Sustainable Creations
By Lilian Dabat
How important is design? actually, that may be an unfair question, after all, how often do we stop and think about a well-designed kettle or mug, even the seat we are sitting in now as we read this. Great design often is not noticed, felt or seen as it is so part of our every day that it’s probably fair to say we take it for granted. Almost every interaction in our daily world means we connect with well-designed products from the simplest items to the most complex. Yearly in Milan, Italy there is a celebration of design called Salone Del Mobile, so what does 2022 have to offer in way of newness and trends? You can read more here about sustainable creations here; items that we may not even notice in our day to day lives but that have a huge impact on our lives
The year 2022 represents a turning point in the world. It marks the beginning of the end of covid, a rebirth of freedoms and therefore the return of important events around the world. This year, the 60th edition of Salone del Mobile Milano will take place from June 7 to 12 at Fiera Milano.
This important exhibition celebrates the talent of great designers around the world, and now also celebrates the key values anchored in this event, which are quality, innovation, beauty and, now more than ever, sustainability.
This year the objective will be to show that is possible and crucial to start living again after this pandemic which has been active for two years while integrating through all these international events sustainability and environmental awareness in the furniture production.
Ecology and sustainability are the two most important sectors currently within the lives of creators around the world. The event has put in place a series of guidelines to help exhibitors and designers meet the fundamental criteria of sustainability. Reusable materials such as wood or other recycled materials that have a low environmental impact should be used and preferred during this event as well as for the design of this furniture
The show will welcome 2,2000 exhibitors and more than 600 young designers under 35 years old. This fair, which will therefore also welcome visitors, will have the aim of taking spectators on a journey through the different stands, the different creations and the new collection of all these new designers.
During this five-day exhibition in the heart of Milan, spectators can witness the commemoration of 20 years of the world design empire created by the famous British designer Tom Dixon. This collection is called Twenty will aim to also commemorate the 60th edition of this event. All these collections are presented in two different places: the Palazzo Serbelloni and the Manzoni.
This exhibition will aim to show the world new exhibitions from this great designer but also rework some of these exhibitions like Mirror ball melt and fat.
During this edition of the Salone del Mobile, many well-known artists, such as Viganò & C. will present their works and collections. Their collection, named
Outdoor Generation @ work + Well-being & Healthiness aims to use colourful textiles, ergonomic design and aesthetic products used in the field of interior design, all with a great sense of topicality, with the idea of contamination with lifestyle.
To illustrate this moment, Emiliano Ponzi created an Illustrated poster to represent what the 60th edition of the Salone del Mobile will look like: spectators from all over the world, their eyes filled with wonder at the talent present.
The most important point of this poster is its living and immersive element: each QR code scanner will animate this poster to make it come to life, creating an effect of surprise and poetry. This living part has been realised by Alkanoids, a Milanese studio specialising in motion graphics, 2D and 3D animation.
Huge and prestigious global design competitions are coming back to life following the end of this pandemic. This is also the case with the Superstudio Superdesign show; an event dating back to the 2000s under the artistic direction of Gisella Borioli and the art direction of Giulio Cappellini, who succeeded in elevating this complex event with a prestigious status.
This competition allows not only to combine design with many categories such as furniture, robotics or 3D but also to gather in its heart countries from all over the world such as the Middle East or Asia, for example with Toshiya Hayashi and Hokuto Ando from Tokyo’s we+ studio with his aluminium sculpture called Toyo Aluminium “Resonance: Vortex to Diversity.
Among all the projects of this event, the most important is Super Design. It focuses on research and the extraordinary in everyday life, on freedom of choice and the link between the classic and the avant-garde, between industry and craftsmanship, between tradition and the future and between simplicity and wonder. This avant-garde project looks to the future, asking questions about the design of tomorrow and how it will be explored, taking into account that the barriers of design have already been surpassed.
If you are hoping to make it to the show there are a few installations that are already being discussed on top of the Tom Dixon event.
Eindhoven in Milan
Design Academy Eindhoven is celebrating its 75th anniversary in Milan this year, by bringing together original graduation works from the history of the design school.
The event will show over 150 objects with a “mix of generations, mediums and materials” highlighting the creativity and talent of the school’s graduates over the past years.
IKEA
Interestingly populist Furniture brand IKEA is also taking part in Milan design week with its IKEA Festival, which will encompass installations as well as events and entertainment.
It will include some collaboration with the company collections and designs that it is working on with a number of designers, including the likes of Ilse Crawford and Sabine Marcelis.
New Times (Made in Slovenia)
The New Times exhibition, created by the Centre for Creativity is a platform created to support Slovenia’s creative sector and so will explore designs that aim to “break with established social habits.”
See 22 products on display, including crockery made from wild urban clay and ocean plastic that has been turned into a terrazzo-like material.
Another birthday celebration comes via Lee Broom
Marking the brand’s 15-year anniversary, the British designer will showcase a series of six new ethereal lighting pieces, inspired by places of worship.
Divine Inspiration will be the first lighting release for Lee Broom in four years and include a range of materials including a limited-edition collection in white plaster which is hand crafted by the designer himself.
Another British team showing at Salone Del Mobile is Industrial Facility. Showing two collaborations with Thonet Germany. The S220 chair is a new addition and uses the three material technologies that Thonet pioneered: steel tube, moulded plywood and steam-bent beech wood. Each has been pushed to its limits while staying true to Michael Thonet’s original belief that good design should last and be as accessible as possible. The second is a table that can extend from 1.89M to 2.97M while maintaining a purely aesthetic appearance of a thin top with 4 round legs. It achieves this simplicity by using a recycled aluminium leg extrusion that is held in compression using a threaded steel bar with die castings.
Also on show is Alter a copper-toned mirror set inside an angled Finnish pine box. Behind the box’s shallow sides are hooks for hanging keys and other items.
For the 60th Anniversary edition of the Milan Salone del Mobile, SCP are pleased to present an exhibition of new designs situated within the beautiful main cloisters of Padiglione Brera in the Brera Design District. The new collection explores the language of sitting through new chair, sofa and table designs. Featuring a selection of pieces that acknowledge the changing domestic and work landscape of modern times, made in materials that are natural, sustainable and liveable. Designers include such luminaries as Ilse Crawford & Oscar Peña, Matthew Hilton, Sarah Kay, Philippe Malouin, Wilkinson & Rivera, Donna Wilson, Terence Woodgate
Right De Baile Collection
Wilkinson & Rivera, Left Ilse Crawford & Oscar Peña
Porsche – The Art of Dreams
Porsche goes on display for the first time at Milan Design Week with an immersive installation that is part of its new art initiative “The Art of Dreams.” Through the work of floral artist Ruby Barber, Porsche aims to explore the relationship between nature and technology with an immersive, dreamlike installation at Palazzo Clerici.
Also showing at Brera Design District is Stark with their installation Momentum. The company is devoted to multimedia installations and interactive experiences, so Stark investigates the time-space/environment relationship by means of a visual and experiential installation in the magic space of Acquario Civico. Momentum embodies two visions of time, scientific time and the human lifetime, time as we experience it.
Stella McCartney – Future of Fashion. This is the second edition of a travelling and evolving installation by British conscious luxury pioneer Stella McCartney The Future of Fashion at Caselli di Porta Nuova invites the world to discover the limitless possibilities of material innovation for creating a more nature-positive market – kinder to Mother Earth and better for business. Attendees can explore curated items crafted from pioneering fibres, (re)using everything from mushrooms to clothing waste. Key areas of focus will include vegan, mycelium, regenerated and plant-based innovations from Stella McCartney’s two decades of leadership in this space.
If installations to do with anything green work for you then why not swing by Interni Design Re-Generation – Feeling the Energy. On the occasion of the INTERNI Design Re-Generation exhibition organized by the magazine directed by Gilda Bojardi for the FuoriSalone2022, CRA – Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota design Feeling The Energy, an interactive installation at Milan’s Botanical Garden for Plenitude. The project uses 500 meters of anti-bacterial copper pipe to create a path where people can discover multiple forms of sustainable energy production and play with its resulting effect: sound, light, evaporative cooling, in an interactive experience. The exhibition magically follows the Orto Botanico di Brera existing trails. Human interaction is made safe thanks to the anti-bacterial properties of copper, which was contributed by multinational manufacturer KME.
LOEWE joins the show for its sixth instalment with Weave, Restore, Renew: a poliform project that revolves around the idea of giving new life to things that might have been forgotten or discarded, and turning them into new, unique pieces by repairing and reviving them through craft interventions. Acts of manual labour give new meaning to each object, honouring the object’s history and value and preserving it for the future. Such a way of approaching the artisanal process sits right at the crossroad between respect for the environment and respect for the product. Looking at traditional crafts both from Spain and abroad, turning ages-old techniques into something unexpected: an expression of the now, with a soul. Weave, Restore, Renew explores leather weaving, the Galician straw-weaving tradition known as Coroza and the Korean technique of paper weaving known as Jiseung.
The fashion crossover at Salone Del Mobile is not just from Stella and Loewe but several designers this season have shown wallpapers.
D SQUARED2 announces the launch of its first wallpaper collection, co-created with luxury wallpaper manufacturers LONDONART, the collection is printed with the brand’s iconic motifs. Find D SQUARED2 world represented, from the great North to Milan and Mykonos.
A serene scene of a Canadian forest sweeps from floor to ceiling in one print, while others feature patterns from the runway: red-and-black check, camouflage denim and a floral print embellished with graffiti.
PHILIPP PLEIN is introducing a fashion luxury HOME collection created in collaboration with Eichholtz for furniture, and Zambaiti Parati, a historical Italian company and international leader in wallpaper covers. The collection is realized with premium materials, richness of details, strong iconicity and colours, the key ingredients to making cool, glamorous, and unconventional home project. The images to support have been shot by the illustrious Ellen Von Unworth
Fashion brand slowear has also collaborated and shown this year at Salone. They collaborated with WRAD for a capsule collection dedicated to responsible fashion and more ethical production.
The WRÅD x Slowear mini capsule-collection features an exclusive limited-edition selection of 100 t-shirts and 20 sweatshirts, made with the time and care required for the handcrafted expertise and original botanical printing techniques used.
Lastly Jewellery Designer turned furniture creator Lara Bohinc displayed at Alcova ‘Peaches’ the latest collection of seating. Unified by smooth curves and soft surfaces, ‘Peaches ’is Bohinc’s most curvaceous and organic collection to date – a pure celebration of femininity and the female form.
Comprising three pieces; Big Girl armchair, Derrière armchair and Peachy pouffe, ‘Peaches’ is inspired by the female body and its curves. Each piece represents huggable feminine figures, expressed with voluptuous smooth curves, shapely surfaces and fleshy folds that are reminiscent of bosoms and bottoms.
“The female form has always been a source of inspiration in art, photography and design but often with an unrealistic eye or as a response to society’s perception of how the female body ’should’ look. I wanted the Peaches collection to be a pure and unabashed celebration of femininity and the female form, celebrating every curvy, voluptuous and fleshy detail.” – Says Bohinc
If you want more information about Salone del mobile, please click here
If you want more information about the event « Super Design », please click here
If you want to know more about the Twenty collection by Tom Dixon, you can click here
Design Academy Eindhoven Via Vincenzo Monti 59
IKEA BASE Milano, Via Bergognone 34
New Times (Made in Slovenia) Opificio 31, Officina 1, Via Tortona 31
For more information on Lee Broom please click Here
For more information on SCP please click Here
For Industrial Facility.co.uk please visit Circolo Filologico Milanese, Via Clerici 10, Milan and Rossana Orlandi Gallery, 14-16 Via Matteo Bandello, 20123 Milan
For Porsche, Stark, Stella McCartney, and Interni Design Re-Generation – Feeling the Energy visit the Brera Design District
Loewe Palazzo Isimbardi 6 – 12 June 2022
D SQUARED2 wallpaper can be found here
WRÅD x Slowear can be found here
If you enjoy reading Sustainable creations, you can read 21 for 20 here
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