Can the spaces between indoors and outdoors become the most important ones?
In contemporary architecture, the transition between indoors and outdoors is no longer treated as a boundary, but as an extension of the home. Through award-winning projects and collaborations with leading designers, MV Line explores how technical systems can quietly become part of everyday living.
Founded in 1993 in Puglia, MV Line began life as a mosquito net manufacturer, but over more than three decades it has steadily broadened its scope, turning a highly specialised skill set into a wider design culture. What started as a small entrepreneurial venture, launched by Paolo Montanaro in a garage on the outskirts of Bari, is today an industrial group with eight production facilities, over 640 employees, and a well-established presence across Europe’s main markets – further strengthened in 2025 by the acquisitions of E.T.A. S.p.A. and Germany’s Büscher.
The company’s growth can’t be measured in numbers alone. From its earliest days, research has focused on improving the user experience, developing systems that bring together ease of installation, mechanical reliability, and aesthetic quality. The shift from producing components to designing its own models in-house marked the beginning of a trajectory that has led MV Line to treat even its most technical elements as genuine architectural components – designed to engage with the building rather than simply serve a function.
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MV Line: Can the spaces between indoors and outdoors become the most important ones?
MV Line: a vision for outdoor living
That same vision has shaped the growth of its catalogue. Today, the Italian group stands as one of Europe’s key references in the design of insect protection systems, solar shading, and outdoor living solutions, developing products that find their place across a wide range of architectural contexts while sharing a single goal: enhancing living comfort through a balance of technology, design, and industrial innovation.
At a moment when the design of living spaces increasingly extends beyond the domestic perimeter, controlling light, climate, and the in-between spaces that connect indoors and outdoors has taken on a central role. Bioclimatic pergolas, awnings, and shading systems are no longer simple technical devices, but design tools that help shape the way we experience our surroundings, turning outdoor spaces into a natural extension of the home.
Papillon, SunDrive, and Ischia
It’s within this very reflection that some of the company’s most recent projects have taken shape. Among them, Papillon, designed by Giulio Iacchetti, reinterprets the traditional umbrella as a true architectural element. Its horizontal opening, inspired by the movement of a butterfly’s wings, removes the central support altogether, freeing up the space below and making it more flexible and usable. This design intuition is paired with smart features such as automatic closing, wind detection, and a dual LED lighting system that extends the use of the space into the evening. The project earned Iacchetti the 2025 Archiproducts Design Award in the Outdoor category.
The collaboration with Iacchetti continues with SunDrive, unveiled during Milan Design Week 2026 as part of the Sunflower installation, hosted by MoscaPartners Variations in the Cortile dell’Orologio at Palazzo Litta. Far more than a simple awning, SunDrive reframes shading as an architectural device capable of transforming and engaging with its surroundings. Its innovation lies in fully integrating the mechanical arms within a second layer of fabric that conceals them from view, resulting in a continuous surface and an essentially clean silhouette.
Beyond eliminating the visual impact of the technical structure, the solution increases the shaded surface area and improves UV protection. At the Milan installation, eight awnings arranged across two levels opened like the petals of a giant blue flower, turning a technical function into a spatial and sensory experience.
That same attention to the relationship between architecture and wellbeing defines Ischia, a bioclimatic pergola designed to adapt naturally to changing weather conditions. Louvres that tilt up to 140 degrees regulate light and natural ventilation, helping create a comfortable microclimate all year round. Made entirely of aluminium, it can be customised with LED lighting, vertical screens, and sliding glass walls, making it a system capable of meeting a range of design needs without sacrificing an essential design language.
Hawaii and Panarea
Awnings follow the same pursuit of balance between technical performance and formal restraint. Hawaii stands out for its compact cassette, which fully protects the fabric when retracted, its ability to cover surfaces up to ten metres wide and four metres deep, and its integrated water drainage system, built to deliver strong performance even in harsh weather. An optional LED lighting system further extends the usability of the outdoor space into the evening hours.
With Panarea, the concept of covering evolves into a hybrid between an awning and a pergola. Aluminium profiles, a retractable PVC fabric, and an integrated rainwater drainage system come together in a minimal structure that can be completed with lighting, side closures, and glazing to suit different architectural contexts and uses.
Phantom25 and Bora 2025
While MV Line is recognised today for its outdoor living solutions, it’s in mosquito nets that the roots of its design culture truly lie. This is the area in which the company has, over more than thirty years, developed in-depth research into movement mechanisms, refining systems that are increasingly smooth, reliable, and built to last. A body of expertise that continues to shape its entire design process to this day.
Phantom25 is a case in point: an evolution of the historic Phantom Z, designed to minimise its own visual presence. Rather than adding an element to the architecture, Phantom25 seems to disappear within it, thanks to essential profiles and a particularly slim footprint. Its modular components make installation and adaptation to existing or non-uniform openings easier, while the use of sustainable materials points to an approach that considers the product’s entire life cycle. A path recognised by numerous international awards, including the 2025 Archiproducts Design Award, the ADA Sustainability Award, the Made Sustainability Prize, and EPD certification.
Designed for larger openings, Bora 2025 takes that technical research to another scale. Its side-sliding system keeps the mesh perfectly stable even in strong winds, preventing it from slipping out of place, while the bottom track – less than two millimetres high – makes the passage virtually imperceptible. A small detail that says a great deal about MV Line’s design approach: refining the most technical aspects without ever losing sight of the everyday experience of the people who live in these spaces.
A quiet kind of innovation
More than a collection of individual products, the solutions developed by the company outline a coherent vision of contemporary living – where design, innovation, and technology don’t try to overshadow the architecture, but work quietly to improve comfort, expand how spaces can be used, and make the relationship between indoors and outdoors feel ever more natural.
