2026 marks the centenary of the birth of Gianfranco Frattini (May 15, 1926 – April 6, 2004), architect and designer, among the most rigorous and quietly consistent figures of the second Italian twentieth century. The Studio/Archivio Gianfranco Frattini – curated by his children Emanuela and Marco Frattini – promotes a program of events, installations, reissues, and publications that retrace his work and reactivate his design legacy.

Officially opening the centenary is the installation Gianfranco Frattini 1926-2026, on display at Castello Sforzesco in Milan, from March 31 to June 28, 2026, inside the Museum of Furniture and Wooden Sculptures, part of the Civic Museums complex. An emblematic place for the history of furniture, which in 2004 was redesigned by Perry King and Santiago Miranda, expanding the exhibition path to contemporary times.

The intervention fits measuredly into the existing path and respects the architectural structure. Museum niches define intimate and autonomous spaces that for the occasion host special editions of furniture designed by Frattini, created for the centenary by some of the companies that shared the architect's design path: the Megaron lamp by Artemide, the 780/783 series of tables by Cassina, the Meda armchair and Ambrogio chair by CB2, the Albero bookcase by Poltrona Frau, the Lina armchair by Tacchini, the Aspide lamp by Gubi, and the Luoghi Preferiti tapestry by Torri Lana.

The exhibition project by Emanuela Frattini Magnusson and Pietro Todeschini, with co-curation by Fiorella Mattio, chief curator of the Castello Sforzesco Museums, features lacquered surfaces creating a continuous backdrop that isolates the objects from the museum context, enhancing their presence. The brick red color, inspired by Gianfranco Frattini's chromatic vocabulary, establishes a direct link with his design. The result is an essential and compact setup, where container and content interact, providing a space of attention and focus on the project.

The path also includes the Sala Castellana, dedicated since 2017 to the Bellini-Pezzoli donation of artistic glass and design works from the 20th and 21st centuries, where alongside the Marco vase designed in 1970 by Gianfranco Frattini and part of the permanent collection, two glass bottles designed by the architect for Progetti and now reissued by CB2 will be exhibited.