The exhibitions, projects, events, and product launches the top design, luxury, and fashion brands are presenting in Milan this week.
Lexus
Lexus Design Award
Lexus International is celebrating the winner of the prestigious Lexus Design Award. The winner, to be announced during Salone del Mobile, has been selected from a group of 12 finalists (narrowed down from a pool of 1,300 entries from 68 countries) by a panel of international leaders in the worlds of architecture and design, including David Adjaye and Shigeru Ban. Prototypes by the four finalists and detailed presentation boards from the other eight finalists’ designs will be showcased as part of the Lexus Design Event in Milan.
Courtesy of Google.
Max Mara
Lavaprisms
Max Mara and Safilo Group present “Lavaprisms,” the third collaboration between the two companies and painter Kerstin Brätsch, a collection of limited-edition sunglasses. The eyewear was created with the UNITED BROTHERS collective (founded by the performance artist Ei Arakawa and his brother, Tomoo Arakawa, who runs tanning salons in Fukushima, Japan) as well, its inspiration involving a journey from the volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands, Campi Flegrei, and the island of Stromboli. The concept looks at volcanoes as a source of energy, light, and metamorphosis.
SP01
Tim Rundle Collection
SP01 will return to Archiproducts in Milan this April to present its latest collection by Tim Rundle, a London-based designer originally from New Zealand. Drawing from the Art Deco and modernist architecture in and around Sydney, the brand’s hometown, the collection embodies international glamour through its ten character-driven designs. Industrial metals and luxe jewel-tone fabrics effortlessly come together with the unparalleled quality of SP01’s Italian manufacturing process. The result is a mature collection that balances crisp geometric forms with sophisticated materials, to achieve a distinct visual lightness.
Courtesy of Atelier Swarovski.
Dada
Ratio Design Vincent Van Duysen
Van Duysen focuses his attention on the spaces set aside for preparing and enjoying food. Hence Ratio is a modular kitchen, made up of components not dissimilar to those of the foundation of a building. Metallic grids form the architecture of base and wall units, columns, hoods, and accessories. There is a Mediterranean warmth and character to the overall design, alternating between fine woods and natural stones. Van Duysen’s design also proposes corner solutions, central islands, and accessory units, along with snack counters and perfectly integrated, innovative washing and cooking solutions.
Molteni&C
Teorema Design
Designer Ron Gilad sees “Teorema” as a collection based on the geometric form of a void, turning a chest of drawers featuring rotating elements in space into a storage unit where containment and open glass parts are superimposed to create a single solid with a densely faceted surface. The drawers can be placed in axis or at 45 degrees. The finish, in either canaletto walnut or eucalyptus, is a blend between the micrometrical precision of the mechanical machining and the craftsmanship involved in folding and gluing the structural elements.
Courtesy of SP01.
Caesarstone
Altered States by Snarkitechture
The leading quartz manufacturer has collaborated with the New York–based practice Snarkitecture for its 2018 Designer Program. The 2018 collaboration will focus on the icon of the modern home, the kitchen island. This year’s collaboration will see a realistic and practical interpretation of Caesarstone, one that looks at the functionality of the kitchen while drawing from Snarkitecture’s signature blend of architecture and art. “We are very interested in the shifting role of the kitchen space and wanted to be leading this discussion,” said Raanan Zilberman, CEO of Caesarstone.
Atelier Swarovski
Nendo x Atelier Swarovski Home Collection
During Salone del Mobile, Swarovski debuts its third Atelier Swarovski “Home” collection, designed by John Pawson, Patricia Urquiola, Nendo, and British fashion designer Peter Pilotto. Nadja Swarovski will also present a brand-new in-house collection offered at a more accessible price point, including a series of trays, vases, and candles.
Flos
Arrangements, bu Michael Anastassiades
Flos is partner for miart this year and will create a site-specific light installation in the fair’s VIP Lounge. There, in the area reserved for three-star Michelin restaurant Da Vittorio, will be Michael Anastassiades’s “Arrangements.” The project is a modular system of geometric LED elements that can be combined in multiple single chandelier compositions, like light chain
pendants. Anastassiades has worked successfully with Flos since 2013, creating collections like “String Lights,” “IC Lights,” “Copycat,” and “Captain Flint.”
B&B Italia
Bay
B&B Italia is debuting “Bay” B&B Italia Outdoor, designed by Doshi Levien; “Astrum,” Maxalto, designed by Antonio Citterio; and “Otium,” Maxalto, also designed by Citterio. “Bay” is a collection of sculptural and monolithic yet visually light outdoor seats consisting of a sofa in two sizes, an armchair, and a high-backed armchair. The Astrum table comes in a brand-new version with an oval top, available in numerous finishes. And Otium is a new seating system that stands out for its contemporary but classic style, generous proportions, and great comfort.
Photo by Alex Lukey.
Louis Vuitton
Marcel Wanders Diamond Mirror
For Milan Design Week, Louis Vuitton will present its ever-expanding and always moving “Objets Nomades” collection. In addition to favorites by artists and designers like Patricia Urquiola, Tokujin Yoshioka, Marcel Wanders, Atelier Oï, and India Mahdavi, this year Louis Vuitton will present some new additions and a new universe of decorative objects, like a vase composed of leather patches by Fernando & Humberto Campana, the Brazilian brothers known for their unique approach to material and shape.
Cappellini
O.Cap
Cappelini is presenting O.Cap by Jasper Morrison and the Newood chair by Brogliato Traverso. O.Cap features a body in full-grain or pigmented leather with a raw cut. The aluminum base was designed to create an effect of maximum lightness. The Newood chair is a lightweight and more contemporary version of a Windsor chair. Newood is the first stackable chair completely made of wood by Cappellini. A second, more essential version, Newood Light, features a backrest without the classic sticks.
Courtesy of Cassina.
Hermes
Maîtres de la Forêt Mosaïque
In Milan, Hermès presents its new collections for the home, which are all about color. At the Museo della Permanente, the house will showcase objects, home textiles, furniture, furnishing fabrics, and wallpaper. The 2018–2019 collections are presented in a structured space designed by Charlotte Macaux Perelman, deputy artistic director for Hermès Maison, with Alexis Fabry. A new dinner service will also be unveiled for the occasion, in the visitors’ café. Color, harmony, and materials are expressed through all the creations in Hermès’s home universe.
Google
Softwear
Google will present “Softwear” during Salone del Mobile. Google is making its Salone del Mobile debut in partnership with the visionary Dutch forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort at Spazio Rossana Orlandi. The installation will reimagine Edelkoort’s 1997 forecast concept “SOFTWEAR.” Conceptualized a year before Google was founded, “SOFTWEAR” referred to a lifestyle in which hard technology meets soft materials, a cozy form of nesting that equated well-being with working from home. The Eindhoven- based Dutch designer Kiki van Eijk will weave Google design products into an interactive interior.
Courtesy of Brunello Cucinelli.
Minotti
Prince Cord Outdoor Armchair
Minotti is presenting the Prince Cord Outdoor, designed by Rodolfo Dordoni. Inspired by the original version launched in 2012, Prince Cord Outdoor today unveils the structure of the shell covered with a braided polypropylene cord, available in different colors. Its design, inspired by the American modernism of the fifties, is underlined by the aluminum base realized through a complex die-casting process. The seat and back cushions emphasize the chair’s softness.
Vitra
Typecasting
In conjunction with Milan Design Week 2018, Vitra presents the exhibition “Typecasting,” an assembly of iconic, forgotten, and new Vitra characters. On view is a panorama of some 200 objects curated by the designer Robert Stadler. Drawing on the extensive Vitra archives, Stadler places current products alongside icons, prototypes, special editions, rejects, and future visions. The social function of furniture in today’s society is a central focus of the exhibition, which is set in the former sports arena La Pelota.
Photo by Germano Borrelli.
Nanimarquina
Tres Vegetal
Nanimarquina is expanding its popular “Tres Vegetal” collection with the use of new fibers. The rustic collection uses hemp, a hand-spun fiber chosen for to its biodegradable quality. Both lightweight and resistant, its flat weave is created in India, generated by the crossing of the hemp, wool and felt fibers and their different thicknesses, and in shades of beige, ivory,
or off-white fibers. In combination with the rugs, poufs were added, creating spaces that are warm, welcoming, and functional.
Henge
Ace Table & Starlight Chandelier
Henge is presenting over 30 new products throughout Milan. Highlights include the Ace Table and the Starlight lamp. Intended for dining spaces, the Ace Table is characterized by an organic shape, featuring a large handmade briar-root mosaic top standing on antiqued cast-bronze legs. The new Starlight is an example of an antiqued cast-bronze lighting architecture
composed of Y-shaped arms arranged on two levels. Also available in a chandelier version, the lamp will be presented as a suspended horizontal composition.
COS
Phillip K. Smith III x COS
The London-based fashion brand COS presents a large-scale sculptural installation by the American artist Phillip K. Smith III, marking COS’s seventh consecutive installation during Salone del Mobile and its first collaboration with Smith. Inspired by Italian Renaissance architecture, the Milanese sky, and the understated simplicity of the COS design aesthetic, Smith will create a site-specific outdoor architectural sculpture in the 16th-century courtyard and garden of Palazzo Isimbardi.
Valextra
Kengo Kuma: The Enchanted Forest
Valextra debuts the latest transformation of the brand’s Via Manzoni boutique, designed by the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. Through an aesthetic reinvention, their latest installation by Kuma, entitled “The Forest,” immerses customers and visitors in a magical, urban wonderland, intended as a fairytale-like location. Kuma describes the space’s aesthetic makeover as a “game of encounters.” Viewers are invited to discover Valextra’s leather goods on 136 wooden tree slats. Mirrored ceilings reflect a sense of never-ending height and playfulness, full of spatial and visual exploration.
Fendi Casa
Thierry Lemaire
Thierry Lemaire has designed a capsule collection for Salone del Mobile, exclusively exhibited this week at the Fendi Casa Store at Via Montenapoleone 3, in Milan. The French architect and interior designer has worked internationally in places like Switzerland, Portugal, Austria, Lebanon, Morocco, and Tunisia. He has designed pieces for Fendi’s flagship stores, as well as for couturier Stéphane Rolland and dealer Yves Gastou.
Natuzzi Italia
Furrow Sofa by Marcel Wanders
Marcel Wanders has created a contemporary yet culturally rooted collection for Natuzzi based on the landscape of the brand’s Puglia home. Wanders designed rounded sofas and armchairs, covered in reddish-brown leather and finished with saddle stitching. Large oval terra cotta vases with handles made from cord appear alongside compact rounded poufs with cord handles covered in leather. The designer also created terra cotta trays, wood furniture, and a rug inspired by the knotty trunks of olive trees.
Brunello Cucinelli
Anima Mundi
Brunello Cucinelli will debut its Spring/Summer 2018 lifestyle and home collections during Salone del Mobile at their Via Monte Napoleone boutique in Milan. The light of summer, from dawn to dusk, is clearly a source for the palette of this fabric-filled collection, while the sea, sand, and stars serve as inspiration for natural shapes and textures. It includes cushions in linen, wool, and cotton; terry bath linens and towels; linen, silk, and fringed blankets and throws; and even leisure bags.
Ermenegildo Zegna
Uomini All’Italiana
For the 50th anniversary of the company’s entry into the world of prêt-à-porter, Ermenegildo Zegna presents the new “Zegna Toyz” collection designed by artistic director Alessandro Sartori and made in Pelle TessutaTM, an innovative fabric obtained by using very thin strips of nappa leather in place of fabric yarns woven on a loom with an exclusive technology. This is all in celebration of Zegna know-how from the past to the future and combines handcrafted savoir-faire and technological innovation.
Zanotta
Stories
Tecno presents “Zanotta: Stories,” an exhibition about contemporary spaces and ways of living, hosted in the Porta Garibaldi Excise Buildings. From contemporary collections to iconic products that have become part of the collective consciousness, the rich history of Zanotta explores new avenues through a partnership with Tecno, offering its own unique interpretation of a cultural dimension that revolves around individuals, their relationships, and their needs. Designed by Studio Calvi Brambilla, “Zanotta: Stories” is a virtual home, inhabited by global citizens who represent the most current lifestyles.
Marni
Marni La Vereda
Marni is hosting a colorful Vereda festival, bringing the sights and sensations of Colombian artistic traditions to Milan. Las Veredas are clusters of houses that give rise to small, rural communities. With this backdrop, Marni has created a collection of furnishings and accessories inspired by folklore, craft, and material. Working directly with artisans in Colombia, Marni’s new accessories feature handmade papier-mâché, beading, and woven details. Sales of the products will support La casa sull’albero, which benefits those fostering children in Milan.
Hem Brera Atelier
The Kumo Sofa and Dolina
The Stockholm-based design brand unveils two new collections at its exhibition space in Brera. The Kumo Sofa by the Norwegian designers and sofa-virtuosos Anderssen & Voll is a ship- smart modular system that can be configured as a one, two, three, four or more seater. Also debuting is Dolina, a new chair by the Italian design studio LucidiPevere. Hem will also exhibit a curated selection of furniture, homewares, and the recent collection including Bon, Dune, and the Hai chair.
Bisazza
Bisazza Bagno Collection by India Mahdavi
Bisazza will debut a new “Bisazza Bagno” collection in collaboration with the French designer India Mahdavi. “Bisazzo Bagno” collections go perfectly with the design brand’s other product lines, including the well-known “Mosaic” series, as well as its “Home” furnishing accessories collection. Bisazza has long been an industry leader and trailblazer in glass mosaics for interiors and exteriors. Founded by Renato Bisazza in 1956 in Northern Italy, the company now has flagship stores in Milan, London, Los Angeles, Paris, and New York.
Alessi
100 Years of Achille Castiglioni
Alessi is celebrating the designer and architect Achille Castiglioni with re-editions of his iconic products. The collaboration between Achille Castiglioni and Alessi started in 1980, when Alberto Alessi suggested that they develop a cutlery set together. The first collaboration was the Dry cutlery set, which was followed by several projects. Dry continues to be one of Alessi’s best-selling products. For the 100th anniversary of the designer’s birthday, the 18/10 stainless steel cutlery set will be produced in a special edition boasting a copper PVD coating.
Moleskine
Pen + Ellipse
Moleskine will debut a kinetic light and musical installation in the Tortona area of Milan this week. The theme of the event will continue a dialogue around a scientific topic of the right brain versus the left brain, and creativity versus productivity, first addressed at a New York tech product launch back in February. Moleskin is also hosting several panels and workshops
at its flagship Moleskine Café around a consciously creative theme.
Cassina
LC3
Cassina debuts the LC3 Exemplaire Personnel and the Beugel Stoel by Gerrit T. Rietveld. Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, and Charlotte Perriand designed the iconic LC3 in 1928 as part of their revolutionary Villa Church interiors project. Now Cassina is producing the two of the architects’ versions for the first time, the LC and the CP versions. The Beugel Stoel (Dutch for “metal brace chair”) is being industrially produced. The stool is a further example of Rietveld’s unmistakable style where the separation of constructive elements is central. Designed in 1927, it was one of the first chairs to have such a thin metal structure among the models known from this era.
SONY
Hidden Senses
SONY has created “Hidden Senses,” a sensorial experience visualizing an enriched lifestyle for a new tomorrow. Visitors are invited to see, hear, smell, and feel senses that inform their everyday lives. Challenging the constraints and preconceptions between technology and human behavior, while interacting with familiar objects in a contextual space, the exhibition will be
composed of five case studies to be revealed step by step, using applied, interactive technology.
Cartier
Santos de Cartier
Cartier returns to Salone del Mobile to celebrate the legend of its iconic Santos watch, which will come alive in the Arco della Pace at Piazza Sempione’s former customs booths. Built in the 19th century and recently renovated, this is an iconic setting in Milan that represents a strong bond with the maison’s home in Paris. In Milan, the luxury brand has created an interactive space to host events and social labs that showcase Cartier’s pioneering spirit.
