Editor’s Picks: 10 Things To See This Milan Design Week
As the design world prepares to descend upon Milan, we’ve rounded up our list of highlights to add to your (probably already brimming) schedule
1
This year high-street fashion brand COS have partnered with London-based French architect Arthur Mamou-Mani to create Conifera – a large-scale 3D-printed architectural installation made from renewable resources. The site-specific work in Milan’s 16th century Palazzo Isimbardi has been created from seven hundred interlocking modular bio-bricks, 3D printed in a mix of wood and bioplastic.
Where: Palazzo Isimbardi, Corso Monforte 35, Milan
Follow: @cosstores @mamoumani #COSxMamouMani
2
Hong Kong designer André Fu, founder of hospitality design studio AFSO, will be showcasing his recently launched home and living collection. The collection, titled André Fu Living, will include furniture, textiles, lighting and porcelain tableware. AFSO’s impressive roster of high-end hotel projects includes the Upper House, the Andaz Singapore, the Waldorf Astoria Bangkok and the recently opened St Regis Hong Kong. He has also created suites for the Berkeley Hotel in London and interiors for Villa La Coste Provence, and has worked with fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton and COS.
Where: via San Damiano 2, Milan
Follow: @andrefuliving @afso #andrefu #andrefuliving
3
Brooklyn-based design duo Dylan Davis and Jean Lee of Ladies & Gentlemen Studio teamed up with Calico Wallpapers and Mud Australia to create the spatial concept for Still / Life. The space embraces a dual state of tranquility and vitality, revealing a calming yet enriching environment that opens the senses to elemental possibilities: a momentary daydream, a fond memory, or a chance conversation. The installation will incorporate elements of process and materiality from the exhibitors as a means to celebrate their collective creative energy.
Where: via Pietro Maroncelli 7, Milan
Follow: @ladiesandgentlemenstudio @calicowallpaper @mudaustralia #stilllife #ladiesandgentlemenstudio #calicowallpaper #mudaustralia
4
British designer Tom Dixon returns to Milan after a year’s hiatus with a space that reimagines how the brand can embed itself into the heart of the city’s cultural and design community. Aptly named The Manzoni, the new 100-cover restaurant has been created by Tom’s Design Research Studio. Pre-opening at the beginning of April to coincide with Milan Design Week, it will reopen after Salone as a permanent restaurant and a showroom.
Where: via Alessandro Manzoni 5, Milano
Follow: @tomdixonstudio @themanzoni #tomdixon #TheManzoni
5
The Socialite Family, an online platform dedicated to decoration and the art of living for contemporary, urban and connected families, will be showcasing an apartment space especially imagined for Milan Design Week. The space will showcase founder Constance Gennari’s different sources of inspiration and latest creations.
Where: via Palermo 1, Milano
Follow: @thesocialitefamily #thesocialitefamily
6
London-based Carpenters Workshop Gallery will present Anthology, a pop-up showcase at architect and artist Vincenzo De Cotiis’s namesake gallery. Curated by Claudia Rose and De Cotiis himself, the exhibition will combine pieces of De Cotiis’s own design placed in conversation with works by fifteen artists from Carpenters Workshop Gallery’s programme. The works selected for Anthology represent the archetypal gesture of material manipulation as their guiding thread. From a brutal approach to organic forms, reaching the purest conceptuality: a sculptural archive made up of elements that represent our eclectic times, establishing a dialogue among differences and consonances.
Where: Vincenzo de Cotiis Gallery, Via Carlo de Cristoforis 14, Milan
Follow: @carpentersworkshopgallery @vdecotiis #carpentersworkshopgallery #vincenzodecotiis
7
For Milan Design Week 2019, Cosentino presents its collaboration with designer Benjamin Hubert of LAYER. Titled Raytrace, it’s an immersive, architectural installation showcasing Dekton®, the ultra-compact, large format surface by Cosentino. A 25-metre-long and 6-metre-high triangular passage composed of Dekton® surfaces is seemingly balanced on a single edge within a dark, atmospheric space. Upon entering the passageway, a mesmerising caustic pattern slowly dances across the surface, emulating the refraction of light through water and evoking the serene feeling of being underwater. As visitors walk through the passage, they become an integral part of the installation, as their shadows are cast against the structure’s surface. Two mirrors at either end of the vault reflect the installation, creating the illusion of an infinite space and offering glimpses of the caustic patterns playing out on the interior.
Where: via Ferrante Aporti 27, Milan
Follow: @grupocosentino @dektonbycosentino @benjaminhubert @layer_design #raytrace #CosentinoDesign
8
Winners of the prestigious Milano Design Award in 2018 for their Monsters Cabaret, Lasvit returns this year at Euroluce with Theory of Light. After eleven years of diligent research, the Czech-based lighting design company has developed its own theory about light. They found that the beauty of light consists of four key elements – spectrum, reflection, perception, and nature, captured in four unique lighting installations. But there is also a fifth essential element which is common to all the others: glass.
Where: Salone del Mobile – Euroluce - Fiera Rho, Milan Hall 15 / Stand C43 / D36
Follow: @lasvitdesign #lasvit #lasvitdesign #theoryoflight
9
Shanghai-based designer furniture brand Stellar Works will launch a number of exciting new collections. Behind the Scenes, curated by Stellar Works’ creative directors Neri&Hu will take place at Milan’s Galleria Teatro Manzoni. Sydney-based industrial designer Tom Fereday who won Lane Crawford’s Creative Callout has been tapped to create an exclusive Stellar Works collection for the Hong Kong-based luxury retailer.
Where: Galleria Teatro Manzoni, Via Alessandro Manzoni 42, Milan
Follow: @stellar_works @lanecrawford @tom_fereday #stellarworks #lanecrawford #tomfereday
10
After a twenty-year hiatus B&B Italia returns to exhibit its newest designs at Salone del Mobile, a presence that also marks the debut of Design Holding (which includes B&B Italia, Flos and Louis Poulsen) with an impressive 4000-square-metre stand located inside the new S.Project pavilion. New designs by Antonio Citterio, Piero Lissoni, Vincent Van Duysen and Michael Anastassiades will be presented in an exhibition space that aims to highlight the technological innovation and design research of the iconic brand. The B&B Italia store on Via Durini will host a special installation to celebrate fifty years of the Up Series by Gaetano Pesce.
Where: Salone del Mobile – Fiera Rho, Milan Hall 24 - S.Project / Stand C01 E20; B&B Italia showroom – Via Durini 14, Milan
Follow: @bebitalia @flos @louispoulsen #bebitalia #SaloneDelMobile2019 #UP50 #upseries #antoniocitterio #pierolissoni #michaelanastassiades #vincentvanduysen
