Gallotti&Radice celebrates 70 years: Tales in Glass exhibition recounts glass between history and innovation

Sixty years ago, imagining glass as the structural protagonist of furniture was a cutting-edge gamble. Today, that wager has turned into a legacy that defines Made in Italy design. To celebrate its first 70 years of history, Gallotti&Radice has chosen the setting of Palazzo Meli Lupi di Soragna, Via Verdi 18, to stage Tales in Glass. Not a simple retrospective, but a living tale that transforms transparent material into narrative. Founded in 1956, the company was the absolute pioneer in introducing crystal into the furniture sector, and this exhibition traces its chronological and stylistic evolution, projecting it into the coming decades.

The beating heart of the exhibition lies in the involvement of seven designers, called upon to reinterpret glass according to their own creative sensibilities. Among the leading names is Sophie Dries, who has managed to infuse a touch of organic brutalism into the delicacy of crystal, creating a vibrant material contrast. This choral approach underlines the brand's desire not to remain anchored in the past, but to be contaminated by heterogeneous languages. The installations play with the light and space of the historic building: the architectural solidity of the frescoed ceilings and wood panelling collide and merge with the lightness of the works on display, creating an aesthetic short circuit that enhances the very nature of glass.

In addition to the event in the heart of Milan, Gallotti&Radice confirms its dual soul by maintaining a presence also at the Salone del Mobile in Rho Fiera (Hall 9). If at Palazzo Meli Lupi the poetry of the material is celebrated, at the fair one can touch with one's own hands the concrete production: the new collections exalt that craftsmanship that allows millimetric workmanship and unprecedented combinations with precious metals, woods and fabrics. The Tales in Glass exhibition thus becomes the manifesto of a company that has been able to evolve from a small workshop to a global reality, without ever betraying its original mission.