Mingardo is an Italian design production house and brand that evolved out of a metal fabricating firm that was founded by Ilario Mingardo in 1970. During its first few decades in business, the workshop’s core activity was custom projects for architecture and construction until, in 2013, Daniele Mingardo (born in Monselie in 1988)—Ilario Mingardo's son, who had begun working in his father’s metalwork workshop at just 18—decided to launch his own design brand in Milan during Design Week. Several years on, Daniele Mingardo heads up the thriving Mingardo production house, unifying his dual passions for the craft that he learned from his father and the thrill of innovative, luxury design that pushed him to lead the family business in a new direction. Mingardo is now collaborating with internationally acclaimed designers to produce high end collections ranging from furniture and home accessories to lighting.
The heart of Mingardo’s business—and the major determining factor in the brand’s aesthetic—is the virtuosity of its metal workshop. Each Mingardo piece is hand-wrought by a highly skilled team of specialist metalwork masters. As Daniele Mingardo says, “metal is our material; brass, copper, iron, stainless steel, and everything you can imagine with metal.” The craftsmanship applied to perfectly forming and finishing each piece elevates a material like iron, which is often associated with a more industrial style, to an opulent Italian Modern look. The Be-Lieve Sideboard by Lorenza Bozzoli for Mingardo, for example, combines an elegantly rounded body with slim-line, geometric legs and an utterly luxurious color palette in matte black and polished brass. The piece would be at home in the chicest of contemporary interiors while retaining echoes of the artisanal heritage that sets Mingardo apart from other contemporary brands. A signature of the Mingardo brand is the range of stunning wall panels, such as the Gatsby Wall Panel by Federica Biasi, which effortlessly brings a hit of Art Deco glamour into the present day.
The list of designers who’ve collaborated with Mingardo is long and prestigious, including Sara Ferrari, Gio Tirotto, Chiara Andreatti, Objects of Common Internet, Barbara Schweizer, Alessandro Stabile, Martinelli Venezia, and Marco Zito, amongst numerous others. In 2016, Mingardo was the recipient of the Wallpaper Design Award for the wonderfully elegant Bi-Track Bicycle Stand; a collaboration with Japanese designer Masanori Mori. Mingardo has presented its collections at Salone del Mobile and Maison & Objet, and been praised by the likes of Marie Claire Maison, Elle Decor, Style Magazine, GQ Italia, Icon Design, Wallpaper Magazine, and many others.
