Italian Radical Design has completed its third acquisition.
The group has added Italian brand Meritalia to Gufram, bought in 2012 and Memphis, acquired at the beginning of 2022.
Founded in 1987 by Giulio and Vanna Meroni, Meritalia became well-known because of its irreverent and unconventional spirit and has released designs by Gaetano Pesce, Carlo Scarpa, Achille and Piegiacomo Castiglioni, Alessandro Mendini, Mario Bellini, Italo Rota, Carlo Contin, Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Fabio Novembre and Giulio Iacchetti.
IRD says it wants to bring the brand’s experimental energy back to the centre of the design world by expanding its boundaries.
‘For us, Meritalia is the way of ideally taking centre stage in the living room. We would like to continue experimenting in the field of upholstery, especially through a series of collaborations with designers who are willing to adopt the legacy of those important ones already featured in Meritalia’s catalogue and update this, getting involved with some crazy and irreverent ideas. What creative person wouldn’t want to design a sofa after all! From a chronological standpoint, with the acquisition of Meritalia we have completed an ideal music playlist that brings together the best starting from the 1970s up to the 2000s: Gufram, Memphis and now Meritalia,’ says Charley Vezza, IRD ceo.
