Design Debuts from Issey Miyake, Loro Piana, Loewe, and More

Arper
Salone del Mobile
New from design house Arper is a seating system with endless possibilities—the Ralik collection by Ichiro Iwasaki. Chic and contemporary with rounded rectangular shapes, the modular Ralik sofa system features a seat with a backrest, a pouf, and one- and two-seat bench components, which can be linked together for one large sectional or kept apart for a cluster of smaller seating options. Personalize the Ralik to fit your space, choosing from colorful mix-and-match upholstery options like warm yellow, teal, electric blue, and burnt orange, various colorways for the sculptural L-shaped legs, and options for adjoining side tables. Each piece is made for convenient disassembly to aid in replacing and recycling parts and has been crafted from a blend of sustainable and recycled materials. 

BuzziSpace “More than Lighting”
Salone del Mobile
Part of the Euroluce lighting exhibition at Salone del Mobile Milano, the latest from the Belgian design label BuzziSpace is a presentation entitled “More than Lighting”. Bringing to the table three new lighting styles—the BuzziBurner, BuzziSurf, and BuzziPebl—the introductions move beyond simple lighting with their lighthearted aesthetic, versatility and color options, and a design concept that takes into consideration acoustics to dampen excessive noise in their space of inhabitants. The BuzziPebl takes the form of a wall-hanging, organic-shaped fixture in a stone hue, omitting a soft halo of warm light. In hues like purple, blue, and yellow are the thick, padded upholstery of the Buzziburner pendant and the flat, elongated BuzziSurf, which comes in size options like 1, 3, or 5 bulbs. 

ISSEY MIYAKE: “Thinking Design, Making Design: Type-V Nature Architects” 
ISSEY MIYAKE Milan
This collaboration between A-POC ABLE ISSEY MIYAKE and the engineering design company Nature Architects, Inc. examines the many possibilities of the clothing brand’s latest developments and design solutions. Searching for the pinnacle of fabric design, together the pair have conceived a prototype for a special metamaterial (a fabrication employing technologies beyond the properties found in nature) that requires minimal sewing, instead relying on high-temperature steam to transform it into three-dimensional garments. The presentation “Thinking Design, Making Design: Type-V Nature Architects” demonstrates the methods behind this new innovation, its potential for creating complex pleating and clothing techniques that could not be realized before, and what this new technology means for other areas of design—like furniture, lighting fixtures, and even architecture.

"LOEWE Chairs"
Palazzo Isimbardi
While LOEWE has once again chosen to highlight artisanal weaving techniques, recalling its 2022 focus on woven baskets, the form of the chair is the protagonist of this year’s Milan Design Week presentation. Imagined in leather, raffia, shearling, and even the foil used to make thermal blankets, the house’s artful concept showcases the commonplace stick chair (a simplistic construction dating back to the 10th century) transformed into thoughtful, inventive specimens of craft at the hand of several artisans. Featuring 30 stick chairs in total, 22 are antique artifacts that have been embellished and restored by various creators, while eight have been imagined entirely anew. Also on view is a series of paper loom chairs by the Belgian designer Vincent Sheppard, looking at this unique-but-durable weaving method that dates back to the start of World War I in the United States.

Loro Piana “Apacheta” 
Cortile della Seta
Loro Piana Interiors’s “Apacheta” looks to the Andean traveling traditions and Argentinian culture of the designer Cristián Mohaded, by which the collection was imagined. Installed in a dreamlike landscape within the Cortile della Seta, these rounded, organic furniture shapes have been inspired by their namesake, the stone Apachetas that have marked the paths in the Andes mountains for centuries, gradually built up by travelers in thanks to Mother Earth, until they became the massive rock towers that exist today. Encompassing a series of seating options and side tables, Mohaded’s designs have been created responsibly in harmony with the earth, appearing like smooth rocks and stones and imagined in tactile materials like natural fabrics, hand-carved wood, and ceramic. 

“Buccellati Rosso Maraviglia”
Buccellati via Brisa
At Buccellati’s via Brisa headquarters, the jewelry house is presenting the exhibition “Buccellati Rosso Maraviglia” for the occasion of Milan Design Week, introducing a collection of silver table accessories and a collaboration with the glassmakers Venini. Outdoors on the terrace, studio AMDL CIRCLE and the architect Michele De Lucchi have conceived an encompassing red Pantheon-inspired installation, which was curated by Federica Sala and features a magical garden installation by Lily Kwong. Wrapped in red hues and Kwong’s botanical masterpiece, visitors will find gorgeous debuts for the table, like silver platters, flora-inspired decorative dishes, and finely-crafted plates and other pieces in glass.