This year's Milan Design Week (15.-21.04.2024), the largest plattform in the field for dialogue and innovation, where professionals and amateurs meet for seven days of events, experiences and exchanges of ideas from around the world, will remain in our thoughts for a long time. With an intensive programme of visiting numerous exhibitions, installations, product premieres and waiting in long queues on the pavements, we celebrated the ultimate in craftsmanship in the matter. With more than 1.000 events during Milan Design Week, we couldn't possibly review them all, as much as we would like to. But before we continue with our spring programme, we look back with optimism and tell you briefly how the past days went and which were some of the key stops and focal points through which we experienced all the delightful forms of design.
Our absolute immersion in the vibrant urban landscape begins at DROPCITY, a new architecture and design centre in Milan, a place to explore, present, experiment and apply alternative forms of design and architecture. Located inside connected tunnels just behind Milan's Central Station, DROPCITY is a project by architect Andrea Caputo that began in 2018. Scheduled to open permanently in October 2024, DROPCITY aims to create a one-of-a-kind urban model that will house exhibition galleries, fabrication workshops, carpentry, robotics and innovative prototyping labs.
Our first stop in DROPCITY is the ELEMENTS exhibition by the Czech curator and theorist in design architecture and visual arts, co-founder of the OKOLO creative collective, Adam Štěch who, by the way, was a speaker at the International MELBA Design Symposium 2022. For ELEMENTS, Adam Šczech selected his favourite close-ups and displayed over 3,000 photographs from his personal archive. The selection focuses on unique architectural and interior details from the 20th century.
At the same time, DROPCITY's labyrinth-like connected tunnels are hosting a variety of events, such as lectures, seminars, diverse design exhibitions and performances that reveal the potential of the long-awaited public centre for architecture and design, which will officially open in October 2024. Among the protagonists here: Sam Chermayeff, Berlin; WE+, Tokyo; Archimosphere, Seoul; Adam Stech, Prague; WASP 3D Printing, Italia; XL EXTRALIGHT®, Italia; Muthesius University, Kiel; Fake Authentic, Italia; 6:AM GLASSWORKS, Italia; SOCII collective, Tbilisi.
Since its inception in 2018 by Valentina Ciuffi (Studio Vedèt) and Joseph Grima (Space Caviar), the international platform for contemporary design Alcova has become one of the most followed projects at Fuorisalone, attracting over 90,000 visitors annually. Since then, the project has organised exhibitions in abandoned buildings in Milan, taking the public off the beaten track of the Design Week. This year, the group exhibition is located in two iconic but little-known villas in a remote area of Milan - Villa Bagatti Valsecchi and Villa Borsani.
The two villas are a spectacular backdrop to the two curators' exceptional selection, featuring projects by more than 70 international exhibitors, including established names in the field as well as independent designers and galleries, emerging talent, schools and academies. An almost surreal microcosm where we come together to imagine the future of design through experimental aesthetics, installations, sustainable materials and production processes.
After Alcova, we're in a hurry to head to the impressive design displays at the Triennale di Milano, where we drop into the exhibition celebrating the 80th anniversary of American furniture manufacturer Emeco, curated by British designer Jasper Morrison. The exhibit takes us through a fascinating narrative of the brand's evolution from government and military supplier to international furniture maker that today collaborates with many of the world's leading architects and designers. The exhibit focuses on the past and history of the iconic 1006 Navy Chair, designed in 1944 for the U.S. Navy with the idea of being lightweight, corrosion-resistant and fireproof.
In addition to the Emeco retrospective, the Triennale also looks at the interior of a full-scale home created by French designer Inga Sempé for the Design Week. The installation at the museum, entitled 'The Imperfect Home', invites visitors to step inside and experience colourful spaces filled with functional everyday objects that every home possesses.
Back in the city and the epicentre of the events, the design district of Brera, we head to Flos' dazzling installation, showcasing the brand's latest objects, in the fantastic historic 18th-century Baroque Palazzo Visconti. A prelude to it is a short film-conversation between the five designers whose objects are featured in the exhibition: Michael Anastasiades (with the IC 10 Anniversary collection), Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby (with Bellhop Glass), Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Faresin of Formafantasma (with SuperWire). For the video shoot, they spent a day together talking, playing board games and answering questions about their current and past daily lives.
The inventive use of mirrors and reflections further enhances the contrast between the opulent baroque interiors and clean glass objects, and the significance of the location goes beyond its architectural value. For it was in Palazzo Visconti 36 years ago that Flos presented the first lamp created by an international designer, namely Philippe Starck. The exhibition is inspired by an archival photograph taken during this historic presentation in 1988.
Another lighting display that inevitably caught our attention was 'Loewe Lamps'. The Spanish fashion brand is represented with an exhibition of lamps created in collaboration with 24 international artists. Driven by their shared desire to handcraft functional objects that use light in inventive ways, the participants use a variety of materials such as birch twigs, horsehair, glass and leather to create the light fixtures. Each object reflects Loewe's diverse identity.
In recent years, Hermès presentations have established themselves as one of the highlights of Milan Design Week - and we can confirm that 2024 is no exception. The French fashion house led us on a mystical experience between past and present, heritage and tradition. Amidst a completely dark and dramatic space, the archive and new objects presented stand out even more clearly.
Adjacent to the world of fine Hermès objects is the collective exhibition "Blond Laboratory", which features seven of the world's leading industrial designers: Hirotaka Tako, John Tree, Jon Marshall, Form Us With Love, Maddalena Casadei and James Melia and Julie Richoz. The exhibition, designed and curated by London-based industrial design studio BLOND, features new designs that respond to the concept of living 'offline', inspired by real artefacts that are no longer in production. Alongside the final prototypes and initial artefacts, Blond Laboratory outlines the designers' creative processes.
"Materia Natura", the main focus of Fuorisalone this year, is a bold call for sustainability across the industry. In view of the threatening environmental crises facing humanity today, merging design with conservation efforts is not just a "smart" solution - it is the only way to survive in the future.
One of the many exhibitions dealing closely with sustainability as a guiding principle and core value in creative and design processes is by a team of researchers and designers from the Swiss University of Art and Design ECAL. UPS - Under Pressure Solutions is an experimental research project aimed at reducing the furniture industry's environmental impact through the use of shape memory materials. Inspired by Gaetano Pesce's original Up chair concept for B&B Italia, the two-year research led to the development of a 100% cellulose fibre, similar to a sponge, which can be used to design compact objects and immersed in water to reach its full size.
The exhibition showcases the process and results of this research, led by five industrial designers teaching at ECAL, as well as objects designed by students on the MA Product Design programme, revealing the innovative and creative potential of cellulose sponge.
Our tour of the vast world of design ends at Rossana Orlandi Gallery - an absolute must-stop for professionals and lovers of contemporary design. A whimsical venue that artfully combines the work of rising talents and independent brands in its spaces, this year the gallery hosts The Moroso Gallery of Wonders, a current project by industrial designer Ron Arad, notorious for his sculpted, modernist architecture and furniture.
Also impressive is the exhibition Thoughts of Thickness, curated by the Korea Foundation for Craft and Design. The exhibition explores contemporary Korean crafts and carries a clear message of silent contemplation of the simplicity and aesthetics of Korean culture; of deeper understanding and communication, empathy and appreciation for nature. With this deep immersion into the artistic identity and contemporary cultural landscape of Korea, our Fuorisalone 2024 comes to an end.
Thank you, Milan - we hope to see you again next year at the same time!