Molteni magazine | Design | UniArm

UniArm

Sophie Tolhurst for M Magazine, March 2025

THE CATALOGUE FOR UNIARM, THE NEW MONITOR ARM FROM UNIFOR, OPENS WITH A FEW PAGES OF CLOSEUP PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE ARM’S SLEEK, HINGED FORM, FOLLOWED BY A DOUBLE-PAGE SPREAD FILLED WITH AN X-RAY IMAGE OF THE PRODUCT.

In the X-ray, it is not a humerus, an ulna or and a radius you see, but a coiled spring, its tension visible, plus numerous cables channeled smoothly from one end of the arm to the other. A faint outline around the components remembers the light, aluminium skin that encases them. To the scientific or technological mind, an X-ray is fascinating for the wonder of what it reveals, but it can also be a thing of beauty. In the 1930s, American radiologist Dain L. Tasker took the nascent technology of his profession and applied it to his passion for photography and flowers. The resulting gelatin silver prints of single flowers are haunting and beautiful, and many have been exhibited in galleries. Tasker’s focus may be anatomical, but the questions raised stretch beyond: “Flowers are the expression of the love life of plants,” he wrote of his work.

The UniArm, designed by Alberto and Francesco Meda to enable flexible and collaborative working

In more recent years, photographer Nick Veasey has produced X-ray images of designed objects, including several pieces in the design collections of London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, such as a silk taffeta Cristóbal Balenciaga dress and a 1930s Leica II 35mm camera. Like the X-ray of the UniArm, these reveal previously unseen, and sometimes surprising, components – if not all of the objects’ secrets.

In UniFor’s catalogue, designed by the company's art directors Studio Klass, it’s an unusual privilege to see inside the object, which has been created by mechanical engineer and designer Alberto Meda, along with his son, designer Francesco Meda. The Medas’ design philosophy is to hide away complex technology, rather than show it off, using its capability to simplify the objects that we live with.

The UniArm, designed by Alberto and Francesco Meda to enable flexible and collaborative working

As a user, you don’t want to know what’s going on inside

Alberto Meda

Across the centuries, working environments have been consistently redesigned according to the latest needs and theories: from medieval monks’ scriptoriums to Taylorist ideas of rationalising working processes at the turn of the 20th century. Later in that century, designers sought to tackle the promises and problems of open-plan offices, with UniFor’s own contribution, the Modulo3 System of 1969, designed by Bob Noorda and Franco Mirenzi. Today, few can have missed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on workspaces, with new technologies and ways of working moving from the office, to working-from-home, and back again. With UniArm, however, the outlook is less panoramic, and more specific.

The UniArm, designed by Alberto and Francesco Meda to enable flexible and collaborative working.

UniFor’s brief for Alberto and Francesco Meda was to design a family of articulated monitor arms, equipped with a kinematic mechanism to give freedom to its users. The “shared goal” , Alberto and Francesco explain, was to give “new identity and performance to an object that often appears anonymous in the market”.

The monitor arms that they developed through this bottega are made from extruded aluminium, and finished with injection-moulded, die-cast aluminium terminals to create hinge joints. Inside are steel components, while the extruded shape is able to integrate rails for power and data cables, using elastomer gaskets to channel them smoothly. The end solution is simple, although achieved through technologically advanced manufacturing methods.

Using technology in that way, you have the capability to be more flexible and make something tailor-made

Alberto Meda

In production, the arms’ extruded aluminium can be produced to different lengths, and a simple mechanism adjusts the force of the spring for the weights of the monitors. Simplicity also factors into the afterlife of the products too, with a reduced number of components resulting in easy disassembly.

The UniArm, designed by Alberto and Francesco Meda to enable flexible and collaborative working

Come riassumono i progettisti, si tratta di “un progetto meccanicamente complesso, poiché coinvolge diversi parametri come pesi, attriti e cinematica”. Eppure, aggiunge Alberto, “in un certo senso, è tutto molto chiaro.”

Gli arredi, soprattutto quelli usati quotidianamente, hanno una stretta relazione con il corpo umano. Una connessione che è stata esplorata dagli scrittori anche attraverso il linguaggio, come nel libro di poesie Il tavolo (1991), in cui il poeta Francis Ponge medita sul sostegno vitale offerto dal suo tavolo nel corso dei sette anni necessari per completare il poema. Utilizzando l'amore per l'etimologia per analizzare i diversi significati di questo oggetto comune d'arredo, il tavolo si trasforma in ‘piattaforma d'appoggio’, ‘consolle’, ‘terreno per la penna’ e persino ‘madre di legno’.
Questa relazione linguistica tra le persone e i loro arredi trova una corrispondenza anche fisica. Tavoli e sedie hanno gambe mentre lampade e monitor hanno braccia. Nel linguaggio dell'ufficio, sono auspicabili metodi di lavoro ‘agili’ a un livello più olistico le persone sperano di vivere in un corpo il più agile possibile e il design svolge un ruolo importante nel supportare questa aspirazione attraverso l'ergonomia. I fisioterapisti, ad esempio, sono in grado di riconoscere a posteriori un design inadeguato, quando anni di postura scorretta richiedono esercizi correttivi, tuttavia, è meglio anticipare e prevenire questi problemi. UniFor, come Alberto e Francesco Meda, ha alle spalle anni di ricerca e sperimentazione sull’ergonomia e sa che anche la più piccola interazione assume rilevanza quando viene ripetuta nel tempo. Lavorando su questa scala umana, UniArm riconosce la necessità dell’individuo di avere un alto livello di controllo sul proprio ambiente, anche all'interno di un ufficio grande e complesso.

The UniArm, designed by Alberto and Francesco Meda to enable flexible and collaborative working

To support this, the UniArm comes in different forms: from the basic monitor arm with a single joint, a double-jointed monitor arm, and options with multiple branches of arms. At the top of each is the VESA monitor arm connection. Together, these parts allow the monitor to be rotated between horizontal and vertical, and its height, distance or angle adjusted. In practice, UniArm’s users can make precise, intuitive adjustments to find an ideal position – and prevent neck, shoulder and back strain. But the freedom it offers is also intended to enable dynamic working: it can be tailored to a specific task, or used to collaborate with colleagues.

The capability to move the screen to show other people what you are doing – it is important to share

Alberto Meda

The other part of the designers’ job, Alberto adds, is designing an object whose aesthetic “has the capability to enhance the space it is in” – something which Francesco led on during the project. The colour palette for UniArm is streamlined: a darker charcoal, and a lighter frosted chrome finish, while the images in the catalogue show these metal arms set off by bright red cables. The photographs do not have all the information of the X-ray, but these cables, emerging from the refined form of the arms, recall the brief flex of a tendon, and the power and elegance of a body in movement.

issue 18
take a look inside

Cultural Collaboration

For UniFor, design has always been about more than just a product: each object the company creates represents a dialogue between the user and maker, and embodies its vision for how a space should make you feel.

Architecture, Jane McRae for M Magazine, Numéro 18

Spring System

Standing desks have a long and illustrious history, early proponents commissioned high desks directly from carpenters, or used the taller shelves of bookcases, until manually adjustable sit-stand desks were invented. UniFor’s latest workstation, however, the Spring System designed by architect Antonio Citterio, uses springs to counteract the weight of the desk as it rises.

Design, Helen Gonzalez Brown for M Magazine, Numéro 18

The Monk Chair

When Monk re-enters Molteni&C’s catalogue this year, it will mark 35 years since the chair was last in production. “Designed by Afra and Tobia Scarpa, ‘Monk’ is simple and solid,” reads the company’s 1990 catalogue.

Design, Oli Stratford for M Magazine, Numéro 18