Milan Design Week Highlights: Part 2
Scroll down for this installation by Studiopepe.
LEE ESTE POST EN ESPAÑOL.
Milan Design Week is now over and done with. We’ve all digested the awe-inspiring spaces, appreciated the contrast of a 16th-century castle with a day-old 3D-printed installation, and taken in the endless variety of colors, textures and forms. As you probably know, we sent nonstop Instagram stories, sharing hundreds of live photos which you can still check out in our highlights! Here’s part two of our coverage from the fair, so scroll down for some of the best.
Raw material by Hermès
Park and Oseraie
A tray that combines the vernacular skill of basketry with simple lines enhanced with natural leather handles.
High fashion luxury goods manufacturer, Hermès, embraced raw materials and an earthy backdrop for the presentation of its new home collection. Set in a hall previously reserved for hosting games of Basque Pelota, the exhibition space designed by Hermès artistic director Charlotte Macaux Perelman sent visitors on a labyrinth tour of stone walling, leading visitors to discover the newest products of its latest collection. The incredible space even featured a café in the colors of the fabrics and wallpapers collection. hermes.com
Marni Moonwalk
As you may recall, Italian house of fashion Marni has been exploring the world of Colombian craftsmanship for years by means of colorful furniture installations in the brand’s showroom during Milan Design Week. This year, the brand created their own version of a landing on the moon with Marni Moonwalk, a show that combined primitive allure with futuristic vibes.
The moonwalk setup featured a sensory journey into the creative universe of Marni, populated by furniture objects in shapes and colors that evoke spaceships, resemble tribal aliens, and at times, seem to glow in the dark. Even in the middle of the day, the space was set up as pitch-black with blue-tinted spotlight, and a large central ramp guided visitors up to a playground area featuring a pair of slides. Below, visitors were ushered through a path of sculptural coffee tables and lamps, animal-shaped stools, totemic benches and stools, colorful and natural fiber rugs, glasses and blown glass bottles, and the brand’s now-signature PVC and metal furniture pieces, all celebrating the color and vibrance signature of the Marni brand and Colombian artisanship. marni.com
Land Poggi Uno by Masquespacio for Martina Gamboni
Traditional craft meets contemporary staging. To celebrate its 100th anniversary, Italian terracotta producer Poggi Ugo entrusted award-winning Spanish creative consultancy Masquespacio and curator Valentina Guidi Ottobri to create “Land,” a site-specific installation that rediscovers the earth (in Italian “terra”) in its natural essence as a lush and peaceful oasis. The pale blue walls and matching carpet had us at hello. masquespacio.com
Far by Nilufar
The industrial setting at Nilufar Depot housed these multicolor car-lacquered foam benches, screens and planters by Odd Matter.
This year, the Milanese gallery Nilufar relaunched FAR, last year’s pilot project for emerging designers designed by Space Caviar and curated by Studio Vedèt. FAR presented a ‘temporary collective’ of young talent that is known for forming, dissolving, regrouping, and ungrouping to no end, resulting in a larger group of experimental designers that challenged conventional concepts of form and function. The eclectic display was unlike anything we’d ever seen at design week, giving way to an experimental environment that turns the future of design on its head. nilufar.com
Palermouno
Last year, interior designer Sophie Wannenes first decided to transform her former Milan home into a design gallery in the city’s vibrant Brera Design District. The 150 square-meter, eight-room hub which takes over an entire second floor apartment, showcases a nice mix of vintage, modern and contemporary pieces, never disregarding that signature Milanese glamour. palermouno.it
Les arcanistes by studiopepe
Studiopepe—the Milan-based interiors duo made up of Arianna Lelli Mami and Chiara Di Pinto —is often a highlight of design week, and this year, we would venture to say, was no different. Held inside a large turn-of-the-century industrial hall used for the manufacturing of gold, “Les Arcanistes” is a tribute to those considered to be the first chemists, or makers of porcelain, glass and metals.
The studio collaborated with over twenty partners to create an immersive journey marked by designer and bespoke pieces, new editions of historic pieces, artists’ multiples, a wunderkammer of materials, and a sequence of smaller installation spaces that give way to a vast hall showcasing the rituality of contemporary living. Exploring the importance of materiality, the theatrical setting was flanked by performers, like the Buto dancer who served us water, or the botanical chemist who created elixirs from dried leaves. studiopepe.info
surface stories by tarkett + note studio
Note Design Studio joined forces with materials experts Tarkett for a second time to pioneer the use of vinyl. The result was IQ Surface, a range that places equal focus on function, form and expression of color. Inside Milan’s splendid Circolo Filologico, the creative scope of the new vinyl flooring collection comes to life in an immersive platform featuring a walk-through labyrinth of totemic sculptures. notedesignstudio.se
Wallpaper* Handmade
To commemorate its tenth anniversary, Wallpaper* Handmade celebrated its most emotional exhibit by far, asking designers, artists and artisans to interpet the theme of love in its infinite variety. Held at the Salone dei Tessuti, a hall built at the end of the 1920s to exhibit fabrics, Wallpaper* Handmade X presented “heart-swelling tools, tokens and totems of affection co-created by marrying the brightest and best designers, artists and architects with the finest craftsmen, makers and manufacturers.” wallpaper.com
