A look at Milan Design Week 2019

When Katie invited me to contribute to Pirouette and explained that my first assignment would be to go to Milan Design Week I jumped at the chance. As an interior designer based in Paris the opportunity to explore the goings-on in Milan and share my feelings about it with you was all too much to resist…

My passion is mixing styles – it’s why MDW is so important for me. During the week the city hosts an extraordinary and vast array of design genres, the perfect example of how to mix it up Milan style.

The Atmosphere

The MILAN DESIGN WEEK events are spread throughout the city but are concentrated in specific districts. The whole area is big and you need a lot of time to travel between venues, so don’t forget about good shoes :) … An umbrella can also help occasionally, as I found out!

 

BRERA DESIGN DISTRICT – The largest design promotion district in Italy, an international point of reference, Milan’s center for creative, commercial and cultural development.

TORTONA DESIGN DISTRICT – A new edition of Tortona Design Week begins, an event not to be missed in Fuorisalone, fueled by a mix of big names and new proposals, product and service innovations, technologies and traditions. All within a circuit of exhibitors, events, places and initiatives that have always embodied the broadest sense of Milan Design Week.

ISOLA DESIGN DISTRICT – Isola Design District is a territorial marketing project created to give visibility to new international designers and local artisans. Isola is one of the liveliest areas of Milan.

5VIE ART + DESIGN – Thanks to the specificity of the conservation program and the progressive success of previous editions, 5VIE art + design is now recognized internationally as the new state-of-the-art research and design center.

As always, full of surprises

Trends

Milan – Where design meets history.

One of the great benefits of Design Week are the open doors that are usually closed during the rest of the year. Milan is famous for its courtyards and historic buildings. These, for a few days, become accessible and decorated in a festive way thanks to the intervention of designers and companies who know how to enhance these spaces.

It is during this week when we can discover the city and fall in love with it. Here I would like to show you some of the fantastic places I visited during the Milan Design Week,

Palazzo Litta

The exhibition is a journey through the building starting from the public spaces on the ground floor and developing through the PIANO NOBILE where, one after another, the historic Baroque salons play host to the most contemporary design.

Palais Cusani

Creator of extraordinary installations evoking childhood dreams, Marc Ange presents for the 2019 edition of Fuorisalone the exhibition “Un monde extraordinaire” at the Palazzo Cusani – an 18th-century historic building in the heart of the Brera Design District.

The exhibition focuses on the multi-faceted experimental journey in the utopian world of the artist. The journey starts from the courtyard featuring a bar and imaginary garden complete with a monumental work by the designer in collaboration with the brand St- Germain – the iconic liqueur of French origin. Each bottle containing a thousand fresh elderflowers. The journey then continues to the noble floor of the building up to the main floor, characterised by several communicating rooms, each expressing a different aspect of its utopian world housing the new collection of Creator’s furniture, including a new version of the famous Refuge: The Night Haven.

Milan – where design meets fashion

COS

Presents Conifera, an architectural installation realized with a large-scale 3D print made from renewable materials and designed by the French architect Arthur Mamou-Mani and his London studio.
The installation, designed and built numerically, is the result of the interlocking of seven hundred bi-modular bricks, generated by a 3D printer mixing wood and bioplastic. Conifera, which aspires to become one of the largest facilities designed and built using this method, represents a new generation of architecture, showcasing technological advances, material innovation and creativity.

MISSONI

Angela Missoni pursues what appears to be a search for artistic empathy, juxtapositions and creative interactions centered on matter and color. Entrusting the design of a space environment MISSONI Via Solferino to the visionary nature of Alessandra Roveda, who, with colorful woolen threads, loves to cover objects and furniture of memory.

And he designed a project for the occasion – a magical fairytale interior covered with colorful knits. Bringing life to one of his most spectacular, demanding and ambitious works.

HERMES

As with every year, Hermes presents its latest collections dedicated to the house, under the artistic direction of Charlotte Macaux Perelman, at the Pelota. Lamps by Barber & Osgerby and Tomás Alonso, plaids by Nathalie Du Pasquier, multi colored vases …

Dedar & Hermès team up to present a common collection of fabrics and wallpapers. In particular, the motive Animals camouflaged jungle version of the Polish artist Jan Bajtlik.

Dimore Studio

A true star of Italian design, the Dimore Studio duo sets the tone for the Milanese design week. Even before the official launch of Salone del Mobile 2019, the duo invests into several venues in the Lombard capital, including the former Arti cinema, architecture of 1935, to present their latest creations.

In a resolutely fashionable world, Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci first unveil “Interstellar”: an installation inspired by fashion shows where their very 70’s furniture is displayed.

Selection of events – which I couldn’t miss…

NILUFAR Gallery

Chez Nina’s – Episode II
For the second year in a row, interior designer India Mahdavi has set the scene for Nina’s nightclub. On the program: colorful velvet of course, and luminaires by Vibeke Fonnesberg Schmidt.

At home with The Socialite family

A must-have decorative label, The Socialite Family is the first online channel dedicated to the decoration and lifestyle of contemporary, urban and related families. Every week, the site publishes reports on interiors inspired by this new generation of parents and meets with today’s creators and entrepreneurs.
Since 2017, The Socialite Family is also a standalone brand. With its design studio, The Socialite Family creates and develops its collections, from furniture to decoration accessories to lighting. The idea is to offer quality parts, made in Europe, at a fair price, without intermediaries and without retailers. A source of inspiration? The French-Italian roots of its founder, Constance Gennari, are mingled with her childhood memories.

Not to be missed in Milan at anytime of the year!

Fondazione Prada

Co-chaired by Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli since 1995, the Fondazione Prada is an institution dedicated to contemporary art and culture. From 1993 to 2010, the Fondazione has organised 24 solo shows at its exhibition spaces in Milan, conceived as dialogues with acclaimed contemporary artists. In 2015, the Fondazione Prada opened a new, permanent facility in Milan.

Bar Luce – Prada Foundation

Designed by film director Wes Anderson, Bar Luce recreates the atmosphere of a typical Milanese cafè. Although his movies often favour symmetrical tableaux, Anderson feels that ‘there is no ideal angle for this space. It is for real life, and ought to have numerous good spots for eating, drinking, talking, reading, etc.

The Rossana Orlandi Gallery

A must-see for the off-road, the influential Rossana Orlandi gallery, known for its unparalleled flair, presents the Guiltlessplastic exhibition. After having invited designers from around the world to unveil their projects, objects or prototypes made from recycled or recyclable plastic, the winners of the four categories of the Plastic Prize, presented during the Milan Salon, will exhibit their pieces in the gallery. On the sidelines of this event, new designers will make their appearances like Giancarlo Valle and Anna Karlin with her Dimple lamp combining glass, brass and pink marble.

10 CORSO COMO

Set in the inner courtyard of a traditional Milanese palazzo, 10 Corso Como, designed by Kris Rush, is as much a cultural exploration as it is a shopping destination. The multifunctional space for meeting and mingling features a gallery, a bookshop, a fashion-focused store, a restaurant and cafe, a rooftop garden and three room hotel.

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The incredible 2019 edition of Milan Design Week ended with excellent results in terms of audience and attendance and an increased turnover for the city of Milano despite the unfavourable weather. Hopefully next year there will be a little more sun, and fewer showers!

With 1,348 events, 950 locations, 316,000 users on the web, 77,500 followers on social media, Fuorisalone recorded an average increase in visits of 18% compared to the previous edition, confirming it as one of the most lively weeks in Milan.

Hopefully you enjoyed this the most beautiful week of the year with me.

And don’t forget ! Fix the date for the next edition – 20/26 April 2020 !

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