Founded in Brianza and shaped over three generations, Minotti is a family-owned Italian brand that designs furniture and interiors resonating across markets and generations.
Alongside the second-generation co-CEOs, third-generation family member Susanna Minotti brings a human-centric perspective to the brand’s interior decoration and the design of the brand’s flagship showrooms. In conversation with est living managing director Miffy Coady, she reflects on the evolution of the Minotti identity, translating it across cultural and retail contexts, and the ways younger generations are influencing the future of Italian design.
Minotti was established in 1948 by your grandfather Alberto Minotti. You can recall visiting the company frequently as a child, and how this inspired your creativity. What is your earliest memory?
Susanna Minotti: Honestly, I don’t have one precise memory, but I have feelings about it. I remember going to the factory as a little kid, pretending to work alongside my father—sometimes drawing, sometimes just exploring. Everything was there: the offices, the showroom, the factory. I watched people sewing, cutting leather and upholstering at work. Even as a child, my games were all about creating houses and interiors. My grandmother used to say, “You’re going to be an architect like your father,” and in a way, she was right—this environment sparked my creativity.
As a third-generation member of the Minotti family, you joined the company as the head of the interior decoration department in 2013, where you oversee brand identity and the design of Minotti’s flagship showrooms and retail spaces. Can you touch on your background and the impetus for joining the family business in this role?
Susanna Minotti: I’ve loved interior design since I was very young. I also had a humanistic passion—I loved writing—so I studied architecture and interior design. That humanistic approach still informs my daily work, especially observing how people inhabit spaces. But joining the family business wasn’t automatic. You have to truly understand your heritage, learn the roots, and only then decide how to move forward. Being third-generation means you inherit not just a company but a story, a culture of craft, and a responsibility to maintain and evolve it.
Your approach is inherently human-centric, backed by your master’s degree in Counselling. How does your focus on how people inhabit spaces influence the design of Minotti’s spaces?
Susanna Minotti: It’s an attitude. When designing showrooms or retail spaces, we don’t replicate the same design everywhere. We consider the architecture, local materials, how people work, and how they feel. For example, our Florence showroom is in a Renaissance palazzo with irregular walls. We had to respect the heritage while directing the gaze and experience of visitors.
Susanna Minotti, head of Minotti‘s interior decoration department | Portrait courtesy of est living
The Minotti Coupé sofa by Giampiero Tagliaferri | Photography courtesy of Minotti
The Minotti Libra dining chairs surrounding the Minotti Libra dining table, both by Giampiero Tagliaferri | Photography courtesy of Minotti
From your perspective, how do the Minotti family values translate into the design values—the Minotti universe—today?
Susanna Minotti: Timelessness is key. We don’t want to chase trends; we want to create pieces that can be inherited by grandchildren. Quality is a given, but also attention to detail, curiosity and the courage to explore new techniques. Sometimes we even study fashion—handbags, stitching, leather wear—to inform sofa design. Passion, seriousness and reliability are also essential, and these values translate across every pillar, such as product, service, logistics and dealer relationships. One compliment we received captures it: “You’re an Italian company with distinctive style and quality, enhanced by a German-like sense of precision.” That sums up our ethos.
Seven years ago, Minotti began collaborating with renowned interior designers. In 2025, those names included Marcio Kogan / Studio MK27, Giampiero Tagliaferri, Hannes Peer, nendo, and GamFratesi. What is the importance of these brand collaborations to Minotti’s evolution as a brand?
Susanna Minotti: We carefully select designers for what they can bring to enrich our DNA, not just for fame. Each adds a new note to our “symphony”—from Marcio Kogan’s architectural approach at furniture scale, to Giampiero Tagliaferri’s sensual, essential way with materials, to Hannes Peer’s layered, iconic storytelling. Collaborations help us evolve while staying rooted, allowing the collection to speak multiple languages, remain eclectic, and respond to shifting ways people inhabit and express their spaces.
Minotti’s stand at Salone del Mobile.Milano is consistently one of the most anticipated and admired at the fair. This year, you introduced five distinct product families, each responding to a different aesthetic sensibility. What did you hope to communicate through this multi-directional approach?
Susanna Minotti: It’s about presenting a spectrum of aesthetic sensibilities while keeping the Minotti DNA coherent. Every product family is a layer, a story, a new way to interpret form, material and function. Together, they create a universe where visitors can experience the variety and versatility of our approach without losing the sense of who we are.
Minotti has recently opened stores in locations as varied as India and the South of France. How do you adapt the brand identity to resonate within such distinct cultural contexts while maintaining a consistent global vision?
Susanna Minotti: Certain mandatories, such as materials, proportions, the balance between hard and soft, alongside bright and matte finishes, ensure a recognisable identity. But we also respond to local context, architecture and culture. In Sydney, the soft natural light favours a relaxed, calm atmosphere. In Stockholm, the low winter light and Scandinavian minimalism inspire warmer materials, furs and velvets. The key is listening to local dealers and observing how people live, while always maintaining the Minotti essence.
The Minotti Andrée side table by Hannes Peer | Photography courtesy of Minotti
The Minotti Libra armchair by Giampiero Tagliaferri | Photography courtesy of Minotti
Outdoor is also now a large part of your offering. How has the brand’s retail experience evolved to reflect this?
Susanna Minotti: Outdoor and yachting collections have grown post-pandemic, so showrooms must create atmospheres that convey that feeling. It’s about materials, light and spatial composition, to translate an outdoor lifestyle indoors and evoke the broader experiential world of Minotti.
From your perspective, what impact do younger generations, such as yourself, leading prominent Italian brands have on creating a broader cultural shift in design?
Susanna Minotti: New generations, especially in Asia, are younger and brand-conscious but also story-driven. They want quality, heritage and individuality. Their approach is mix-and-match, combining iconic pieces, vintage finds and contemporary items. As a younger generation leading a heritage brand, we must communicate authenticity, quality and the story behind every object.
Finally, what do you see as the biggest challenge for Italian design in 2026?
Susanna Minotti: For family companies like ours, the challenge is preserving consistency, history, and quality in a landscape dominated by larger funds and numbers-driven pressures. Remaining independent allows us to experiment, work with designers, explore new materials and stay true to our ethos. But it’s a delicate balance, and sustaining the heritage and expertise of regions like Brianza is critical.
Let’s finish with a quick-fire round — short, sharp, one-word answers only:
Era? Californian modern contemporary
Product? Everything related to light
Inspirational person? Goliarda Sapienza
City? Florence
Material? Wood
Designer? Pierre Paulin
The Minotti Andrée coffee table by Hannes Peer | Photography courtesy of Minotti
The Minotti Coupé sofa paired with the Minotti Libra coffee table, both by Giampiero Tagliaferri | Photography courtesy of Minotti
