The Dezeen team are reporting live from Milan Design Week (15-19 April). Read on for all the coverage from the second day (Tuesday 16 April) – and follow the live feed for today’s activity!
5:00pm Salone del Mobile – the world’s largest furniture fair – always has a number of fun and attention-grabbing stands, reports Dezeen deputy editor Cajsa Carlson.
Among the favourites this year? Italian furniture brand Kartell, whose Urban Horizons stand featured striking cityscapes and drew a large crowd.
The colourful cutouts formed the background for products (such as designer Fabio Novembre’s new Pumo lamp) and gave the fairground a cinematic feel.
And with that, this live feed wraps for day two at Milan design week and we’ll see you tomorrow – if not before, out and about at the events taking place across Milan tonight!
4:30pm Fun textiles projects from students of CSM’s Material Futures course are on show at Base Milano, Dezeen design editor Jennifer Hahn reports.
Jehnna Yang is showing alpine gear for wildlife photographers that was designed to blend into its surroundings and – unlike traditional outdoor gear – is made completely without plastic.
Instead, the kit is infused with flavonoid compounds derived from alpine flora, which help to waterproof and shield from UV.
Nearby, Ilaria Quintè is showing textiles infused with pigments from microalgae, which according to the designer have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties that can help to alleviate some of the symptoms of dermatitis without the need for steroid creams.
4:00pm Architect Francis Kéré has created a circular pavilion made from pine logs, which is being exhibited in collaboration with kitchen brand Next125 at Superstudio Events.
Kéré described his design as “archaic” when speaking with Dezeen’s Starr Charles.
The pavilion explores the concept of kitchens and is centred with a sleek kitchen island from Next125’s range that acts as a communal space for gathering and sharing.
3:45pm At the Palazzo Clerici, German automobile manufacturer Porsche presents the fifth version of The Art of Dreams.
Design collective Numen/For Use created a huge black and white netted installation. The interactive artwork fills the courtyard and was animated by dancers, with choreography by Imre and Marne van Opstal, at the launch event on 16 April.
A limited edition furniture collection by Vitra for Porsche features Eames shell chairs in black and white houndstooth, which is also on display – Rupert Bickersteth
Find out more about Porsche – The Art of Dreams on Dezeen Events Guide ›
3:15pm Sabine Marcelis and Paul Cournet have worked with French studio hall.haus to create a lounge for the Saudi Arabian city of AlUla during Milan design week called Design Space AlUla.
Speaking to Dezeen US editor Ben Dreith, Marcelis said “we’ve really tried to transform this space into something that does justice to the projects, but also really gives you a feeling of what AlUla is like”.
“It feels like you’re coming in through the rocks and then arriving in this oasis.”
The installation features a massive sofa with a table in the middle and a huge overhead light, as well as a dune-like entry way.
The downwards-facing light above the central space aims to mimic the light in AlUla.
Marcelis said the goal was to completely transform the chapel that the installation is held in.
2:45pm Dezeen deputy editor Cajsa Carlson has taken a journey into filmmaker David Lynch’s world at furniture trade show Salone del Mobile. The director has designed two “Thinking Rooms” for the fair, both identical to each other.
Each of the rooms features a gigantic chair designed by Lynch in a setting that he created from the ground up – including dreamlike video windows and strange antennas that come out from the top of the chair.
Curator Antonio Monda said his reason for working with Lynch was that he knew of the filmmaker’s interest in furniture design.
“I remembered going to see Lynch about his Lifetime Achievement Award when I was running the Rome Film Festival, and I found him in his workshop, planing a piece of furniture,” he said.
The busy installation saw plenty of people queuing to get their own time inside the room, which is meant to be used for meditation and contemplation.
2:30pm Dezeen editorial director Max Fraser visited the Solgami meets Seagram installation in Zona Tortona, where architect and designer Ben Berwick is demonstrating his Solgami Ambient Light System.
The system is a site-specific, modular window treatment that enhances and directs natural light and reduces thermal dynamics in the built environment.
“Buildings account for 39 percent of global emissions, 28 percent of which arise from energy related to heating and cooling,” said Berwick.
“80 percent of buildings that will be in use in 2050 have already been built today. It is imperative that we improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings. The biggest factor in doing this is minimising heat transfer through glazed facades and windows. The lack of, or oversupply of, light is the biggest factor influencing this heat transfer.”
Fitted to existing buildings, the 20mm-thick screen is designed to stabilise internal temperatures, providing greater amounts of visible light where it is needed and reducing infrared and ultraviolet radiation.
In his installation, Berwick highlights the famous Seagram building, which was designed by Mies van der Rohe in the oil-rich 1950s without consideration for the energy required to heat and cool the interior.
Berwick is calling for a rapid retrofit programme to our older buildings to reduce their current energy burden.
1:30pm The Dezeen Studio team are also in Milan and have produced this video from the opening of a retrospective exhibition about Italian designer Alessandro Mendini.
The exhibition – titled Io Sono Un Drago (I am a dragon) – is on show at cultural institution Triennale Milano, hosted with the Fondation Cartier, from today (16 April) until 13 October.
12:45pm Google has returned to Milan design week with a kaleidoscopic installation by research studio Chromasonic, designed to simulate the experience of having synesthesia.
Dezeen design editor Jennifer Hahn has visited the installation, which stretches across 600 square metres inside a redeveloped industrial building near Porta Venezia, taking visitors on a “sensorial journey” through a maze of semi-transparent screens.
Read the full story below ›
12:30pm Tiramisù!
11:45am Moooi returns to its regular Milan location at Salone dei Tessuti with its Living Room concept, envisaged by the brand’s creative director Marcel Wanders.
“The design industry has been obsessed with adding more and more stimuli to our spaces”
The space is a curated sensory environment with a strong emphasis on the interplay between light, sound and smell as much as physical products.
“The design industry has been obsessed with adding more and more stimuli to our spaces,” says Moooi’s Arjen Stege.
“This year we’re exploring a more dynamic shift to the mood and feel of a room throughout the day, adding stimulation when you need energising but also reducing it when you need rest.”
A 40-minute light and sound loop evolves in the space alongside displays of new products from the brand, including the new Peaks sofa by Yves Behar.
On Thursday 18 April, Dezeen’s Max Fraser will moderate a panel of expert speakers including Yves Behar, Lidewij Edelkoort and Marcel Wanders as they discuss lighting and the senses in design.
11:00am Minimalist lighting collections by Formafantasma and Nendo contrast with the decadent room in which they are displayed at Milan’s Instituto dei Ciechi.
Glass company WonderGlass has transformed the space for their Contrasto installation displaying the two new collections.
Formafantasma paired Murano glass flowers with steel and cast glass, while Nendo aimed to capture “the gentle glow of twilight” with its curved bronzed glass lamps – Jane Englefield
10:30am Lamps that look like pillows, soft furnishings modelled on stacked mattresses and rugs emblazoned with abstract interpretations of private body parts feature in Faye Toogood’s Rude Arts Club.
The installation brings together new products created by the British designer for CC-Tapis and Tacchini that explore womanhood and female sexuality.
“I’m a couple of years off being 50 and I spent the last 20-30 years in design not really drawing attention to being female,” Toogood told Dezeen design editor Jennifer Hahn.
“This is my take on embracing all that comes with being a woman.”
10:00am You can now read Starr Charles’ conversation with Japanese designer Hideki Yoshimoto from the Lexus launch she attended yesterday (see 2:30pm entry).
Yoshimoto has unveiled an immersive art installation, in collaboration with car brand for their LF-ZC (Lexus Future Zero-emission Catalyst) concept car.
Speaking to Charles at the installation, the designer said “I wanted to create something which gives you an impression of kind of future-looking exploration or toward the future of different dimensions of this industry”.
9:00am As the Dezeen team head out across the city for day two, catch up on everything that took place yesterday on day one of Milan design week.
At the Palazzo San Fedele, Bottega Veneta have installed more than 150 stools from the set design of their Autumn Winter 2024 fashion show earlier this year.
The stools, which are a special edition of the Le Corbusier LC14 Tabouret Cabanon, have been produced with Italian manufacturer Cassina and in close collaboration with Fondation Le Corbusier.
For the Milan design week installation, 60 of the wooden stools stools have been upholstered with Bottega Veneta’s woven “intrecciato” leatherwork technique in bright colours – Rupert Bickersteth
To keep you up to date, follow the live coverage from. You can catch up on everything that happened on day one at Milan design week.
Dezeen Events Guide has created a Milan design week digital guide highlighting the key events at the festival.
See Dezeen Events Guide for all the latest information you need to know to attend the event, as well as a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.
All times are London time.
The lead image is by Rupert Bickersteth.
