McDuffee Design News

Minimalism has ironically become a more perceived ingredient in kitchen furniture design through the application of contradictory themes. The new approach utilizes cognitive dissonance, or the employment of two opposing ideas at the same time. Period concepts are being mixed with the old minimalism. Historical elements are being presented with fresh bravado.

Several Italian manufacturers are winning new design clients by straying from the pack, and developing breathtaking signature looks of their own. Mixing historic period elements with established minimal is catching on in European kitchen product design. Eclectic mixture will not always please the minimal purist. But it clearly yields a surprisingly delightful array of new ideas from among some independently minded Italian designers.

Pierre Lisone first revealed this new post minimal thinking to the US at the start of the millennium in Boffi’s New York showroom by introducing a defiantly ornamented glass chandelier above a white lacquer minimal kitchen island. The look was unique and surprising. It satisfied a certain longing, and the evolution has been rapid and dramatic.

However, Minotticucine continues to set new frontiers with a clear vision of minimal purity, while extending its world wide recognition. Alberto Minotti’s work is ongoing, providing new reasons to cherish this pure minimalist philosophy and he has, more than any other, been its unrivaled leader.