Impressions from Milan Design Week 2022
Elementa visited Milan during Milan Design Week earlier this month. More than a hundred different events and venues filled the city from the 6th to 12th of June, and below are some of this year’s highlights!
Students from Muthesius University of Fine Arts and Design created ten inflatable products, including a transparent suitcase and a blow-up seat for an installation called Air Supply at Milan design week.
Photo: Muthesius University of Fine Arts and Design.
Alcova:
Alcova was launched as a platform for independent design in 2018 by the founders of Space Caviar (Joseph Grima) and Studio Vedét (Valentina Ciuffi). This years edition was housed in an urban park, spread across the outdoors areas and a number of buildings such as an industrial laundry and a nunnery - a welcome break from the busy city center of Milan during the Design Week. The 2022 ehibition included works by renown studios such as Snøhetta, Forma Fantasma and Sabine Marcelis, as well as up-and-coming talents such as Leo Maher, Natlia Triantafylli and Andrew Pierce and Leilei Wu.
The exhibition focused on the relationship between landscape and material, and explored the ways in which Norway’s distinctive topography and abundant natural resources have shaped its design identity.
Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Photo: Sebastian Stadler
Norwegian Presence:
This years edition of the Norwegian Presence exhibition, MATTER, was located within the beautiful Galleria Milano in the Brera district. The Exhibition was produced by DOGA and curated by Kråkvik&D’Orazio, the exhibition showcased a selection of Norwegian designers and producers. This years list of designers and makers consisted of Trond Meyer, Poppy Lawman, Pettersen&Hein, Nebil Zaman, Julia K. Person, Henrik Ødegaard, Hallgeir Homstvedt, Brave New Lines, Edvin Klasso and Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng. The manufacturers were Jotun, FjordFiesta, Vestre, Nedre Foss, Minus, Lundhs, Gudbrandsdalens Uldvarefabrik and Hydro. The exhibition filled both the halls of the Galleria Milano, and its green courtyard.
Like the First Time is a love letter to the art of improvisation. Fascinated by the borderless language of sound, Niclas works with immaterial spaces with a technical background as a foundation. He creates a wordless interactive playground that brings focus to the sensitivity of social interactions.
Photo: Niclas Ekwall
Photo: Niclas Ekwall
Isola Design District:
The Isola Design District consisted of a more than 250 international designers and studios spread over 40 locations in the Isola neighbourhood in Milan. This included the Rising Talents exhibition, No Space for Waste at Stecca3, The Social Side of Design and designers with solo exhibitions, such as Niclas Ekwall who showcased his interactive sound installation, “Like the First Time”.
This project started by researching the history of the Moon vase, a large, round and milky traditional Korean porcelain, and the macrame, the knotting technique. Hi Kyuung deconstructed used kitchen ceramics obtained from a secondhand store and reconstructed them into the shape of the Moon Vase. Paraffin wax in various colors was used to fix them around a wick made out of the macrame technique. Once the wick is lit, the vase evolves into different stages over time. The object in the shape of Moon Vase reveals the liquidity of tradition and cultural identity, thereby asking how we, now and here, define them by ourselves.
Photo: Hi Kyung Eun
BASE:
At BASE, one could find the exhibition “We Will Design”. The exhibition brought together work from emerging studios, designers, universities, and academies, as well as casaBASE, a residence for five young designers; Rebecca Schedler, Joppe Broers, Goliath Dyèvre, Kaajal Modi, and Nicholas Rapagnani. Additionally, one could find a range of projects by young designers, such as “The Paradoxical Screen” by Valentine Maurice and “Panta Rhei” by Hi Kyung Eun. BASE also hosted the IKEA Festival, which included both indoor and outdoor events as well as launches of new projects.
In the foreground, Fransje Gimbreres sculptures from natural fibre and recycled plastic. Behind is Lucas Maassen's "Forever Young".
Photo: Federico Floriani
Design Academy Eindhoven Intergenerational Graduation Show:
During the Design Week, 150 graduation projects by alumni from Design Academy Eindhoven where showcased as a celebration of the schools 75th anniversary. The exhibition was located in an UNESCO heritage site, Via Vincenzo Monti, and included works by Lucas Maassen, Vera Van Der Burg, Youngwon Noh, Benedetta Pompili, Maarten Baas, Bruno Baietto, Gabriel Maher, Formafantasma, Flora Lechner and Sho Ota.
