in a single gesture, the maximum meaning.
Challenge
Every decision we take is dictated by the desire to push ourselves to the limit and beyond what is considered possible, to challenge the standards of the market and society as a whole. This approach gives rise to ideas, products and solutions that cannot be easily categorised and stimulate debate in contemporary design.
Lightness
Synthesis is part of our design method, a work of continuous subtraction: of materials, elements, thought. The resulting creations are characterised by lightness of form and compositional harmony.
Rhythm
We believe in the necessity of evolving in a harmonious and controlled way. This is reflected in a dynamic sign, which tends towards a compositional balance and the creation of aesthetic and design canons destined to be replicated over time.
Wonder
Design must not limit itself to decoration or problem solving, but rather produce a reaction of wonder in the beholder. That’s why we conceive and realise products that exceed expectations and amaze our clients.
Time
We aspire to interpret the past, live the present and anticipate the future. To this end we combine undying ideas and create timeless products, fashioned in such a way as to last and be enjoyed, once passed on, another life.
Icons, products and collections
Array
Snøhetta
Cosy collection
Francesco Rota
Flow collection
Jean Marie Massaud
Minima collection
Bruno Fattorini
Neil collection
Jean Marie Massaud
NVL Table
Jean Nouvel Design
Random collection
Neuland Industriedesign
Rock Table collection
Jean Marie Massaud
Tense collection
Piergiorgio Cazzaniga
The Brianza region is the historic heart of Italy’s design industry, the cradle of know-how and skill Made-in-Italy, while the city of Milan, synonymous with avant-garde, vision and innovation, has attracted talent and finance like no other. MDF Italia is a Milanese design company with headquarters in Brianza.
The lightness
of design.
Point, line and surface. The common denominator of all MDF Italia’s products is lightness, concise forms that reflect the rigorous precision of the design. There are no casual elements in this work of subtraction: the superfluous is eliminated to reveal the meaning and soul of the objects. A lightness that is embodied, time and again, in the absolute simplicity of a table composed of four vertical legs and a horizontal surface, in the essential and unadorned contours of a chair, in the radicalism of a bookcase that revolutionises the idea of storage. In a style that remains recognisable in time and over time.
Project culture.
MDF Italia’s aesthetic lies, above all, in its design methodology. In our work we seek to unveil the soul of the project, to render its substance tangible and visible. Technological and material innovation have been distinctive features, terrain of experimentation since the start. We were among the first to use Cristalplant, a lightweight cement (UHPFRC) previously used only in architecture, cement and marble on tabletops. We operate both with industrial and artisan processes depending on the final result we wish to obtain.
The spirit of space.
Our furniture and furnishings are adaptable, capable of becoming alive and fitting in with diverse environments, thanks to their universal and timeless design. Essential, functional and flexible, they have no ambitions to dictate the aesthetics of the surrounding area by their presence, but rather respect the spirit of every space they inhabit.
The luxury
of ideas.
We allow ourselves the luxury of ideas in the belief that there can be no project without prior thought and there are no thoughts without contamination from different perspectives. Hence our daily productive work is accompanied by ongoing research and dialogue with critics, designers and clients and with the most brilliant minds of the day. Pioneers of form destined to become icons of contemporary design, we believe in breaking the stereotypes and compositional frameworks and are open to be influenced and inspired by architecture, art and all other contemporary forms of expression.
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