Carrying with it the weight of being the most important global design event to date, the city of Milan welcomed visitors from all over the world for its Milan Design Week 2024 edition. Reporting for Scandinavian MIND, I spent the whole week in the Lombard capital, clocking an average of 20,000 steps daily between exhibitions, product launches, and events chatting to designers, creatives, makers, and fellow editors. Amongst the professionals in the field, who have been criticising the industry’s tendencies to repeat itself, the overall atmosphere has been one of conviviality and open-mindedness and, once more, the exhibitions happening Fuorisalone, spread throughout the city in different design-hubs, have been the highlight throughout the week. Continuing with this trend, solidifying their presence on the design scene, fashion houses were able to put together incredible installations to attract not just professionals and design aficionados but also crowds from all walks of life amounting to queues often multiple hours long.
With a focus on innovation, research, and material experimentation, these were the five presentations that stood out:
100R — exhibition by Hydro
The world-leading Norwegian aluminum and renewable energy company presented 100R — a celebration of Hydro CIRCAL 100R, the world’s first industrial-scale aluminum product made entirely of post-consumer scrap. To showcase the material’s vast possibilities, Hydro has gathered a team of seven renowned designers to create objects from this revolutionary material.
Curated by Norwegian designer Lars Beller Fjetland, designers Inga Sempé, Max Lamb, Andreas Engesvik, Shane Schneck, Rachel Griffin, John Tree, and Philippe Malouin were enlisted to create design objects made entirely from Hydro’s new recycled aluminum. Displayed at the Capsule Plaza, the 100R exhibition perfectly aligned with the space’s ethos as a hybrid between collective exhibitions and a fair.
Flaxwood — exhibition design by Arquitectura-G for Dzek
In a new collaboration between Dzek, a British company focused on creating original architectural products rooted in slow design principles, and Dutch designer Christien Meindertsma, Flaxwood disrupts traditional linoleum production. Together, they create a natural and three-dimensional expression of a renewable and biodegradable material. ’A tangible design emergency calls on us to reconsider every part of the built environment to reduce the human impact on climate. Mass-produced modern-day linoleum stands as a testament to sustainable material innovation, comprised of 98% natural raw materials, 71% of which are rapidly renewable or recycled.’ To emphasise the material, Barcelona-based practice Arquitectura-G presented a beautifully bare exhibition.
Alder Collection by Patricia Urquiola for Mater
In contrast with the beautiful urban landscape of Milan, Mater, the Danish pioneers in green tech have launched Alder, a collection designed by renowned Spanish, Milano-based designer Patricia Urquiola. Made from a new biodegradable blend of Matek, a patented material, and technology by Mater that turns waste into a mouldable raw material, the furniture collection, which can be used indoors and outdoors, was presented with an installation in collaboration with Copenhagen-based creative studio Tableau. Using deconstructed floral elements together with waste materials from furniture production such as wood particles, coffee, and soil, the installation symbolises the cycles of nature and highlights the need to return materials to the earth.
UPS – Under Pressure Solutions by Ecal
Ecal, the Swiss University for Art and Design never ceases to amaze its visitors with its innovations and material research. As a response to the rapidly changing world, and the challenges industrial designers face, this year’s exhibition UPS-Under Pressure Solutions focuses on the process and results of the explorations around the creative potential of cellulose sponges. Inspired by Gaetano Pesce’s iconic UP5 armchair, which was vacuum-packed to reduce its volume to 1/10th to then inflate by itself once opened, this installation offers a new approach to solving the transportation issue. In this case, by imagining a lightweight furniture system made of cellulose sponge — a bio-sourced and biodegradable material — the objects can be shipped in a compressed form. Once they have reached their destination, they are moistened, allowing them to expand and reconfigure themselves — no mechanical assembly is needed.
Is One Life Enough? — Kineco
The Isola Design District this year debuts with a new location, Lampo Milano, a hub conceived out of a historic railway yard, Scalo Farini, currently providing spaces for coworking, cultural events, workshops, and design pop-up stores. Part of the exhibition Is One Life Enough? dedicated to circular design products made with sustainable materials, set up with almost zero environmental impact using recycled egg cartons as bases for its pedestals, Kineco, a Dutch material company, presented its Mycelium furniture. Mycelium is part of the fungi kingdom and is the underground structure of mushrooms. It breaks down and absorbs surrounding organic matter into nutrients and is an important part of our ecosystems and the natural process of decomposition.
Moving on to the most-talked-about exhibitions during the Milan Design Week 2024, these are worth a mention:
Time Travel & Caffe Rimowa by Nuova
The Venice Beach-based luxury creative house Nuova, an acronym for New Understanding of Various Artifacts, has made its debut on the Milan Design Week scene with two beautifully thought-through installations. The Time Travel installation was staged at the back of a bistro in the heart of Milan, as a multi-sensorial experience bringing visitors back to 1971. The combination of craftsmanship, attention to detail, and an eye for luxury design, sets the backdrop for the installation featuring furniture, lighting, garments, music, gastronomy, and music all tailored to the experience delivering an immersive experience of traveling back in time to a 1970’s Americana. The Italian-Canadian duo, founded by Enrico Pietra and Rodrigo Caula, was behind another project, Caffe Rimowa, in collaboration with Rimowa and La Marzocco. The pop-up coffee shop highlights Nova’s commitment to holistic design and its vision for luxury and craftsmanship. Guests were invited to complimentary espressos made of a unique coffee blend developed with Accademia del Caffe Espresso specially crafted for the duration of the installation.
Interni Venosta — a new furniture brand by Dimorestudio
Paying homage to the renowned Italian designer Carla Venosta, Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci, the founders of Dimorestudio, have quietly launched their new furniture brand Interni Venosta setting its debut collection, in the working laboratory of a plaster maker, Gipsoteca Fumagalli e Dossi, hidden in a typical Milan-style courtyard. The collection, comprised of seven pieces, features minimal objects inspired by Milanese interiors with a contemporary flair, and references to Contemporary American Art and the Bauhaus, with inspirations including Donald Judd and Marcel Breuer.
Formafantasma: La Casa Dentro
Presenting a selection of newly produced work, In this solo exhibition at ICA Milano curated by Alberto Salvadori and supported by the Roman-based gallery Giustini/Stagetti, Formafantasma draws inspiration from their childhood memories in Italy. They’re crafting an array of hybrid chairs and lamps seamlessly blending steel frameworks with vibrant wood, intricate fabrics, and handcrafted floral embellishments, evoking a nostalgic fusion of institutional furniture and traditional Italian home decor.
Flos: Palazzo Visconti
In the incredible setting of Palazzo Visconti, Flos, known for its commitment to innovation and respect for its heritage to lighting design, presented new lighting work by Michael Anastassiades, Formafantasma, and Barber Osgerby in a bespoke installation designed by the Barcelona-based architectural studio Arquitectura G. In a suggestive backdrop of mirrors reflecting light and the Palazzo’s trom d’oeils, the new launches honour the brand’s tradition of collaborating with renowned designers while still celebrating its legacy.
