Design Week in Milan – a giant space of experience

Milan has become a synonym of design and the “Salone del Mobile” is a trade fair that transforms the city into a buzzing space of creation, a brand image and a brand designers’ race. Both specialists and enthusiasts of aesthetics watch it with bated breath. This year’s “Salone” has invariably shown that the role of design has long gone far beyond the furniture industry and has become part of pop culture as well as being a rhetorical figure of communication strategies of companies from every industry – from hotel management to new technologies and from fashion to automotive. This year, we’ve decided to focus not on the products themselves but on installations and exhibitions that have been growing in the capital of Lombardy for several years.

We’ve selected the most interesting pieces and have taken into consideration the desire to present designs of various categories and not only furniture. It was important for us to present the broadest possible spectrum of strategies but also the means of expression. We therefore show both very technologically advanced exhibitions, sensational installations and references to the history of exhibition design. Today, after all, design is also technically sophisticated and advanced, which places an emphasis on experience and impressions whereas brands also refer to their own heritage or non-business ideas.

The Design Week, as always at the beginning of spring, changes Milan into a gigantic space of impressions. A playground for the senses, but also a testing ground for trends and future solutions. Thousands of brands strive for the attention of visitors. The competition annually heats up and expands into new areas. The latest fair, just like the previous ones, showed that in the modern economy everything should be higher in number but, somewhat paradoxically, better and nicer. The debates focused on the latest premieres whilst participants complained about satisfaction, murmured slightly in a snobbish tone as regards the “weariness” of the gargantuan scale of the event prevailing over human perception. The need to modernise the trade fair centre itself was also discussed more vociferously as there is visible chaos. The exhibitions in the halls are sometimes monotonous, often badly and deceptively arranged in a similar way and, with regard to the gastronomy facilities and food on offer, it is better to say nothing. What’s funny, it is happening in a country that highly appreciates food. It would be difficult, however, to ameliorate the situation due to these voices which announce the end of the champagne mood that accompanies “Salone” and it is something which will continue for a very long time.

The ubiquitous dictates of novelty will not crush the canon. Unmoved and proud in the form of the most valuable designs of the most renowned designers, it is an important element of the trade show programme every year. In addition to new products, key brands show “re-editions” of furniture that often travel once again from the archive to salons. Tens of thousands of products in the “Fiera” exhibition halls and hundreds of experimental-image events that form a network of satellites as part of the truly space programme “Fuorisalone”. Brera, Tortona, Ventura Lambrate – nowadays almost every district or corner of Milan is a set design more than a stage for numerous events.

Old palaces and post-industrial spaces, exclusive boutiques, museums and parks: design appears in all their incarnations and dimensions, from architectural installations to artistic interventions and from limited edition products, temporary cafés/restaurants to exhibitions.

Milan itself, however, is much more than staffage for products and brands and more than the capital of fashion and design, as it is eagerly called. Of course, without fashion and design, today’s expression of this city would not exist or would be difficult to imagine. Milan is a city of many faces, each of unique beauty. It does not possess the haughtiness of Rome, attested on almost every corner, nor is it a casket of jewels like Venice. Florence is equally elegant wearing a corset and Naples probably sounds the most beautiful of all Italian cities but it is crazy yet vibrant. Milan is an arbiter of true elegance though it sometimes lacks spontaneity. It often suddenly presents its charms. Once it is a dust of a centuries-old history like stardust whilst another time it delights with the sophistication of modernist architecture.

 

Kvadrat x Raf Simons, No Man’s Land

The Danish Kvadrat managed to get customers used to high-quality materials and the uncommon design of their products. Also, the method of brand communication is far from the marketing activities typical of this industry. The materials, although forming an integral part of the design, often constituted the background or decoration of the furniture. Few brands had the idea how to present them in an interesting context. Kvadrat presents its products in a suggestive way, perfectly framing them and building an interesting narrative. Cooperation with the Belgian fashion designer Raf Simons is already well-established. This year’s mini collection, consisting of four patterns (Atom, Phlox, Novus 1 and Novus 2), is the sixth in history. Simons proposed fleshy fabrics, transferring characteristic types of tailoring materials to the furniture industry. What was equally interesting, as the products themselves, was their form. The post-industrial space of Garage Ventuno has been transformed under the dictation of the Belgian’s vision into an impressionistic installation with a dystopian expression. The imaginary suburb was intriguingly full of melancholy and the main role was played by the classics of modernism: modular steel and wooden houses by Jean Prouvé, Le Corbusier’s Diabolo lamps and Utrecht Gerrit furniture by Thomas Rietveld upholstered with a selection from the latest Kvadrat x Raf Simons collection. The audience was welcomed by a meadow full of wild flowers formed into a long rectangle. For those tired of the several-kilometre walks of ‘Salone’, a temporary restaurant, run by Rochelle Canteen, was established. Design has never been so close to fashion before and fashion has never created such a multi-dimensional marriage with the design. The goals of both sides are both convergent but different.  Design has become a part of the lifestyle – its seasonality, directly derived from the fashion cycle (to which you can have an ambivalent attitude), is more and more visible as well as being a specific type of expression, arrangement or brand communication.

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Poggi Ugo, Land

Probably one of the most interesting installations during “Salone” was located in the Cerrobbio district of Milan, the exhibition Poggi Ugo. It is as much occupying as it is hidden because the building in which it was located was not flagged with any banners and, in front of the entrance, there was no indication that the place prepared a site-specific arrangement of such an interesting and diverse expression. The Italian Poggi Ugo celebrates its 100th anniversary this year and the main motive of the design was the terracotta it produces. Nineteen patterns were selected from its latest catalogue, which were arranged in a coherent home space of a very sensational and eclectic impression. Post-modernist expression, given by the Masquespacio studio from Valencia, did not bring chaos or over-expression, but a warm homely atmosphere. Intensely blue walls were a refreshing background for rust-coloured, raw terracotta which could have been interestingly resolved here and enclosed in unobvious forms such as the filling of a screen or wall relief where the rhythm of repeated elements created an interesting effect. The panorama of Milan, visible from the windows, combined this arrangement with the city as a reminder of how important their own identity is for Italians. The combination of crafts tradition and modern charm is the specialty of the inhabitants of the Apennine Peninsula.

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Tarkett, Formations

How do you show a bit of transparent material, almost nameless background floors of schools and hospitals and how do you draw the attention of architects and a wider audience? Attention paid to vinyl floors manufactured by Tarkett was most often dictated by its utilitarian features i.e. ease of use and durability. No one perceived this finishing material as a visually attractive product. That is why, up until now, they have been on the antipodes of designers’ interests in addition to the areas mentioned above. However, Tarkett decided to change it. To implement this plan, they invited the Swedish Note Design studio, which, apart from the patterns, also designed an installation called ‘Formations’ and, a few months earlier, “Snowtopped” during the Design Week in Stockholm. Similarly to the capital of Sweden, where the design was based on a minimalist but also strong motif made of vinyl granule mounds, the creators put an emphasis on sculptural expression in Milan. In the historical interior of Cricolo Historico Milanese, they proposed scaled totems in vivid colours and shapes but made from the blocks of material which formed elements of interior architecture and furniture e.g. partitions or benches. There were also miniature architectural motifs such as arches or stairs spaced like a chessboard. The entirety, partially sensational, partially functional, very accurately demonstrated the possibilities of the material.

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Nilufar

It is difficult to imagine the galleries landscape of the Lombardy capital or even the entire world without Nilufar and its charismatic founder – Nina Yashar. For many years she has shaped taste in the world of design. They are, like Milan itself, eclectic but far from bland designer cakes. Eclecticism is a rather complex narrative here. Interesting, intriguing, intellectually demanding and undoubtedly beautiful. Thanks to sensitivity, experience and knowledge, Yashar can compose a unique offer from such distant themes. In addition, in her galleries she combines both antiques with post-modernism and art déco with contemporary or conceptual design. Her exhibition this year was a must-see for enthusiasts of classic design as was the presentation of Brazilian modernism organised by the American Espasso brand.

In Nilufar you could admire, among other things, furniture of such classics as Osvaldo Borsani, the designer and founder of Tecno. His designs, like Portaluppi, Ponti and Albini, constitute a unique Milanese style. This year, Yashar also invited present artists such as Studio Vedet, Space Caviar and Patricia Urquiola to the arrangement. Contemporary proposals came from Michael Anastassiades, Martino Gamper (with whom she has been working for years) and Brigitte Niedermair. Again, it turned out that no one except her can mix distant motives into a unique aesthetic cocktail.

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Samsung

At the Milan Design Week, Samsung prepared an interactive installation of “Resonance”, which allowed visitors to create art through “everyday activities” such as breathing, talking or moving around. The installation consisted of a series of spaces resembling a maze and divided into three different zones: “Empathy”, “Discovery” and “Immersion”. The first one, filled with soft coloured lighting and aimed at “stimulating internal sentiments” together with the other one, provided space for three interactive installations: one could change the shapes and size of objects – through our eyes they grew or contracted by creating patterns of light with the help of voice or activated by thousands of balls bouncing by touch. “Immersion” – the end zone – was focused on visitors’ traffic and encouraged guests to take steps that triggered specific sounds or cast lovely streaks of light.

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More: http://design.samsung.com/global/index.html

 

Nendo

The Nendo installation of Daikin guides visitors along a winding path through 17,000 “flowers” that are actually made of polarising film. Each flower is placed at a different height according to specific intervals so that the whole space looks like a smooth, undulating landscape – like a real flower garden.

To create a unique spatial experience, Nendo used 115 polarising reflectors with individually controlled ceiling-suspended motors. The movement of polarising films on the lights allows for a continuous change in the intensity of floral shadows: once they are more visible – sometimes transparent – until they disappear altogether, although there is no change in the amount of light in space and there is no air in the room. Thanks to this trick, the shadows seem to be moved by a gentle breeze passing through the garden.

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Tomás Saraceno for Bulgari

The intimate space of the Milan Planetarium turned out to be an ideal venue for Tomás Sarceno’s exhibition entitled “Weaving the Cosmos” in which the macro scale of the cosmos is connected both theoretically and physically with the micro world of spiders.

Saraceno was inspired by the similarities between the composition of the cosmic network and the complex network of spider networks that were noted by scientists i.e. metal constructions of installations that cover huge spider webs, float suspended in a dark dome, illuminated by the delicate light of the planetarium stars and intense rays of light. Hanging in structures based on the geometry of the constellations of Virgo, Scorpio and Cancer, cobwebs look like galaxy systems in motion. The perception of sound combines with the visual one thanks to the sophisticated sound systems developed by the Saraceno studio. The activity of spiders on the web can be felt through vibrations, which are a metaphor of gravitational waves that transcend the space-time of the universe.

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Pleasure & Treasure by Advantage Austria

The exhibition presenting the highest-class selection of the latest products designed in Austria was conceived as an extraordinary stage design experience. Architects Michael Vasku and Andreas Klug transformed the magnificent Sala Reale, which once served as a private waiting room for the royal family at the main station of Milan, in the ‘design pool’. Wanting to find the way to exhibits – products of interior design: home accessories, office furniture or lighting –  guests would break through the sea of foam. It is worth mentioning that all exhibits were selected based on the degree of innovation, quality of performance and formal qualities by a panel of four experts.

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More: https://www.advantageaustria.org/austriandesign/ausstellung.en.html

 

COS

Mamou-Mani was supposed to create a pavilion that would lead visitors through the courtyard of the 16th-century Palazzo Isimbardi and the gardens surrounding it. COS wanted to combine architecture with the natural world in this way by presenting the possibilities of digital production and the use of renewable materials.

Built using bio-plastic using the 3D printing method and open-source software, the pavilion was to show the potential of parametric design: each of its modules was created using an algorithmic process that guarantees structural suitability and optimises the amount of material needed.

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We look forward to next year’s edition!