Gigi Radice

Background

Gigi Radice was an Italian architect who, in the 1950s and 1960s, worked very closely with Minotti, the furniture company Alberto Minotti founded in 1948. Minotti's own magazine describes him as a charismatic personality with remarkable artistic talent, a painter with a gift for caricature. Alberto Minotti, according to his son Renato, recognised in him the rare combination of architect and designer in one person.

Signature Style

Renato Minotti reads in Radice a stylistic kinship with Frank Lloyd Wright and Gio Ponti, somewhere between the two masters. He credits him with a particular skill in designing bespoke furniture that had character, was modern and was in tune with the architecture it belonged to. In Minotti's telling his commitment at the time was total: first the plan for the company's premises, then the family home, and finally a range of products.

Notable Works

• The company headquarters and the Minotti family residence in Meda, both designed by him according to Minotti's magazine
• A suspended hammered-copper fireplace at the centre of the family home's living area, dated 1960 in one passage of Minotti's magazine and 1964 in another; Minotti reproduced it at oversize scale on its stand at the 2018 Salone del Mobile
• Albert sofa and armchair and Ile armchair, the family of seats that Minotti re-edited from its archive for the 2018 Collection

Legacy

Some of Radice's products for Minotti are, in the company's words, now regarded as cult objects and are traded through vintage-design channels and auction houses, restored or in original condition. For its 70th anniversary in 2018 Minotti chose a family of his seats from the Minotti Archive and issued it as a special edition in the 2018 Collection, naming it Albert&Ile after founder Alberto and the diminutive of his wife Ileana, now Honorary President. The page credits the pieces as "Gigi Radice design / Minotti Historic Archive". The re-edition leaves the original design intact but adjusts the overall shape slightly. Albert keeps the armrests inspired by the 1900s and the classic lines of the Fifties, with a solid-wood decorative band that runs along the front and around the armrests, upholstered and then fixed to the frame. Ile is closer to the Sixties, defined by the hollow shape of its back. A mohair wool velvet in colours from Mink to Cobalt, Blue Ocean and Titanium is the upholstery Minotti says suits them best. Minotti's magazine names Radice as the company's first notable collaboration, followed by the one with Rodolfo Dordoni.