Milan Moments
Arrivederci Milano!
Grazi for an amazing week of design, art, installations, product releases and conversations with so much on offer!
Salone del Mobil.Milano at Rho Fiera embraced global design, showcasing new thinking and products. Combined with design thinking conversations on future thinking and the integration of artificial intelligence into human designs, we heard new ideas and challenges for how we create future spaces and places.
Drafting Futures, conversations around Next Perspectives, were held in the round over five days with highlights by British artist Es Devlin and Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino.
The Euroluce International Lighting Forum was set in the ‘Forest of Space’ arena, designed by Sou Fujimoto, with inspiring conversations from solar and lighting designers, artists, consultants, and a plant biologist.
Global brands showcased bold designs, design collaborations, colour, and texture, with Segis celebrating Plose in all its tonal variations, contrasted with the simple purity of Midgard Licht with light as functional art.
Ceramics, wood, stone and glass were highlighted in both furniture and accessories across brands and artisans like Zanat. This focus on natural materials alongside products designed for disassembly repair and recyclability, key components of circular design, captivated attendees.
Products that captivated
Superwave by Oblure, a creative non glare solution to beam lighting with individual up and down lighting controls
Nikari Linea KVP11 table, beautifully designed for meeting use in workplace or the home.
Flow by Montbel, beautifully sized with flexible use for foyers and public spaces.
Segis Plose shell chair, simple structure with multiple base options for every occasion.
Ecobirdy collaboration on capturing post production waste in the Reborn range of outdoor furniture
Zanat Tara Shelf with cabinet
Ayno by Midgard Licht - minimalist design, adjustability in use
Abstracta Vika wall lighting
Central Milano celebrated design in all its forms across multiple cultural spaces and places, showrooms, and design stores. With much to see we focussed on emerging design and materiality, circular design, ceramics, and art installations, viewed in Tortona and Brera design districts.
These included
Es Devlin - Library of Light, a luminous theatre of reflection at the cortile d’onore within the historic Pinacoteca di Brera
Growing Matters, 80 suspended mycelium spheres, by Henning Larsen in collaboration with the Material Research Lab of the Politecnico di Milano.
Aevum, structures created from waste stone materials 3D printed by Zaha Hadid Architects
Making Kin at Base Milano, an invitation to rethink how we relate across generations through a Reframing Design impact, by DOMUS Academy
Mother, an immersive experience in dialogue with Michelangelo’s unfinished work Pieta Rondanini at Castello Sforzesco
What we also loved?
Dinner at Etereo rooftop bar and restaurant, Casa Brera a recently completed hotel refurbishment designed by Patricia Urquiola.
Visiting the Duomo di Milano, Piazza del Duomo, and Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
Strolling through the grounds of Castello Sforzesco,
Drinks overlooking Como di Lago at the Infinity Bar, at Vista Palazzo
Reading on Gio Ponti and visiting Ginori 1735 flagship store in Brera district
Loewe Teapots a curated exhibition with work in ceramics by 25 artists, designers and architects at the Lowe Foundation, Brera district.