Milan Design Week: Bulgari, Panasonic, Panerai, and More

Bulgari debuted three separate exhibitions in Milan this week. One, on display in the Brera Design District, is a labyrinth-like installation that immerses visitors in an abstract universe of modularity and color. The Bulgari Hotel is home to the second, a giant mirrored cube containing a camera that generates GIFs for visitors to share on social media. The third, at the Montenapoleone Boutique, houses the Bulgari Gallery, featuring the B.zero 1 collection.

Panasonic celebrates its 100^th anniversary this week with “Air Inventions.” The dome-like pavilion showcases Panasonic’s latest air-conditioning technologies. The brand, which is now focusing their products on an overall sense of wellbeing, paired the lovely, cool air with a series of light and sound effects to make “Air Inventions” a place where visitors can escape the busy pace of Milan Design Week.

Gabriel Scott, in collaboration with Bar Basso, created a set of light fixtures that are now on display in the restaurant. The jewel-box lighting installation was inspired by Bar Basso’s iconic cocktail, the Negroni Sbagliato.

Wallpaper* introduced their latest edition of Handmade, “Wellness + Wonder.” Meant to be an oasis, “Wellness + Wonder” features an assortment of calming vendors and activities like Mae Engelgeer’s hugging column, Xavier Lust’s bristle massage chair, and a pop-up shop by WallpaperSTORE*.

Gagosian Gallery and Garage Italia debuted “Blair Thurman–Nell’Acqua Azzura.” Influenced by Pop art and relics from his childhood, American artist Blair Thurman celebrates the Italian Futurist tradition of exchanges between the automobile and art through a series of minimalistic and abstract works.

“Open Sky” fills the courtyard of Palazzo Isimbardi with dreamy, surrealist vibes that visitors can experience all week during Salone del Mobile. This site-specific installation, a collaboration between COS and Philip K. Smith III, is a mirrored semi-circle structure that is meant to interact with the nature around it and pull the sky to the ground.

Panerai presented “Candela,” an installation exploring a new take on the concepts of time and light. Created as collaboration between ceramicist Ian McIntyre, graphic designer Michael Montgomery, and designer Felix de Pass, the work is a narrative of both art and science that encompasses the things Panerai watches hold dear—innovation, the continuous flow of time, and luminescence. Candela (previously displayed in London at the Victoria & Albert Museum) can be seen for the first time in Italy at the Triennale di Milano.