Our Trip to Milan

When in Milan for Fuorisalone its essential that you visit the city itself, to soak up some culture and sun in a more relaxed and creative environment. There are so many districts and so much to see that its almost impossible to visit Brera, Tortona, Ventura Lambrate and Sant’ambrogio in just a few days. Below are a few of our favourite things that we managed to visit.

Swine Studio, the London based designers, created a multisensory installation for fashion brand COS. This blossoming sculpture was housed inside Cinema Arti, a movie theatre built in the 1930s by local architect Mario Cereghini. The sculpture emits mist-filled blossoms that burst and evaporate upon contact with skin, but exist momentarily when met with textured fabrics, a truly fun and immersive experience.

Really are an exciting new company founded by Kvadrat alumni that has created a material called Solid Textile Board which explores the issue of how to re-use the clothing, bedsheets, and other fabric-based items we throw out each year. They have developed a rigid, high-density material which is formed under high pressure in a very similar way to HPL which can be lacquered or left raw and soft. It is presented in a series of furniture pieces by the British designer Max Lamb who explores the materials potential.

Holy Handmade was this years Wallpaper exhibition inspired by the deconsecrated church Mediateca Santa Teresa that housed the installation. Wallpaper tasked a host of talented designers including the Bouroullec brothers, Tom Dixon, Doshi Levien and Martin Brudnizki to reimagine ritual, rework worship and reconsider the communal. There was also a fun installation and bar by Seletti showcasing their latest Toilepaper collection.

The American manufacturer Matter unveiled its latest collection MM XVII for Matter Made, featuring designs by Faye Toogood and Philippe Malouin. It is a very interesting new collection and there is so much potential for growth for this company and really does emphasise just how much of a hotspot Brooklyn is for design at this moment in time.

In recent years Tom Dixon really has made Milan his playground preferring to stage his installations in the city centre rather than the more corporate and restrictive environment of the Salone Del Mobile. This year is his most impressive to date as his installation Multiplex was hosted in the iconic Cinema and Galleria, located on via Manzoni this area is the epicentre of the city’s cultural and luxury shopping district. Against a backdrop of 50’s Italian glamour Tom Dixon showcased exactly how busy he had been and how many new sectors he was branching out into including a Pirelli motorbike and charcoal chewing gum

Apparatus redesigned their Milan showroom to align with the latest lighting and furniture collection. Inspired by progressive and inquisitive creatives like Josef Hoffmann, Adolf Loos, and Eileen Grey, the three series pay homage to craftsmanship and new tecnology. Hanging lights from the Lantern series produce a glow from finely incised fluting, and the Segment furniture series creates a similar visual play between density and lightness from the translucent resin bases. Every detail of the showroom was consciously considered to reflect the balance within each product.

Stellar Works showcased their new collection in an installation by Neri&Hu in Tortona. Presenting pieces by Neri&Hu, Space Copenhagen, Yabu Pushelberg and Crème. The collection as a whole consists of a beautifully crafted range of upholstered wooden furniture that explores the beauty and richness of an East-West cultural dialogue. The Stellar Works collection has grown from strength to strength and now we believe they possess one of the most impressive collections in the industry.

Pretty Vacancy by Diesel is a stunning installation in a former 1930s’ goldsmiths workshop at the back of an old courtyard at Via Cesare. They present the complete range of Living products in “a hotel as welcoming as an apartment”. This living space brings all of Diels’s partnerships with furnishing companies – Foscarini, Moroso, Scavolini, Seletti, Berti, Iris and Home Linen – together under one (glass) roof.

This year saw Dodds & Shute descend upon the city of Milan with their largest team yet (4 people)! Our first port of call is always Salone del Mobile with our focus this year on Euroluce which occurs every two years, this blog celebrates are favourite designs.

In a space covering over 1,000 sq m, Flos presented a remarkable variety of new lighting products, systems and solutions created by some of the biggest designers in the industry such as Nendo, Bouroullec Brothers, Michael Anastassiades, Barber & Osgerby and Konstantin Grcic.

Bocci created a beautiful installation of all of their lights clustered throughout their stand. Our favourite new pendant was no 84. Manufactured by plunging a fine copper mesh basket into hot clear glass. Air is blown into the matrix and pushes white glass through the mesh, creating a delicate pillowed form and casting a warm coppery hue.

Our friends at Lambert et Fils were exhibiting at Euroluce for the first time, showcasing their Laurent light which is a distinctly contemporary design compared to the studios other mid century style lights. An adjustable suspension system of wires and anchors allows the pendant’s final form to be incredibly flexible, from a pure, minimalist orb to something more intricate and Art Deco with the globe acting as the link.

The Czech lighting company Brokis had created an unusual and unique light paying tribute to the beauty and complex textures of crystalline stone. The table light Macaron, inspired by the French sweet meringue-based confection, showcases two opposing domes of delicate hand blown glass. The light source casts an ambient upward glow through a central onyx plate to beautifully illuminate the veins in the stone.

We were delighted to see a collaboration with our antipodean friends the designer Tim Rundle and manufacturer Resident. Together they have created Bloom which is inspired by the gentle glow and super-elliptical form of paper lanterns. The finely perforated steel and frosted glass were combined to manipulate and control the light. The metallic mesh core with micro perforations, projects a soft focus texture onto the blown glass shade

Michael Anastassiades, known for his clean lines and classic shapes , has added three sculptural designs to his Mobile Chandelier series. Mobile Chandelier 13 is the most impressive of the three, combining horizontal lines with semicircles.

During their Milan stay Dodds & Shute made sure they visited the wonderful new arts centre for Fondazione Prada. Rem Koolhaas' firm OMA has converted a century-old distillery into the new centre, featuring a "haunted house" clad in 24-carat gold leaf and a cinema camouflaged by mirrors. The site also includes the addition of a cafe designed by film director Wes Anderson!