Promotion: XL Extralight showcased its manufacturing process in an exhibition designed by Italian architect Andrea Caputo as an "immersive museum itinerary" during Milan design week.

Named Industream and put together by Caputo in collaboration with artist duo Invernomuto, the exhibition demonstrated the complex industrial process behind XL Extralight's footwear and foam design technology.

Although the company's core business is soles for footwear, it said its technology is leading it to other categories where lightness, durability and water-resistant properties are valued.

The Industream exhibition was held at the recently opened architecture and design centre Dropcity, founded by Caputo and occupying a previously abandoned network of warehouse tunnels behind Milan Central Station.

"At Fuorisalone 2024 we had the idea to create something completely different from previous editions," said XL Extralight foam design product and brand manager Carlo Vecchiola.

"This is why we have started a conversation with Andrea Caputo and his team to end up at Dropcity, the place to be for those who want to experiment and implement new design codes and visual experiences," he told Dezeen.

"For the first time since we have been exhibiting at the Milan design week way back in 2014, XL Extralight is unveiling its industrial process – from compounding to injection moulding – in an immersive museum itinerary."

XL Extralight, which was founded in the 1990s by Italian industrial group Finproject, designs polyolefin-based expanded and moulded foams that are super lightweight, soft and flexible while also being resistant to bacteria, UV rays, saline and chlorine.

Caputo and Invernomuto's Industream exhibition sought to emphasise the scientific aspects of the sole-making process, as well as the historic link between material innovation and human development.

At the exhibition, XL Extralight team members wore workwear-streetwear hybrid uniforms that were tailor-made by fashion house Lardini.

Recent brand collaborations by the brand include the modular Roku footwear from Camper, which features a removable sole that can be repaired and reused at the end of the shoe's life.

For more information about XL Extralight, contact Maria Elena Barbati and Bianca Maria Bertolissi at hello@barbatibertolissi.contact.

The photography is by Invernomuto for XL Extralight.

Milan design week took place from 15 to 21 April 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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This article was written by Dezeen for XL Extralight as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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Dezeen teamed up with kitchen appliances brand Gaggenau to host and film a talk about reduction in design with representatives from Zaha Hadid Architects, SOM and Industrial Facility during Milan design week 2024.

Moderated by Dezeen's editorial director Max Fraser, the talk explored how principles of reduction and essentialism in architecture and design can be employed to improve our lives.

Titled Design by Reduction, the panel gathered contributors from different industries, with Zaha Hadid Architects associate director Johannes Schafelner representing architecture, Industrial Facility founder Kim Colin discussing industrial and product design, and SOM interiors lead Francesca Portesine representing interior design.

Amongst the topics discussed by the panel was how the process and aesthetics of reduction in design can improve well-being through fostering simplicity in people's day-to-day lives.

Explaining the role of reduction in interior design, Portesine stated: "Generally, it is a very good thing that there is less rather than more to look at, to feel, to concentrate, to give importance to one element at a time."

"The balance of a space is created by simplicity, by reduction of materials," she continued.

These comments were mirrored by Colin, who suggested that the role of the designer is to counter the complexity of the world by making a complicated world simple.

"I don't think we need to build in complexity – complexity is there in everything," she said. "We really try hard to simplify things and make things easier. We deserve for things to be made more easily and more easily accessible."

She went on to describe how, in the field of industrial design, reduction can be used as a means to create products that fit holistically into the lives of users.

"Often we try to quiet the noise. You can imagine a room full of products that are in the marketplace, shouting for your attention for you to buy them," she explained.

"They want you to buy them," she continued. "But then what happens when you live with them? You're living with a bunch of things that are shouting at you."

Schafelner described how reduction in architecture allows architects to design and build more efficiently, mitigating both the cost and environmental impact of buildings.

"When we talk about reduction, it's all about efficiency," he said. "It's really minimising the design, minimising the structure to have a better product."

He went on to describe how artificial intelligence (AI) can assist the architect in working more efficiently.

"AI will also help us," he stated. "There are now new tools which automatically give you realistic images in one second."

"It's a much more intuitive workflow. And in the future, this will definitely help us to be more efficient."

Addressing the question of how principles of reduction can help to build a more sustainable future, Colin posited the return of the principle of "less is more."

"Using less material, less time, less effort, less shipping – less is more is back," she claimed.

"It should be easy to make as well as easy to live with. They should go hand in hand."

The talk took place in the conservatory of Milan's historic Villa Necchi Campiglio, where the brand created an immersive installation called Elevation of Gravity to showcase its appliances.

Amongst the brand's new launches was the Essential Induction cooktop, which has been designed to integrate into a kitchen worktop seamlessly.

Covertly integrated induction hobs are integrated into a conductive Dekton stone countertop, indicated by a small LED light. The only other visible element of the cooktop is a performance dial located on the side of the countertop.

The Essential Induction cooktop was designed to break down barriers between spaces used for cooking and living in the kitchen, and the principle of reduction at play in its design informed the topic of Dezeen's talk.

The photography is by Giovanni Franchellucci.

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This video was produced by Dezeen as part of a partnership with Bentley. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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Milan design week seemed to show that the industry has given up on reducing its planetary impact and creating products for regular people, writes Max Fraser.

If last year's Milan design week felt like a return to a version of pre-pandemic editions, this year's felt like a hyped-up mega-festival.

It's difficult to attain reliable figures for the number of individual events that took place across the city (reports range from several hundred to more than 1,000), as well as the main commercial trade event, Salone del Mobile. But whatever the actual figure is, this year the visitor experience had certainly intensified.

There were many times when I felt I had been brazenly "data-captured"

One visible sign of this was the queues. They felt particularly acute this year, presumably off the back of a surge of attendees. According to figures published by Salone del Mobile, visitor numbers increased by 17.1 per cent this year, with 361,417 people recorded through the trade fair's turnstiles.

Has Milan design week become a victim of its own popularity? I heard reports of design revellers waiting for up to three hours to enter some of the shows. Queues were often slowed by the requirement to register. One's details are now commonly harvested by brands and there were many times when I felt I had been brazenly "data-captured".

Once inside, one often slots into a human conveyor formation, shuffling hurriedly through the venue surrounded by people who seem principally concerned with capturing the whole thing on their phones.

Meanwhile, organisers boasted to me about their queues and record attendance, seemingly judging success by popularity, without much concern for how much of people's time they were cannibalising.

But for punters, time is precious. For many, it's expensive too; international visitors must increasingly spend a fortune on travel and accommodation, an annual problem that seems to only be getting worse.

On the positive side, many Milanese inhabitants also attend. It would seem this globally important design extravaganza provides one moment in the year for mass inspiration coupled with an outpouring of Milanese glam.

Design is increasingly moving away from providing solutions for the needs of regular people

In its purest form, Milan design week has always acted as an annual window into humanity's desire for creative expression. It is the primary event for ideas exchange and that is one of the lures that keeps us returning year-on-year, with the added bonus of seeing old friends and making new ones.

However, my concern this year (and in recent editions) is that design is increasingly moving away from providing solutions for the needs of regular people and is instead churning out a disproportionate amount of decorative objects for the wealthy.

My discomfort comes with how willingly the rest of us have fallen into the role of bot-like communicators, inadvertently giving our precious time, attention and data to what often turn out to be superfluous marketing displays.

I attended one showcase by a tech brand and rapidly had the impression that I had been dragged into an internal strategy presentation; I felt nauseous observing the excessive use of virgin materials to build an expensive display of corporate hyperbole. If only the millions spent there could have been spent on something that mattered – housing the men sleeping rough in the tunnel around the corner would be a valiant place to start.

At a different venue, overwhelmed by the enormous use of sheet material to build the temporary walls in the space, I asked about the display's afterlife. "It'll mostly be scrapped due to the way it's assembled," said a senior staff member. Oh well, never mind, this is someone else's problem, right?

I had to reassure myself that this approach was surely outnumbered by the week's many displays of material innovation and sustainable thinking.

For all the talk about sustainability in design, this year the topic felt woefully missing or, at best, tokenistic

For example, industrial manufacturer Hydro's small-but-perfectly-formed 100R exhibition of extruded aluminium furniture demonstrated the possibility of working with 100 per cent post-consumer scrap; design studio Niceworkshop developed furniture made from redundant formwork previously used for skyscraper construction; and at Salone del Mobile, furniture brand Knoll revived its stand design from last year.

But for all the talk about sustainability in design, this year the topic felt woefully missing or, at best, tokenistic. It still feels like we're tinkering at the edges when it comes to reducing our planetary impact. My inner mood throughout the week flicked between deep feelings of pessimism to moments of optimism when sharing these concerns with kindred spirits.

In case anyone has forgotten, humanity is careering towards an uncertain future with climate breakdown and inequality regularly surfacing around us. Perhaps Milan design week provides us with a few days of respite from this existential dark cloud, its energy an opportunity for us to collectively recharge.

But do we really want to be remembered for creating more nice stuff for wealthy people to occasionally use?

As a high-end manufacturer once admitted to me: "I am in the business of catching the crumbs that the rich brush off the table." Is the part of the design industry that is so prevalent in Milan mostly in service to the one per cent and, if so, are we OK with that?

Do we need to make more enormous sofas that are too big (and expensive) for most people's homes? Could we bear not to launch new stuff on this annual treadmill?

It's worth acknowledging that we're currently all complicit – including the marketing, PR and media worlds – for stirring up the hype. For the most part, many of us operate in the capitalist trap of needing to continually feed the machine. In many instances, sizeable investment has been put into energy-intensive materials and manufacturing processes, from which it is costly to rapidly pivot.

The tempering of Milan-fever is overdue

And it's important to recognise that many businesses are valiantly working to provide employment and preserve crafts that have been perfected by talented individuals. Invariably, the results don't come cheap.

For as long as there is a market for this, and during this period of economic uncertainty, why consciously bite off the hand that feeds us? Therein lies the predicament.

As the biggest and most influential global gathering of its kind, Milan design week always provides a barometer of the health of the design industry. You might think it's unfair to point the finger at Milan and I'm sorry if I sound like a party-pooper but, at this urgent juncture in history, the majority of the industry is still focused on the wrong prize.

For all of the spectacle of the week, the fun cocktail parties and industry-wide comradery, the tempering of Milan-fever is overdue and the urgency for meaningful change is now. We need to stop acting as if someone else is going to make the changes to production and consumption that we so desperately need to enact.

The photography is by Kuan Chi Hau.

Max Fraser is editorial director of Dezeen.

Milan design week took place from 15 to 21 April 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Swiss studio Kosmos Architects has designed Dice, a multifaceted piece of oak furniture that can be used as a stool, a coffee table, a lamp or a footrest.

The five-pronged furniture piece weighs 10.5 kilograms and has a "warm" oak wood frame characterised by subtle chequerboard patterns.

"Throw the dice, and this project will take a new shape depending on how the user rotates it," said Kosmos Architects, which named Dice after the numbered cube often used in games of chance.

Two of the furniture's legs are wide enough to support it, while two others are slimmer and rounded. The fifth leg features a triangular lamp at its tip made of plastic and protected frosted glass, which can be removed via a small button and charged using a USB socket.

When tipped on its various sides, Dice can function as a stool, a coffee table or a footrest.

The furniture can be attached to a rope or similar hanging material and suspended from the ceiling to provide lighting or simply positioned as a floor lamp.

Kosmos Architects chose this asymmetric design to "unite the qualities of four different basic furniture typologies".

"We made the lamp removable so that there are no electrical cords and to make the object independent," architect Leonid Slonimskiy told Dezeen.

Dice was CNC-milled from a stack of solid oak pieces with a multi-axis milling machine.

"The robotic arm cut away pieces of wood with a rotating drill until the shape got smoother, and then we manually sanded and oiled the piece," he explained.

"Dice combines new technologies and handcraft."

"The furniture has a clear purpose but is supposed to be interpreted by the owner," continued Kosmos Architects.

"It is a sculpture and at the same time a pragmatic piece of furniture."

Kosmos Architects has also created a silver "carry-on bag" for Dice, which mimics the shape of the furniture and helps to make it portable.

Dice was unveiled during last month's Milan design week at Fake/Authentic Gallery. Dezeen has rounded up 10 other projects presented at the festival that explored the future of furniture design.

Previously, Japanese studio Torafu Architects created multifunctional furniture – also called Dice – for both children and adults.

The photography is by Maxim Cherepanov. 

Milan design week took place from 15 to 21 April 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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An aluminium alloy made from 100 per cent recycled waste will be a game-changer for the furniture industry, according to Norwegian designer Lars Beller Fjetland.

Beller Fjetland was the artistic director for 100R, a Milan design week exhibition staged by industrial manufacturer Hydro featuring extruded aluminium objects created by seven different designers.

The exhibition marked the launch of Hydro Circal 100R, a newly developed alloy billed as "the world's first industrial-scale aluminium product made entirely of post-consumer scrap".

Speaking to Dezeen at the exhibition, Beller Fjetland said this type of aluminium could play a pivotal role in the transition towards a zero-carbon, circular future.

"As a designer, you constantly ask yourself: Am I part of the problem or part of the solution? With this project, we are definitely part of the solution," said the designer.

"This is a material we'll be using for the next 100 years at least," he told Dezeen.

Hydro Circal 100R is the first product of its type on the market.

It was highly challenging to develop, due to the difficulty in removing paint, plastics and other contaminants from post-consumer aluminium, but could offer huge benefits for decarbonisation, according to the brand.

With a reported 0.5 kilograms of CO2 produced for every kilogram of aluminium, Hydro claims the carbon footprint of this material is 97 per cent lower than the global average for aluminium.

It also boasts the same benefits as other aluminium alloys; it is lightweight, easy to shape, resistant to corrosion and can be infinitely recycled without degrading in quality.

An anodising process makes it possible to apply a colour finish to the metal without affecting the material's recyclability.

The 100R exhibition represents an ambition for Hydro to expand outside its core business – primarily in sectors such as aviation and construction – by branching into the design industry.

"I'm convinced that there is a huge market for extruded aluminium in this sector," Beller Fjetland said.

Extruded aluminium is made in a process that involves pressing a heated aluminium billet through a die, resulting in long, continuous lengths with a specific cross-sectional profile.

The process of cooling determines the strength and quality of the material.

The seven designers participating in 100R were tasked with designing furniture and homeware objects that could be produced using nothing but extruded aluminium.

The brief called for mono-material designs with no additional fixings – components simply slot together, with joints integrated into the extruded aluminium profiles.

Among the most ambitious examples are designer John Tree's Billet Chair, which was cleverly produced from a 200-millimetre press, and Paris-based Inga Sempé's Grotte table lamp, which sees two highly intricate profiles slot together perfectly.

French designer Philippe Malouin devised a modular shelving system that can be produced in lengths of up to six metres, while Earnest Studio founder Rachel Griffin developed a flexible partition screen made of interlocking elements.

A table lamp by British designer Max Lamb, a coat stand by Norwegian designer Andreas Engesvik and vases by US-based Shane Schneck complete the collection.

"This project is challenging perceptions about what extruded aluminium is, what it can do and what it can be," said Beller Fjetland.

None of the designs are yet being produced commercially, but Beller Fjetland believes it's only a matter of time.

"These could all be commercial products," he said. "Even an intricate design like Max's can be simple to produce; the cost is almost entirely determined by the weight and the amount of material you use."

Beller Fjetland has been collaborating with Hydro for some time. At the previous Milan design week, they jointly exhibited a bench made from 90 per cent recycled aluminium.

He believes this material will increasingly attract the interest of other designers and furniture manufacturers.

"This is a place where dreams can come true," he said. "It's mouthwatering for a designer; you can do just about anything."

In the context of Milan design week, where many brands claim to be producing sustainable products, the designer believes this project offers an alternative to the concept of "new for new's sake".

"If a design is future-ready, because it's easier to dismantle, or because it can be produced using less carbon and less water, then new is good," he concluded.

Dezeen produced a video about the 100R exhibition, which was published earlier this month.

It shows the objects displayed in a scenography formed of blocks of recycled aluminium sourced from a pipe factory, revealing the material in its raw state.

"They really tell people the story about this material," added Beller Fjetland.

Milan design week took place from 15 to 21 April 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Blond founder James Melia explains how the Blond Laboratory exhibition at Milan design week drew attention to the processes of industrial design in this video produced by Dezeen for the strategic design agency.

The Blond Laboratory exhibition tasked designers with creating designs in response to a collection of found everyday objects, curated by the Blond team.

The final designs were exhibited alongside the objects that inspired them in a historic carpentry warehouse in Milan's Brera district. Objects and media that illustrated the design process were also on display.

According to Melia, the exhibition was created to illuminate the process of industrial design and encourage designers to find inspiration in the physical rather than digital realm.

"Often in exhibitions you see lots of final polished objects", said Melia in the exclusive video interview, which was shot by Dezeen in Milan.

"Very rarely the process of creating these objects is celebrated," he continued. "In essence, Blond Laboratory is a celebration of process."

Seven designers, including Melia, chose objects from a selection curated by Blond to use as a basis for a new piece.

Other participants included John Tree, Pentagram's Jon Marshall, Julie Richoz, Sony Europe's Hirotaka Tako, Maddalena Casadei, and Form Us With Love.

Melia chose to reinterpret a wooden bag for the exhibition, creating a pendant light. The original object has large visible stitches that hold its elements together, reflected in the way that the lamp's wire has been woven across the top of its casing to hold the light source in place.

"We've created a pendant light that translates the aesthetic of the bag into a very modern piece of lighting," said Melia.

Casadei, a Milan-based designer, created a hangable torch for the exhibition, basing its form on a homemade mallet with a hook at the base of its handle.

Swiss-French designer Richoz contributed a lighter that magnetically attaches to a spherical base. When attached, the piece can be wobbled back and forth on its base but is eventually restored by gravity to an upright position. She based her design on a plastic bird toy that balances on a surface at the point of its beak.

Tako, who is creative director and head of Design Centre Europe at Sony Europe, designed a lamp with a wooden base, long plastic arms and colourful circular controls, taking as its cue a wooden marking gauge with a headstock that slides up and down the implement.

British designer John Tree based the design of his aluminium turntable with an infrared needle on the form of a wooden Japanese ladle with a long handle that bisects its scoop.

Stockholm-based design studio Form Us With Love chose a corkscrew made of a single bent wire as the basis for the design of a minimal bottle opener made from a crushed pipe.

Pentagram's Jon Marshall contributed a candle holder with a base made of a golden spring wound into a conical form, closely mimicking the form of an old whisk.

Reflecting on the aims of the exhibition, Melia emphasised the importance of physical experimentation in the process of industrial design.

"I would like people to come away from the exhibition with a sense of joy for the industrial design process," he said.

"You're hammering, twisting, bending, cutting, and understanding how materials react. And it's within those moments that you can really fine-tune details and learn about the design that you're creating."

Blond Laboratory took place during Milan design week from 15 to 21 April 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Partnership content

This video was produced by Dezeen as part of a partnership with Blond. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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Biodegradable stools and a dining table that discretely turns into a desk are among Dezeen editor-at-large Amy Frearson's picks of the most progressive furniture launches at this year's Milan design week.

Furniture brands were launching new products and collections all over Milan, with some exhibiting at the Salone del Mobile furniture fair and others in showrooms and venues dotted around the city.

A few stood out for how they addressed sustainability challenges, with newly developed materials and innovative assembly methods resulting in products with a reduced carbon footprint.

Some addressed challenges relating to diversity within the design industry, while others explored how advances in technology are changing our relationships with objects.

Read on to discover 10 key examples:

A discretely height-adjustable table
Nastro by Daniel Rybakken for Alias

With remote working still the norm for many, Norwegian designer Daniel Rybakken has devised a dining table that can be easily adjusted to instead function as a seated or standing desk.

Launched at the Salone del Mobile by Italian brand Alias, the Nastro table features a concealed belt-and-pulley mechanism that allows the surface to be raised or lowered by hand without any need for electricity.

A video posted on Instagram by Rybakken reveals how easy it is to adjust.

"At the lowest height, the table's unique features are not revealed at all, making it ideal for the home – from dining at the lowest height, to cooking food and drinks at medium height, to working with a laptop at the highest height," said the designer.

Biodegradable furniture in an array of colours
Alder by Patricia Urquiola for Mater

Danish brand Mater has become known for its patented material, Matek, which combines waste plastic with biomaterials such as sawdust and coffee bean shells.

The brand has now developed a biodegradable blend of this heat-pressed material, thanks to the use of a bioplastic made from sugarcane. Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola has turned this into a collection of tables and stools that come in colours including terracotta and sandy yellow.

"Biodegradable plastic, in this case sugar cane, is a rapidly renewable source that can be harvested 1-2 times a year," said Ketil Årdal, CEO of Mater.

"It naturally absorbs carbon dioxide while growing and can be decomposed by living organisms in the same way as wood or any other natural material."

Rugs that embrace female identity
Rude Collection by Faye Toogood for CC-Tapis

Of the many products that British designer Faye Toogood unveiled in Milan, the most provocative was a range of rugs she unveiled with Italian brand CC-Tapis in her Rude Arts Club exhibition.

Featuring abstract images of male and female body parts, alongside blood-red blobs, these multi-textural carpets celebrate sex and the human form from a female perspective.

Toogood told Dezeen that she wanted to celebrate female energy and womanhood in a way that is seldom seen in the design industry.

"It's a kind of expression of the human body – male, female, everyone – but also the sexual energy that is a big part of being human," she said.

Lamps containing an innovative LED strip
Superwire by Formafantasma for Flos

Italian lighting brand Flos has developed a new type of LED light source, a thin and flexible strip that emits warm and homogeneous light across lengths of up to one metre.

By encasing this strip inside hexagonal glass tubes, Italian design duo Formafantasma has produced a collection of lamps featuring flawless light stripes of different widths.

Andea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin of Formafantasma said the project "represents a change of pace in LED lighting".

"The filament obtained is, to all intents and purposes, a new light source with great potential which we will certainly use in the future," said the pair.

A stool referencing West African culture
Euclid Stool by Limbo Accra

At a time when diversity is still sorely lacking in the design industry, New York- and Ghana-based studio Limbo Accra brought a West African perspective to Milan as part of the Prada Frames symposium.

The polished and lacquered plywood Euclid Stool combines references to unfinished architecture with Euclidean geometry, exploring notions of what it means to be "in limbo". Limbo Accra is self-producing the stool in a limited edition.

"We are always searching, pushing forward towards the unknown and the unseen," said studio founders Dominique Petit-Frère and Emil Grip.

"The stool represents explorations that allow us to think about the realm of limbo in new ways and inspire us to continue searching."

Seating that explores a new approach to radical design
Morphologica by Misha Kahn for Meritalia

American artist Misha Kahn has pushed furniture manufacturing to the limit with this design for Meritalia, an Italian brand best known for producing the irreverent designs of figures such as Gaetano Pesce and Mario Bellini.

Exploring what it means to be radical today, Kahn developed a sofa and armchair combining an assortment of irregular bulbous shapes, all based on forms found inside the human body.

Kahn describes it as a "shocking coach", while Meritalia calls it "sexy more than playful".

Furniture produced with a fabric-first approach
Hana-arashi by Nendo for Paola Lenti

Leftover fabrics and offcuts from Paola Lenti's outdoor furniture products provided the starting point for this range of furniture designed by Japanese studio Nendo.

The project represents a departure for Nendo founder Oki Sato, who is more used to working with an object brief than experimenting with a recycled material.

The resulting collection is more colourful than Nendo's typically pared-back, monochromatic aesthetic. The recyclable polypropylene textiles are steam-bent to create objects with playful curves, colours and overlap details.

"We sandwiched the material in wax paper and then ironed it," Sato told Dezeen. "By controlling the pressure and heat, we noticed that it became a semi-solid fabric. That was the 'aha'-moment."

A sofa that nods to 1990s streetwear
Parka by Draga & Aurel for Poltrona Frau

While many designs in Milan this year paid tribute to the glamour and excess of the 1970s, Italian studio Draga & Aurel showed how furniture could lean into the casual-cool aesthetic of the 1990s.

Produced by Italian manufacturer Poltrona Frau, the sofa reinterprets the squishy padding and hooded shape of the ubiquitous jacket in soft cushion-like leather upholstery.

"The unusual elliptical shape of the backrest, which inclines to become an armrest and then a seamless seat, creates a concave or convex space that is both audacious and welcoming," said the brand.

An intuitive table lamp made from aluminium
Set Lamp by Jamie Wolfond for Muuto

There were many examples of aluminium products on show in Milan this year, as the material becomes increasingly popular as a more recycle-friendly alternative to plastic. One of the most well-resolved was a table lamp by emerging Toronto-based designer Jamie Wolfond, for Danish homeware brand Muuto.

Designed as a giant screw, the lamp effectively communicates how to adjust the height of its shade. You simply spin this circular element to move it up or down.

"I think you need recognisable elements to communicate with people in the same way that if you’re verbalising something to someone, you have to use language they can understand," said Wolfond.

Furniture stuffed with recycled plastic
ZA:ZA by Zaven for Zanotta

Italian brand Zanotta is one of many furniture producers exploring ways of manufacturing sofas without upholstery foam or glue, to make them more eco-friendly.

This solution, developed with Venetian studio Zaven, is instead formed of cushions that are stuffed with recycled polyester balls and strapped in place over a metal frame.

Following the launch of the initial ZA:ZA sofa in 2023, Zanotta has expanded the range with modular elements that allow for multiple configurations. A ZA:ZA bed was also introduced.

Milan Design Week took place from 16 to 21 April. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

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Mono-material metal furniture was one of the most prominent trends at Milan design week, where designers created striking pieces from aluminium and stainless steel. Here, we round up eight of the best.

This year's edition of Milan design week showcased not just interesting individual installations and projects, but also gave an insight into wider trends within the industry.

Mono-material pieces – designed using just one type of material – were seen everywhere this year, with mono-material metal furniture especially popular.

Designers used aluminium and stainless steel to create sculptural lights, playful storage furniture and practical seating.

Below, we've rounded up eight of the most innovative and fun mono-material metal pieces from the annual design festival:

Moment table lamp by Kotaro Usugami

The Salone Satellite showcase of designers under the age of 35 had numerous fun metal designs on display, with Japanese designer Kotaro Usugami providing some of the most eye-catching examples.

His stand showcased four mono-material metal pieces – three lights and a stool – all with different surface finishes that create a variety of impressions, despite all being made from stainless steel and aluminium.

"This project is called Ordinary Material / Extraordinary Pieces, and it aims to shed new light on ordinary materials using industrial products such as aluminium and stainless steel," Usugami told Dezeen via translator Yuto Ogihara.

Usugami's background as a watch designer made him interested in working with stainless steel.

"Stainless steel is a highly durable material, and that's connected with the theme of sustainability," Usugami said. "It's also not difficult to manage; it's easy to produce. The finishes are all created by Japanese artisans."

Chair by Kiki Goti

The historical modernist Villa Borsani in Varedo, north of Milan, provided the backdrop for some of the most interesting products at Milan design week as part of the nomadic Alcova showcase.

Among them was designer Kiki Goti's sculptural chair made entirely out of aluminium, which contrasts a sharp angular back with a curved, rounded seat.

"What I love about aluminium is the concept of it being the softest of the metals; it has a kind of contradiction in itself," Goti, who created the piece for Vetralia Collectible, told Dezeen.

"My work works with a lot of contrast and I like the inherent duality that exists in aluminium," she added. "I find it pretty poetic, this kind of soft metal. It's stiff, it's soft; it's matt and shiny, it has a little bit of roughness and a bit of luxury. "

Cabinet and watering can by Dirk Duif

At Spazio Rossana Orlandi, a number of emerging designers were showcasing their works in the design gallery's labyrinthine spaces.

Dutch designer Dirk Duif's oversized cabinet and watering can, both made from stainless steel, could be found on the lower-ground floor.

Working with a single material is preferable because it makes it easier to recycle the furniture at the end of its life, the designer said.

"If it ever needs to be recycled, it's just one thing," Duif told Dezeen. "Metal is a very nice material to work with because you can make every shape that you want with it, and it's very durable and strong."

Tube collection by Tim Teven

Also at Rossana Orlandi, Dutch designer Tim Teven who comes from a family of blacksmiths used a hydraulic press machine to create the shapes of his furniture pieces.

"I'm always fascinated by the deformation of material, and I mostly use metal and aluminium," he told Dezeen.

By "deforming" his pieces, Teven aims to create useable, functional details, as seen in the steel-tube furniture he showed at Rossana Orlandi, where the metal is bent to form armrests and table legs.

"It's all about knowing what the material does when you process it in that way," Teven said. "You find out tricks to influence how the material bends and how you can do this assembly from it."

SPC Chair by Thomas Serruys

Belgian designer Thomas Serruys showed his SPC furniture as part of the Baranzate Ateliers exhibition in Milan. Made from hot-dipped galvanized steel, his outdoor furniture has a simple, sculptural shape.

"We love to work in metal, that's the core material we use in our atelier," Serruys told Dezeen. "We love to work with this material and finish because the pieces become very resistant and can remain outside year in, year out."

"Also, the galvanised finish patinates lovely over time. In our opinion, the chair only gets more beautiful over time and use."

Hako Cabinet by 56 Hours

Among the pieces presented by Rotterdam design studio 56 Hours at Salone Satellite was the Hako Cabinet, which marked the studio's first time working with aluminium.

Its clever design features clothes hanger-shaped cutouts that ended up forming the hangers themselves.

"We didn't use any finishing on it, so it's very easy to repair or recycle if necessary in the future," 56 Hours co-founder Viki Nagy told Dezeen. "And it's a really durable material."

The studio aims to make conscious decisions on materials, co-founder Mate Olah added, saying they always question the source of the material used.

"It's our responsibility to go a bit further and collect this information," he added.

Stedelijk Chair by Sabine Marcelis

Created by designer Sabine Marcelis for the contemporary Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Stedelijk Chair was produced by furniture brand BD Barcelona in aluminium – a material chosen by Marcelis because of its recyclability.

Shown as part of the Capsule Plaza showcase at Spazio Maiocchi, it's the first-ever chair from Marcelis, who says she wanted to use just one material to create a timeless design.

"I feel that stripping a design down to the essentials and working with a single material creates a simplicity that allows the design to be implemented in many different settings throughout different eras hopefully," Marcelis told Dezeen.

"The challenge was to create something with a strong identity yet complimentary to the surroundings it will inhabit," she added. "The chair needed to be functional, of course, comfortable, stackable, lightweight, responsibly produced, durable and recyclable – aluminium proved to be the perfect material to meet these demands."

Aluminium Formwork by Niceworkshop

An exhibition of steel pieces created by South Korean design studio Niceworkshop for recycling brand Format was one of the most interesting things on show as part of the Capsule Plaza exhibition at 10 Corso Como.

The studio creates furniture from salvaged metal formwork used to pour concrete in the construction of skyscrapers as well as from more conventional recycled aluminium. The resulting mono-material pieces were bolted together for an industrial feel.

"My family has been making formwork in Korea for more than 50 years," Format co-founder Phillip Lee told Dezeen. "And instead of throwing it away, I thought we should recreate it into something else."

Milan design week took place from 15 to 21 April 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Fashion house Loewe unveiled lamps created by 24 international artists during Milan design week in an exhibition that featured materials ranging from birch twigs and horse hair to leather and Japanese washi paper.

The Loewe Lamps presentation took place within a single room at the historic Palazzo Citterio in Milan's Brera district.

Loewe, which was originally established as a leather-making craft collective in the 19th century, invited 24 artists from around the world to design a diverse offering of lamps for the exhibition.

"The artists push the properties of each material to create unexpected interactions with light," said the fashion house, headed by JW Anderson founder Jonathan Anderson.

South African ceramicist Andile Dyalvane used glass and clay to make bulbous lighting characterised by yellow- and amber-hued tentacles, which reference acacia trees.

"The two materials have so much in common, yet by exposing them to various temperature treatments and processes, they end up with quite different and interesting qualities that manifest in their final products," Dyalvane told Dezeen.

Contrasting with Dyalvane's amorphous piece, Scottish artist Jennifer Lee created a geometric lamp using salvaged washi paper Shoji screens from Lee's studio at the Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art.

"When I thought about a lamp, Japan immediately came to mind," said Lee, who has taken part in artist residences in Japan for the last decade and took cues from a Japanese doll's cabinet when creating her piece.

The delicate paper lighting bears subtle pencil marks drawn by Lee, who used walnut to construct the boxy design.

"I liked the way the paper had aged," explained the artist. "The existing traces told a story."

Japanese design also influenced British artist Anthea Hamilton, who contributed a kimono-shaped, stained-glass lamp scaled to human proportions.

"I was curious to know if light could take the form of a garment," Hamilton told Dezeen.

Similarly, Italian artist Enrico David designed his piece made of resin and sliced Turkish onyx to resemble a curved human profile.

"The lamp was originally going to be a finger with a glowing nail," David told Dezeen. "Then the finger curved on itself and it assumed a different nature."

Elsewhere in the exhibition, visitors could find more unusual materials such as the birch twigs used by Irish basketmaker Joe Hogan for his bird's nest-style pendant and the horse hair that clads a towering floor lamp by South Korean artist Dahye Jeong, who won the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize in 2022.

Other materials featured in the exhibition range from the folded leather and brass used to create spiky pendant lights by Kenyan artist Magdalene Odundo, to delicate clay pots by Japanese artist Kazunori Hamana that are illuminated by a central bulb.

At last year's Milan design week, Loewe worked with global artisans to turn classic stick chairs into "sculptural objects". The brand's annual craft prize, which is now in its seventh year, was awarded to Japanese ceramicist Eriko Inazaki in 2023.

This year's winner is yet to be announced.

The photography is courtesy of Loewe.

Milan design week took place from 15 to 21 April 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Ecco hosted a workshop during Milan design week inviting visitors to customise its latest leather innovations with natural dyes, as captured in a video produced for the brand by Dezeen.

The workshop took place as a part of Material Matters, an exhibition hosted by the footwear and lifestyle brand at cultural space and design store 10 Corso Como.

The workshop was part of Ecco's exhibition in Milan

The workshop was organised by Ecco in collaboration with its material innovation wing Ecco Leather and its At Kollektive fashion collaborations initiative.

During the workshops, visitors could customise panels and sheets of organic light pink leather developed by Ecco. Handmade natural dyes, petals and paint were used to create imprints and patterns on the material.

Participants could also use tools such as heat guns, airbrushing guns and stamps to transform the leather, which has a porous texture that allows it to be easily dyed.

The exhibition space also featured design objects made using Ecco's translucent Apparition leather, including large dark-grey curtains and a set of tables and chairs upholstered in the material.

The Apparition range was released in ten different colours. According to Ecco, other translucent leathers are stiff and inflexible, whereas Apparition has lasting pliability and can be moulded into different forms.

Also displayed around the exhibition space were examples of polyurethane-cast seating and leather objects created by Ecco collaborators.

Material Matters took place at the Capsule Plaza fair, held at 10 Corso Como in Milan's Porta Garabaldi district.

Material Matters was open to the public from 16 to 21 April. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks that took place throughout the week.

Partnership content

This video was produced by Dezeen for Ecco as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen's partnership content here.

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Cecilie Manz and Jasper Morrison are among a group of designers who have added "a little glamour" to the humble cane as part of an exhibition at the Triennale Milano for Milan design week.

Curated by Japanese designer Keiji Takeuchi, the show features 18 different takes on the walking stick, including a version for off-roading and another that functions as a vase.

"People with walking sticks are often viewed with pity," Sebastian Lopez of Keiji Takeuchi Design Office told Dezeen. "Keiji wanted to remove that, add a little glamour to it, a little pep to their step."

Each of the 18 designers created one cane with their future selves in mind.

Some focused on making little tweaks to improve functionality, with engineer Alberto Meda producing a super-light version from carbon fibre, while Parisian designer Alban Le Henry added a screw mechanism for height adjustments.

Designers Anker Bak and Maddalena Casadei both integrated metal brackets, so their canes can be secured to a table while not in use.

A steam-bent version produced by Italian designer Marialaura Irvine in collaboration with furnituremaker Thonet features a knot that can hold a newspaper, and the walking stick by French designer Julien Renault features a handle that curves to form a hook for carrying a shopping bag.

Others focused on maintaining their enjoyment of the outdoors, including Copenhagen-based Hugo Passos who integrated a wicker basket into his cane for collecting fruits and vegetables in the garden.

Similarly, Swiss designer Julie Richoz contributed a hollow stainless-steel rod that can double as an impromptu vase. 

"She thought about going out for a walk or a hike and seeing a beautiful flower and not being able to take it back home," Lopez said. "But with this one, she can."

Similarly, Michel Charlot's Off-road cane has an extra-wide base for manoeuvring on uneven terrain.

"If you drop it, you can step on the base and the cane will right itself," Lopez explained. "I thought that was fantastic."

Elsewhere, the focus was on exploring new and unexpected materials, with Morrison making his model using zero glue, several wine corks and a length of bamboo from his own garden.

Finnish designer Ville Kokkonen experimented with micro-fibrillated cellulose (MFC) to create a lightweight hollow cane that can be sawn to the desired length using basic woodworking tools.

"This biomaterial is super promising because it's as hard as plastic but it's completely natural," Lopez said.

Yet others focused on aesthetics first and foremost, with Manz creating a model from anodised aluminium to suit her minimalist style, while French artist Henri Frachon pierced his maple-wood version with ten different holes that cast different shadows as the user moves.

Also featured in the exhibition are designers Jun Yasumoto, Pierre Charpin, Wataru Kumano and Chris Lijenberg Halstrøm.

The show was on display at the Triennale Milano for Milan design week alongside a retrospective of work by Italian designer Alessandro Mendini, an installation from Philippe Starck and a full-scale home interior by Inga Sempé as previewed on the Dezeen live blog.

The photography is by Miro Zagnoli.

Milan design week took place from 15 to 21 April 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Georgia-based design collective Garbage Kids has exhibited a "long-lasting" collection of wooden furniture and ornaments made solely from recycled materials at Milan design week.

Showcased in collaboration with Dropcity – an urban centre for architecture and design founded by architect Andrea Caputo – the collection is situated in a historic tunnel located behind Milan Central Station, alongside a series of other installations.

Within the tunnel, the collection by Garbage Kids sits among a larger collection led by design collective and long-term Dropcity partner SOCII.

"The main idea behind our collection is to create something truly long-lasting, something with a strong character that creates images which stay with you, something to empathize with, creating connections on a personal level, something that is passed down by generation, to be maintained and cared for as long as possible," Garbage Kids told Dezeen.

"All of our work is made from 'waste' materials, be it timber from demolition sites, abandoned quarries, fallen trees in forests or leftovers from other workshops or projects."

"We gather our materials slowly, walking around the urban and wild environments, only taking a little bit, leaving the rest behind for someone else, be it human or other," it added.

Among the collection is the Daybed, a long bench made from reclaimed walnut decorated with 11,000 seed pearls that were carefully glued into pre-drilled holes one by one, which is propped up by burned hazelnut and chestnut legs.

Exhibited alongside this is the Spiky Chair and Table, similarly made from reclaimed wood, which features legs covered in spikes made from hazelnut and coated with beeswax and ash mixture.

"Our work concentrates a lot on the traditional carpentry that has been used for hundreds of years, creating each piece using hand tools," Garbage Kids said.

"The slow pace of work is crucial, giving us time to develop the objects while building it," the collective added. "Slowing down the making of our objects strongly objects to the current mainstream production of things in the contemporary context."

At the centre of the collection, a series of playful Walnut Crocodile chairs are composed of three legs topped with a tapered seat made from leftover wood, which has been treated with linseed oil before being polished.

Also featured in the collection were hand-crafted wooden board games including an edition of The Royal Game of Ur and Backgammon, with which visitors to the exhibition could play throughout Milan design week.

Garbage Kids was founded by Nika Gabiskiria, Ulla Alla and Luka Abashidze. The collective is a long-term partner of Dropcity, and will continue to operate and host workshops at the Milan site for the foreseeable future.

"Our collection goes hand in hand with the idea of Dropcity, wishing to create and revive the tunnels as a cultural centre where the ideas of materials reuse and handcraft can be taught," the collective said.

"By running small workshops teaching basic woodwork, we continue to spread the traditional carpentry techniques that are quick to disappear."

Other collections exhibited during this year's Milan design week include a grow-at-home sponge furniture collection by ECAL and hot-pink versions of Philippe Starck-designed chairs for both humans and Barbie dolls.

The photography is by Nika Gabiskiria.

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Kartell has collaborated with toymaker Mattel to transform five of its chairs into two hot-pink versions, one to fit real people and one for Barbies, which were shown at Milan design week.

Kartell and Mattel Creations – the collector arm of Mattel – worked together to recreate five chairs originally designed for Kartell by architect and designer Philippe Starck.

Each chair was made in its original proportions as well as in a version scaled to doll-size to mark 65 years of Barbie, the toy invented by Ruth Handler in 1959.

All of the furniture was coloured in Pantone 219 C, the recognisable Barbie Pink hue, and was made from recycled plastic, according to Kartell.

Among the line-up is Starck's AI model – the first of Kartell's chairs to be designed using artificial intelligence.

Louis Ghost also features in the collection. A stackable chair with a round backrest, the transparent furniture is characterised by a Barbie Dreamhouse-style design.

"Its sleek silhouette and pink finish evoke a sense of whimsy and nostalgia," said Kartell.

The Venice model, a dining chair with classic lines, was also recreated for the project. Masters, another dining seat with smooth and curved shapes, and Starck's egg-shaped Eros swivel chair are the fourth and fifth additions to the collection.

Slim, rectilinear recycled-paper packaging was designed for the Barbie-sized creations.

Kartell explained that the project straddles the intersection "where toys become art, and art becomes toys".

The collection was unveiled within a single room at the Salone del Mobile tradeshow during Milan design week as part of media group Condé Nast's Vogue Closet exhibition.

Last year, Barbie made global headlines following the live-action film about the toy doll. Before the film's release, rental website Airbnb listed a real-life version of Barbie's Malibu Dreamhouse in California, making it available to book for a holiday.

Milan design week concluded on Sunday. The annual event featured other furniture projects ranging from IKEA's first inflatable gaming chair to pillowy lamps and daybeds by Faye Toogood.

The photography is courtesy of Kartell and Mattel. 

Barbie x Kartell was on display at Salone del Mobile from 16 to 21 April 2024. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

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Researchers from Swiss design school ÉCAL have unveiled a range of flat-pack furniture at Milan design week that needs to be soaked in water to reach its final form.

The collection, called Under Pressure Solutions or UPS, is constructed from thin, compressed sheets of cellulose sponge, allowing the objects to fit into flat parcels – some small enough to squeeze through a letterbox – for more efficient shipping.

On arrival, the grow-at-home products must then be drenched in the bath or the shower, causing them to blow up to around 10 times their original size in a matter of seconds.

Once wrung out, the sponge is left to dry and harden, creating sturdy, self-supporting furniture that can carry the weight of a person and outperform conventional plastic foam in terms of durability, according to the researchers.

The sponge is derived from wood offcuts and gains its strength from the very same cellulose fibres that a tree uses to reinforce its trunk and branches.

"Cellulose is a part of nature so, like a tree, it can be flexible and strong at the same time," ÉCAL researcher and industrial designer Christophe Guberan told Dezeen.

With a small spritz of water, the pieces become flexible once more, allowing them to be remoulded or repaired by smoothing out any dents.

And, once the furnishings have reached the end of their life, they can be either recycled or backyard composted, breaking down in soil within a matter of months.

UPS is the result of a two-year research project by Guberan and fellow ÉCAL professors Anthony Guex and Camille Blin, focused on exploring different inflatable and compressible materials that could push flat-pack furniture to new, more efficient limits.

Out of the many materials considered – including cork, latex and luffa – cellulose sponge crystallised itself as both "the most surprising and most promising", according to the researchers.

First developed in the 1940s, the material is commonly used to make household, makeup and medical sponges, although its use in furniture is "virtually unheard of" according to Guberan.

To make the sponge, cellulose was extracted from wood offcuts, chemically dissolved and ultimately regenerated in the form of sheets using the same process developed to make viscose and other cellulose textiles.

In this case, Glauber's salt is added into the mixture to give the sponge its many pores and supercharge cellulose's natural ability to absorb water.

The resulting material is generally sold in the form of standardised sheets that are compressed and dehydrated for easy transport.

Using these off-the-shelf building blocks, ÉCAL's research team trialled various methods of cutting, milling and joining to encourage the sponge to expand in different ways and worked with a group of graduate product design students to produce prototype products using these techniques.

The Milan showcase highlights the fruits of this labour and features 16 pieces of furniture and homeware alongside their flat-packed counterparts, including a chair, several tables and stools, plus smaller pieces such as a wine rack.

The aim was to keep interventions as minimal as possible to explore the possibilities of the material and allow its natural expansion to dictate the shape.

Several of the products were created by CNC milling barely perceptible grooves into the sponge that are dramatically exaggerated once wet, as seen in Guberan's paper bin and a tiered ikebana vase by designer Chris Kabel that sits in a shallow pool of water to stay moist.

"A very slight change in thickness results in a completely different change in the expansion," said ÉCAL graduate Maxwell Ashford. "So you're able to create very unique 3D objects from this 2D profile."

Guex contributed a star-shaped stool and coffee table, constructed by stacking three sponge sheets on top of each other and tying them together with a black cord at the centre, causing them to fan out into a circle as they expand.

Graduate student Brice Tempier harnessed the pliability of the sponge to create a customisable shelf that can be moulded into different shapes while wet.

"You can decide the shape you want for the shelf and when it's dry, it will stay like that," Guberan said. "And if you move somewhere else where you have another setup, you can re-wet it and remould it."

Two other stools in the collection, created by Blin and Kabel, use laser-cut perforations to help these denser pieces to harden more quickly.

The actual drying time of the furniture varies based on size and the local climate, ranging anywhere from a few hours to several days.

Rather than being an inconvenience, the hope is that the furniture's elaborate unfurling process will form an "integral part of the owner's experience", much like it did with Gaetano Pesce's iconic UP5 chair made from self-expanding polyurethane, which the Italian designer debuted in Milan in 1969.

"Every 20 minutes, we unveiled a new chair," Pesce told the ÉCAL team shortly before his death. "We tore open the bag, and people lined up just to witness the sight: a chair rising like dough."

Although ÉCAL's prototypes are not yet ready for industrial production, Guberan says they can provide a roadmap for how to make furniture delivery more sustainable.

"Our goal was never to put this on the market tomorrow," he said. "We know how complicated it is to bring a new material and new research into the industry."

"But I think it's the role of a school to dream a little bit and to have the liberty to offer something different."

The Dezeen team reported live from Milan last week, where an exhibition of new works by Pesce opened in the wake of the maestro's death earlier this month.

The video is by Marvin Merkel and the photography by Jasmine Deporta unless otherwise stated.

Milan design week took place from 15 to 21 April 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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An experimental pop-up at Milan design week offered visitors free haircuts, then turned the harvested hair into textile artworks and clothing.

As the second edition of New Store, a project by Rotterdam's Nieuwe Instituut, the installation offered a vision of how retail could harness the circular economy to support communities and the environment.

By letting hairdresser Alberto Fucci cut their hair, visitors provided the raw material for two different textile products.

Human Material Loop, a Dutch start-up specialising in textiles made from hair, processed some of the trimmings into yarns that were turned into clothing garments.

South Korean artist Woo Jin Joo took the rest of the harvested hair. Working in collaboration with visitors, she produced embroidered artworks aimed at challenging negative perceptions of this material.

"Human hair is culturally coded," the artist told Dezeen. "When it's on our body, it's precious and valued. But when it's other people's, we find it icky and disgusting."

"I'm trying to introduce a new perspective," she continued.

Nieuwe Instituut staged the first edition of the New Store at Dutch Design Week in October.

Conceived as an alternative to the typical museum gift store, New Store 1.0 invited customers to trade their urine for a piece of Piss Soap and to use their phones to provide power for lighting.

New Store 2.0 sees the museum explore more ways of promoting responsible and ethical consumption.

The project is underpinned by the concept that shops could create new value chains, rather than deplete natural resources.

The next stage in the project will see the Nieuwe Instituut open a permanent New Store at its home in Rotterdam.

"New Store is one of our 'testing ground' initiatives for putting ideas into practice – for bringing proposals out into the real world, and seeing how they work," said Nieuwe Instituut artistic director Aric Chen.

"For us as a cultural institution, it's about not just discussing and presenting designers' ideas for confronting our many social and ecological challenges – but also enacting them."

Circular design principles were applied to every aspect of New Store 2.0, to ensure the pop-up generates as little waste as possible.

Frank Verkade of research and talent lab New Order of Fashion oversaw a team that included interior designers OSStudio and Jeroen Wand, maker studio Falsework and graphic designer Cengiz Mengüç on the scenography.

Furniture and display cases were made using a modular system of wood and perspex components, based on the Open Structures construction system devised by Thomas Lommée in 2007.

Elements made from this system include a table, a mirror for the hairdressing area, a cabinet filled with hair samples, a display stand for hanging clothes and a sewing box.

Other exhibitions and installations currently on show at Milan design week include a show by designer Faye Toogood that explores "sexuality and the body" and furniture made from reused skyscraper formwork.

New Store 2.0 was open from 14 to 20 April 2024 as part of Milan design week. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.

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Dropcity, an upcoming urban centre for architecture and design, let visitors see the reconstruction of its historic tunnels alongside a series of installations during this year's Milan design week.

Dropcity, founded by architect Andrea Caputo, unveiled its In Progress exhibition to enable visitors to "view the space being built around them", with the urban centre expected to officially open in autumn this year.

Occupying a row of fifteen previously abandoned warehouse tunnels behind Milan Central Station, the 10,000-square-metre space hosted a series of exhibitions and installations ranging from design and manufacturing to architecture.

Among the exhibitors was Tbilisi-based design collective SOCII, which showcased a collection of furniture made solely from reclaimed materials and which will occupy a permanent space within tunnel 38 at Dropcity.

Dropcity has also formed partnerships with universities and companies operating in the architectural field and beyond to promote interdisciplinary collaboration.

Among these is the Italian 3D printing company WASP, which has overhauled tunnel 54 to house a 3D Crane printer that manufacturers walls and other architectural elements on site.

Meanwhile, in tunnel 46, an installation led by Germany-based Studio Streev in collaboration with the Industrial Design course at Muthesius Art College has begun to manufacture wooden structures on-site using a state-of-the-art joinery machine.

The project will utilise 5,000 reclaimed trees for the revitalisation of the tunnels' internal roofs, which visitors could see being built during the design week.

Existing openings between the tunnels enable ease of circulation through the site – operating as its "internal street" or "core" – to allow movement between the installations.

The structure can be understood as a "horizontal skyscraper", according to Caputo.

"Dropcity is roughly 500 metres long but divided into several modules and the sequence is like floors in a skyscraper," Caputo told Dezeen in Milan.

Unlike other installations taking place at the renowned annual design fair, Dropcity is a long-term initiative operating on a 20-year lease and intends to provide an "accessible space for the next generation of architects and designers".

"Dropcity aims to become a new model for a new centre of architecture and design," Caputo said.

"A place where we don't just produce cultural projects, we engage Milano – the architects, the designers – in a space which is quite complex in terms of programming," he added.

Caputo is an architect and researcher based in Milan and established his architecture studio Andrea Caputo in 2011.

Dropcity is expected to officially launch in autumn this year.

Other exhibitions that took place during this year's Milan design week include an interactive maze by IKEA epxloring the experience of leaving home for the first time and an "inhabitable" net installation by Numen/For Use for Porsche's The Art of Dreams exhibition.

The photography is by Piercarlo Quecchia.

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Students at Swiss design school HEAD Genève have created an installation of speculative furniture design depicting a dystopian campsite at Alcova during Milan design week.

Designed by students at the Master of Arts in Interior Architecture (MAIA) at HEAD Genève, the installation was placed in an outbuilding at Villa Bagatti Valsecchi, a 16th-century villa that was one of design showcase Alcova's outposts during this year's Milan design week.

Called 2084, Diorama of the Future, the installation comprised a series of furniture making up a nomad camp, with pieces using resistant materials and found objects, with an aesthetic informed – somewhat ironically – by Romantic dioramas.

Tucked into a dark, plaster-and-wood-lined space in the villa's annexe, the installation was housed in a steel frame that suggested a glass box – a "vivarium", in the words of the exhibitors.

"While 19th-century dioramas presented romanticized visions of exotic natures behind glass screens that detached visitors from their complexities, Diorama of the Future inserts visitors right in front of damaged environments, calling for new ecosystemic actions," said the team.

"Within this large device, students will take on the role of inhabitants of this changing vivarium, whose evolution will problematize the relationship between representation, agency, and climate change."

Lights were hung from the top of the steel frame and the ground of the installation was covered in fine sand, suggesting a depleted world.

The catalogue produced for the exhibition mentions that the inhabitants of this speculative world were driven to the road by climate change and catastrophe and "condemned to a bygone form of nomadism" in search of resources in a devasted world.

However, far from a depiction of pure necessity, the pieces in the installation were playful, such as an elaborate sleeping "tent" made from woven tubing covered in aluminium fabric and designed to function both as a hammock and as a shelter.

The aluminium was chosen for its durability and ability to shelter the inhabitants of the camp from radiation, and was also used in a privacy tent that consists of a circus-like fabric dropped over aluminium fabric and supported by metal poles.

Also included was a collapsible kitchen and dining set, consisting of a cart with bicycle wheels and a table that expands out.

All of the pieces were designed to be mobile and resistant to the potentially hostile climate.

The exception was a "treat" cabinet with a rocket-like shape and wooden surfaces. It was conceptualised as a "trap" set by companies trying to lure in escaped workers, dropped into the environment via rocket by a powerful group.

During its presentation, the installation featured smoke machines, a score and featured an intermittent performance illustrating what life in such a world might look like.

Other projects at Alcova included a collection of chandeliers by Canadian lighting company A-N-D placed on the ground in the main house of Villa Bagatti Valsecchi.

Dystopian themes have been used in other student work. Dezeen rounded up seven projects depicting architecture projects in dystopian cities.

The photography is by Piergiorgio Sorgetti. 

Milan design week took place from 15 to 21 April 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Project credits:

Student designers: Ségolène Davister, Andreas Laskaris, Natalia Krymskaya, Alexandra Miskufova, Valentina Pantalena, Marie Schild, Marie Torrione
Faculty advisors: Youri Kravtchenko, Cécile-Diama Samb, Shizuka Saito, Dany Champion
Graphic design: Studio Nüssli+Nuessli
Technical team: Charles Cuccu, Adrien Cheneviére, Xavier Plantevin
Performance director: Natacha de Oliveira
Sound: Misha Hering
Costume: Marc Eicher
Choreography: Salomé Zielhi

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Nendo founder Oki Sato broke two frying pans when creating the heated-up material for his colourful Hana-arashi furniture collection for Paola Lenti, which was shown as part of Milan design week.

The designer, whose studio Nendo is known for its innovative but often pared-back and monochrome designs, created an unusually colourful collection for his collaboration with Italian design brand Paola Lenti.

Called Hana-arashi, it was made from leftover material and offcuts from Paola Lenti's outdoor furniture as part of the brand's Mottanai series of projects that aim to reuse waste.

Sato, who normally gets more specific briefs, told Dezeen at the opening of an exhibition showcasing the collection that this was a different way of working for him.

"When I work with a furniture company I usually get briefed to create an object – they want a table, or for me to solve something," Sato said.

Instead, the brand's founder Paola Lenti invited Sato to her office and showed the offcuts of the fabric material used for its outdoor furniture.

The colourful material turns into plastic once it is melted down.

"She showed me a piece of plastic and said, we melt the fabric and it becomes this material because it is made of 100 per cent polypropylene, which is a recyclable material," Sato said.

The contrast between the fabric in its original softer form and its melted, hardened shape appealed to Sato.

"It was interesting because the fabric was very soft and tactile; it had a very nice feel," he said.

"On the other hand, the plastic was very solid, very rigid, so I wondered if we could find something in-between, something semi-solid."

To create the new material, Sato began experimenting with the fabric scraps, which led to some office mishaps.

"I received a lot of the fabric offcuts and went back to the Tokyo studio and put it in the microwave oven, I boiled it and fried it," he said. "It melted and destroyed two of our fry pans – it was like cheese almost."

Eventually, the experiments led Sato to discover a way to transform the fabric into a material with the right texture and consistency for his pieces.

"We sandwiched the material in wax paper and then ironed it, and by controlling the pressure and heat, we noticed that it became a semi-solid fabric," he added. "That was the 'aha'-moment."

The process meant that Nendo could connect smaller offcuts into bigger pieces without using glue or stitching, creating a mono-material that the studio used for the collection, which comprises furniture and accessories.

Unusually for Nendo, every piece in the collection is very colourful, leading Sato to joke that it gave him an outlet after two decades of monochrome design.

"I was telling Paola that maybe I've used 20 years' worth of colours in one collection," he said.

"Before, I felt that colour was more like fashion trends; it's used for marketing reasons like 'this year's colour,' and I try to stay away from that because it's not really linked with my way of designing things."

"But It felt very natural to play with colours with Paula; it was fun discussing which colour works with which colour and it was really refreshing – I studied a lot, it was a learning experience for myself," he added.

The natural influences gave the collection, Hana-arashi, its name, which means flower storm.

"The image that I had was of the falling leaves in autumn when you have different colours like yellows, and oranges and reds, and then they all fall on the floor, and it creates this beautiful pattern that is very natural," Sato explained.

"Then it developed into the image of the Hana-arashi, which means flower storm. When we say flower in Japan, it's always about the sakura flowers, the cherry blossoms in spring," he continued.

"In Japan, of course, everyone likes the full bloom. But after it, the petals start to fall from the trees, and then they fly, they start dancing in the wind – we call that the second bloom and we enjoy that as well."

The different stages of the sakura flowering season reminded Sato of the process of creating this collection.

"I thought that story really links with this Mottanai project, which is about first having the products – which is the full bloom – and then the offcuts, the materials that are not used in the first phase, would be given a second life," he explained.

The Hana-arashi collection was showcased at Paola Lenti's newly opened showroom during design week, where visitors entered the room through a curtain made from the leftover fabrics, cut to resemble leaves in the wind.

A number of architects showed furniture projects at this year's Milan design week, which also featured plenty of must-see installations.

The photography is courtesy of Paola Lenti.

Milan design week took place from 15 to 21 April 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Zaha Hadid Design, Heatherwick Studio and Foster + Partners were among the studios taking part in this year's Milan design week, with starchitecture product designs including a plastic-waste chair and mesh furniture.

This year's edition of Milan design week felt like a return to form, with big brands sharing space with emerging designers and more experimental studios. Among the well-known names taking part in last week's event were a number of architectural heavy-hitters who launched new furniture pieces in Milan.

While some chose to introduce their pieces at Salone del Mobile, the world's largest furniture fair, others took part in creative showcases around the city – including furniture hidden in an underground stone building and a large-scale glass installation.

Read on to find out more about seven notable Milan design week products made by architects:

H&dM Objects by Herzog & de Meuron 

Upscale fashion store 10 Corso Como played host to the Capsule Plaza Radical Sensations showcase, which featured numerous design and furniture installations.

Among these were pieces from architecture studio Herzog & de Meuron's H&dM Objects. Six sculptural chairs and stools made from milled wood, were assembled without screws and covered in a glossy lacquer, represented the studio's contribution to Capsule.

The pieces were among over six hundred objects that Herzog & de Meuron has made for its architecture projects and which will be sold by the studio.

In-Side by Heatherwick Studio for Magis

British designer Thomas Heatherwick's studio partnered with Italian furniture brand Magis to create In-Side, a collection that features a sofa, a table, cushions and a curvy chair made from recycled plastic that was on display at Salone del Mobile.

Magis used "a blend of part post-consumer recycled polyethylene and part post-industrial recycled polyethylene in multi-coloured flakes" for the construction of the chair, which Heatherwick designed so that it appears to have been turned inside-out.

Its white seat, dotted with colourful spots, opens up on the sides to reveal a paint-spattered design.

"In a world grappling with the consequences of plastic pollution, the idea behind this new collection is to use waste materials and reveal their inner beauty in an unexpected way," Heatherwick said.

Osuu by Foster + Partners for Walter Knoll

In the airy Walter Knoll showroom in the Milan city centre, British architecture studio Foster + Partners unveiled its seventh chair design for the German furniture brand.

Here, its new Osuu chair was displayed in a variety of different natural colours. The chair, made from steam-bent dowels and molded plywood seating, has a streamlined shape with curving armrests.

Seat covers in different leather hues can be added to create more comfort, as well as colour contrast.

Seyun by Zaha Hadid Design for Karimoku

Japanese wood brand Karimoku continued its collaboration with Zaha Hadid Design this Milan design week. A dedicated space in the city's lively Tortona area was home to the Hybridisation exhibition of Zaha Hadid Design's Seyun pieces for Karimoku.

Among these were the Seyun chair, table and armchair, which was first introduced in Milan last year, as well as several new smaller pieces. These included a serving tray and a barstool.

The furniture and accessories come in natural wood colours and metallic hues and are decorated with distinctive openings.

"A crossbreed between Japanese woodworking techniques and contemporary design, items from the collection are distinguished by the materiality of wood and the distinctive design idiom of ZHD," Karimoku said.

Junya Ishigami collection for Maniera gallery

Japanese architect Junya Ishigami showed his designs for Brussel-based Maniera gallery in the gardens of Villa Bagatti Alsecchi, a historic villa north of Milan that played host to the nomadic Alcova exhibition space this year.

The architect's delicate mesh furniture was displayed in an unusual setting, with visitors entering an underground building, where the furniture stood on ivy-covered ground between narrow brick walls.

Ishigami's collection for Maniera was made from stainless steel, leather, rattan, glass and wood, and comprises dining chairs and rocking chairs as well as tables and lamps. Some of the pieces were originally designed for his House and Restaurant project, with other pieces conceived for his mother's house, currently under construction.

Array by Snøhetta for MDF Italia

A playful modular design that aims to "reimagine the conventional sofa", Array was one of the product designs that Norwegian studio Snøhetta showed in Milan.

Made from an injection-moulded base and with a biofoam covering partly made from recycled materials, the comfy sofa also has elastic ropes that make it easier to replace the cover.

Snøhetta showed Array at the MDF Italia stand at Salone del Mobile, where plenty of visitors lounged on its snaking form.

Milan design week took place from 15 to 21 April 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Experimental furniture and nostalgic films combine in Diurno, a Milan design week installation exploring the past and future of the living room.

Curated by Gianmaria Sforza, the show features the work of Lausanne-based design studio Panter & Tourron and Italian video artist Davide Rapp.

It saw a Milanese studio apartment transformed into a "speakeasy-style secret lounge" where a limited number of guests were invited into an octagonal room surrounded by purple curtains.

Once they had swapped their shoes for slippers, guests were encouraged to get comfortable on a yellow sofa-bed hybrid. Here, they could chat to other guests, enjoy a drink and watch the montage-style videos playing around them.

Rapp produced three videos, with hundreds of clips that show living room interiors depicted primarily in Italian cinema.

Each film focuses on a different piece of furniture. The sofa, the television and the bar are all featured.

"Diurno is an invitation to take a break from the hustle and bustle of Milan's design week, a speakeasy-style secret lounge where guests can relax in a setup that oscillates between nostalgia and science fiction," said the design team.

Panter & Tourron founders Stefano Panterotto and Alexis Tourron developed six pieces of original furniture for the space.

As well as the modular sofa platform, the Hall collection includes a lightweight chandelier, a tubular floor lamp, mirrored stools, a curved display shelf and slender vases.

The duo hoped to draw attention to the changing nature of lounge and passage spaces in the home.

The project has an affinity with another of their recent works, Couch in an Envelope, which imagines a sofa that can be folded up and carried from place to place.

"Looking at the decors from gathering spaces like entrance halls, lobbies and lounge rooms, the pieces in the collection function like a reenactment element, questioning the evolution of these places today and our relationship to shared environments at large," they said.

Drinks and snacks were served on matching mirrored trays, on linen cocktail coasters embroidered with the Diurno brand logo. These were produced in collaboration with La Colombarola.

Danish textile brand Kvadrat, Italian steel manufacturer Fittinox and material supplier Formtech also donated materials to make the event possible.

 

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One of the videos featured movie clips of scenes that centred around a sofa

This isn't the first takeover of this apartment. Under the name Studio di Pittura, it is primarily an art space with the goal of facilitating collaboration between international and local creatives.

Diurno was one of Dezeen's pick of the 12 key installations on show for Milan design week.

The photography is by Giulio Boem.

Diurno was open by appointment only from 13 to 20 April. See Dezeen Events Guide to discover our Milan design week guide, or for more architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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Fashion designer Thom Browne has presented his collaboration with Italian textile brand Frette as part of a sleep-themed performance during Milan design week 2024.

Browne's Time to Sleep performance took place inside the neoclassical Palazzina Appiani in Milan's Parco Sempione on Tuesday 16 April.

The 19th-century Napoleonic building's upper-level salon provided the setting for the show, which revolved around six identical beds made with fine cotton sateen sheets from the American designer's Frette collection.

"Browne has identified Palazzina Appiani, a succinct representation of neoclassicism, as an unlikely venue for a nap," said the artist's statement. "An immediate dialogue emerges between the generous proportions of the hall of honour and six simple mid-century cots."

The beds were placed in a row in the highly decorative but otherwise empty room, until a bell chimed and six models in underwear entered one by one and took their spots beside their respective beds.

Another bell signaled them to begin dressing in grey Thom Browne uniforms, before two more models fixed their ties and straightened their shirts.

Once properly dressed, the six sat on their beds, had custom eye masks placed over their heads, then laid down for a nap.

The soundtrack included music that referenced sleeping, including Once Upon a Dream from Sleeping Beauty and Johannes Brahms' Wiegenlied (Lullaby).

"The performance brings to life the collaboration and serves as a continuation of Thom's interest in the intersection of art, fashion design and storytelling," said the artist's statement.

Browne's partner collection with 160-year-old brand Frette includes duvet and sheet sets and towels, all embroidered with the brand's recognisable four-bar insignia.

Grey wool-cashmere blankets, throws and cushions feature the same trademark stripes, while a light grey, yarn-dyed cotton velour bath robe is based on the silhouette of a Thom Browne trench coat.

Also available are gym towels and a beach bag made from soft terry cotton in white.

Browne began his eponymous brand in 2001, and Time to Sleep marked his debut event during Milan's annual design week.

It follows a long tradition of art performances that the company has staged at architecturally significant locations, including London's V&A Museum and New York's Cooper Hewitt, MoMA and Met museums.

"Browne's past works have included performance art and hand-made sculptures; architecture and proportion are often a key element in his fashion practice," the statement said.

The designer also hosted a "teddy talk" for his toy-inspired Autumn Winter 2022 collection in New York, while mid-century offices formed a reference for his first store in San Francisco by ASA Studio Albanese.

The photography is courtesy of Thom Browne.

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Architect Amos Goldreich has launched a furniture brand that spotlights the design legacy of his mother, interior architect Tamar de Shalit, ahead of his more famous father, designer and activist Arthur Goldreich.

Launched during Milan design week, Tamart's inaugural collection features 10 furniture objects based on the archive of the late couple, a collection of more than 10,000 drawings, photographs, documents and prototypes.

South African-born Arthur Goldreich is more well-known than his Israeli wife, particularly because of his role in the anti-apartheid movement. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1963 after helping Nelson Mandela to hide from police.

Goldreich also founded the architecture and design faculty at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem.

By naming the brand Tamart, an amalgamation of Tamar and Arthur, Amos Goldreich has deliberately put De Shalit in the spotlight as the driving force behind the creative partnership.

"In some aspects, she was the better designer," explained the London-based architect, speaking to Dezeen ahead of the launch.

"They worked on projects together, but my father was very involved in academia so he had less time to spend on architecture. In some projects you see more of her, others are more him, then there are some with an overlap."

Goldreich is keen to highlight his mother's non-nonsense attitude. This, combined with her attention to detail, led De Shalit to design interiors for a series of major projects.

She designed a courtroom to host the trial of Nazi officer Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem in 1961 and worked on numerous projects in collaboration with architect Nahum Zolotov, described by Goldreich as "the Israeli Niemeyer".

"My father liked attention – he was always the centre of the room – while my mother was the quiet one. She didn't look for the limelight," Goldreich told Dezeen.

"But she was a tough cookie," he added. "You can see it from the letters she wrote to clients."

Goldreich only discovered the wealth of projects in his parents' archive when he inherited it after they died, De Shalit in 2009 and Goldreich in 2011.

"I knew of maybe 10 important projects growing up, but I uncovered dozens more," he said. "I was blown away."

"It was the start of an emotional journey of rediscovering my parents and learning things I didn't know about them."

After staging an exhibition in 2018, at the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art in Israel, the architect decided to redevelop some of the furniture designs for a contemporary market.

The results were presented in the show Tamart: Powered by Love, which was on show as part of the Milan design week exhibition Design Variations by Mosca Partners.

A significant piece in the launch collection is the Central Stool, which is based on a design that De Shalit produced as a student at London's Central School of Arts and Crafts

De Shalit and Goldreich first met while studying here in the 1950s, although they didn't marry for another decade. It wasn't until after Goldreich escaped from police custody in Johannesburg in 1963 and fled to Israel as a political refugee.

The Central Stool features three angular, tapered legs and a semi-circular seat. It can double as a small side table if leaned against a wall or paired with a second.

The collection also includes various pieces that were originally designed for a prestigious commission for the penthouse of entrepreneur and philanthropist Charles Clore, including a curved lounge chair and a geometric coffee table.

One of the more playful designs in the collection is the Red Rock Club Chair, designed for a club in Eilat. The backrest of this chair is topped by a pair of spherical handles, giving people standing nearby something to hold.

The Highgate Chair is the most reworked of the designs. It is based on archive photos but has some new features, including a tilted, pill-shaped backrest and a leather seat that can be re-tensioned.

Goldreich worked with furniture designer Adrian Weidmann to adapt the designs for modern manufacturing techniques and sustainability standards. For instance, they have avoided using any upholstery foam.

Fabric options include Contrast, a woven wool textile based on a patterned scarf that De Shalit designed.

The architect sees the project as a collaboration between himself and his parents.

"These things were designed in the 1960s and things have evolved since then, so some dimensions had to be adjusted," he said. "We also had to rely on photographs and do a lot of guesswork.

"It's like I'm working with my parents and I have an opportunity to put my own stamp on it," he said.

He believes his father would be thrilled with the project, while his mother would bring a more critical eye. "She was always the more pragmatic one," he noted.

Tamart: Powered by Love takes place from 15 to 21 April 2024 as part of the Design Variations exhibition at Milan design week. See Dezeen Events Guide to discover our Milan design week guide.

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This week on Dezeen, we reported live from this year's Milan design week on the key installations, exhibitions and launches at the world's biggest design event.

The Dezeen team provided exclusive previews of products, installations and events taking place across the city through out the week.

Among the installations were filmmaker David Lynch's installation at Salone del Mobile and research studio Chromasonic's kaleidoscopic installation for Google.

We rounded up the twelve key installations being exhibited this year, which include a series of monumental glass portals created by Czech glassmaker Lasvit and a bright-orange brutalist installation by Samuel Ross for Kohler.

In other Milan news, IKEA launched a collection of gaming furniture designed to challenge traditional gaming design, which includes 20 pieces of seating, storage and accessories designed to allow for a more immersive gaming experience.

Also exhibited in Milan, designer Maria Vittoria Paggini used colourful wallpaper and murals to redecorate her home interior with a "porno-chic" makeover.

In architecture news, it was announced that The Vessel by Thomas Heatherwick is set to reopen this year following its closure in August 2021 due to four deaths by suicide from the attraction.

The structure will be enclosed by steel netting as a suicide-prevention strategy, while its highest platform will continue to remain closed.

In Copenhagen, the 17th-century Børsen building was engulfed by a fire resulting in the collapse of its 56-metre-tall spire.

Once home to the city's stock exchange, the structure is among the Danish capital's most famous buildings.

In other architecture news, the Oklahoma City Planning Commission granted approval to increase the height of Legends Tower, which is set to be the USA's tallest skyscraper.

Estimated to begin construction as early as June, architecture studio AO and developer Matteson Capital requested permission to increase the skyscraper's height from 1,750-feet (533 metres) tower to 1,907-feet (581 metres).

In design news, the New York Jets NFL team unveiled its new logo, which includes a jet aircraft for the first time since the 1990s.

Designed to combine "coolness and nostalgia", the logo is a contemporary update of a logo originally designed by the team's former video director Jim Pons.

Popular projects this week included a house that "flows like music" by HGX Design, a Parisian home and studio defined by exposed materials and colourful accents, and a pavilion by Spaceworkers featuring concrete and green ceramic tiles.

Our latest lookbooks featured living rooms with tactile organic modern interiors, hotel interiors characterised by eclectic designs, and homes where flooring enhances the connection between indoors and outdoors.

This week on Dezeen

This week on Dezeen is our regular roundup of the week's top news stories. Subscribe to our newsletters to be sure you don't miss anything.

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The Dezeen team have been reporting live from Milan design week (15-19 April). Read on for all the coverage from the fifth day (Friday 19 April).

6:00pm Each year we try to capture the Dezeen team out in Milan in a group shot but with 24 of us here this year – at any given point somewhere across the city exploring Milan design week – that has proved impossible!

Below is the best we could do, featuring – left to right – Dezeen design editor Jennifer Hahn, deputy editor Cajsa Carlson, design and interiors reporter Jane Englefield and editorial director Max Fraser enjoying more ice cream in front of Alcova's Villa Bagatti Valsecchi.

The red protuberances from the first floor windows behind them are part of the WAKE installation by UMPRUM students (The Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague).

Other red things... are our feet! Dezeen digital editor Rupert Bickersteth has been tracking the team's step count, and the editorial contributors to this live coverage alone have clocked up more than 628,000 steps combined (according to their phones, and Bickersteth's maths).

It's been our pleasure to bring you Dezeen's biggest live coverage ever, across 5 days, publishing more than 30 dedicated articles about projects and exhibitions (and more yet to come in the following days), and with 79 entries here in the Dezeen LIVE – all with the goal of celebrating the global design community with you. Grazie!

Catch up on everything that happened this week:

Day one from Milan design week 2024

Day two from Milan design week 2024

Day three from Milan design week 2024

Day four from Milan design week 2024

5:30pm Designer Yves Salomon has unveiled its collaboration with Chapo Creations, a collection of five furniture pieces created by interior designer Pierre Chapo, each upholstered in upcycled intarsia shearling.

With sustainability in mind, the designs use no glues or permanent fastenings and the shearling pieces were recycled off-cuts. – Jennifer Hahn

5:15pm Bentley Home has unveiled six new pieces of furniture at Milan design week, Dezeen co-ceo Ben Hobson reports, including the Wilton desk, which is one of the first Bentley Home pieces designed for home offices.

The desk is presented at Bentley Home Atelier at Corso Venezia in a desert-themed setting that draws from the Italian region of Salento.

 

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The desk is shown alongside a new modular sofa called Loftus, which features integrated side tables in marble or leather.

The desk was designed by Francesco Forcellini, while the sofa is by Federico Peri, both of whom worked closely with the Bentley Motors design team in Crewe, UK.

5:00pm A hybrid between a fair and a collective exhibition, Capsule Plaza has returned to Milan design week at Spazio Maiocchi to bring together designers and companies spanning interiors and architecture, beauty and technology, innovation and craft.

Italian design brand Poltronova collaborated with Crosby Studios founder Harry Nuriev to reimagine the Saratoga sofa, 60 years after Lella and Massimo Vignelli designed it.

Nuriev took inspiration "from the mundane and unpoetic" and presented a version wrapped in taped-up bin bags.

The 1978 Lancia Sibilo show car designed by Marcello Gandini for Bertone, is also on display at Capsule Plaza, as part of the Lopresto collection.

Elsewhere an installation by Alaska Alaska— a London-based design and creative studio founded by Virgil Abloh and now directed by Tawanda Chiweshe and Francisco Gaspar — provides the scenography for Nike's Alphafly 3 presentation.

Capsule also presented a collaboration with K67 Berlin, who recover and restore version of a 1966 kiosk design – called K67 – by Slovenian architect and designer Saša J. Mächtig.

Based on polyfibre-reinforced modules, the flexible design of the units enables them to serve numerous functions, and at Capsule Plaza several kiosks are being used as a magazine kiosk, matcha bar, information desk, DJ booth and – in collaboration with luxury skincare La Prairie – as a flower stand.

Hydro is exhibiting objects made entirely from aluminium scrap.

Titled 100R, the exhibit features objects by seven designers made from Hydro's recycled aluminium product, which was designed to have a record-low carbon footprint – Rupert Bickersteth

Watch the Instagram Reel that Dezeen Studio made for Hydro now › 

4:00pm Milan-based architecture studio ADML Circle showcased Leaveitbe during Milan design week, an installation by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto.

"The architect's role is the shepherd of space"

Installed in ADML Circle's space on Via Varese in Milan, it was made up of pieces of leftover wood from construction in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, which have been suspended and appear to float within a wooden frame.

The sculptural piece was created in response to an earlier work by ADML Circle founder Michele de Lucchi, which is showcased alongside it.

"Leave it be was designed as a barrier, to create a secret space that treats emptiness as a valuable resource," ADML Circle's Pico de Lucchi told Dezeen deputy editor Cajsa Carlson.

"It looks at the architect's role as the shepherd of space and aims to create a positive emptiness."

3:30pm There have been increasing grumblings about the length of queues towards the tail end of this year's Milan design week.

At the world's biggest design fair you always expect to queue, and especially when the weather is fine, but even so waiting over two hours in line seems beyond the limit for many and has become a topic of conversation as press and the general public navigate getting into all the exhibitions and presentations.

3:00pm Following Dezeen social editor Clara Finnigan's preview of Artemest's second edition of L'Apartamento (see 10:15 entry from day three), you can now skip the queue and see more from inside in our recently published Instagram Reel.

 

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2:45pm There is always time for ice cream! No points for guessing that one of the flavours Dezeen's Cajsa Carlson chose is chocolate, but what about the other one? Entries on the back of a postcard to Dezeen HQ.

2:30pm Dezeen design editor Jennifer Hahn reports that the social media "coquette bow" trend has made it to Milan in the form of candlesticks, chairs and cutlery by Worn Studio.

2:15pm Also at Alcova's Villa Bagatti Valsecchi with Dezeen's Jennifer Hahn and Jane Englefield is Dezeen deputy editor Cajsa Carlson.

The three dove into design studio Objects of Common Interest's squishy garden pavilion.

Alcova has become one of the most widely followed projects in the Fuorisalone of Milan design week, regularly attracting over 90,000 visitors.

Made from PVC and metal, the Objects of Common Interest pavilion provided a fun distraction for visitors from the queue snaking into the exhibition space's main building.

Athens and New York-based studio Objects of Common Interest are also showing squishy and rubbery furniture, illuminated by colourful lights, at Alcova's second location at the Villa Borsani.

1.30pm The sun has returned at Alcova! Everyone is frolicking in the sun outside Villa Bagatti Valsecchi.

1:00pm From Alcova, Dezeen's Jane Englefield reports that knobbly bowls and translucent cutlery come together at La Cocina – an installation of functional but decorative kitchen pieces by Colombian designer Natalia Criado.

Criado is another designer showing at Alcova's Villa Borsani, in a kitchen-style room.

12:30pm House of Switzerland is a collective exhibition at the Casa degli Artisti on Corso Garibaldi which brings together emerging designers, studios, universities, brands, and galleries from across Switzerland.

Dezeen's US editor Ben Dreith reports that the 2024 edition has been curated around the theme of joy – perhaps not something often associated with the stereotypically rigid and serious aesthetic of Swiss design and architecture.

The exhibition aims to "revoke the singular perception of Swiss design, encouraging us to become captivated by its playfulness with a pure and open naivety, embracing the spirit of the playground".

As a result, the show features lot of interactive exhibits involving ropes, swings, ladders, and seesaws but unfortunately someone went too hard on the seesaw and broke it!

Many exhibitors collaborated with Swiss brands, such as an exhibit using tarpaulin from recycled bag manufacturer Frietag.

11:45am Following Englefield's trip to the Patrick Caroll exhibition of knitted "paintings" at Milan's JW Anderson store (see 10:45am entry from day three), you can now read the full write up below:

11:15am Photographed by Dezeen's Jane Englefield, who writes: Jennifer Hahn has hit Alcova's Villa Borsani with the entirety of her Milan design week luggage as the team prepares to leave the city.

She's donning the dad-at-an-art-gallery front backpack look, after reports of a visitor smashing a handful of one of the exhibitor's glass flowers here yesterday.

*update* Here is a picture of the bathtub full of glass flowers, of which a few were damaged earlier by a less careful backpack wearer.

Find out more about Alcova on Dezeen Events Guide › 

11:00am Dezeen's Jennifer Hahn reports: the design world congregated at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana last night to pay tribute to Italian design icon Gaetano Pesce, who died earlier this month aged 84.

The occasion was the newly opened "Nice to See You" exhibition, conceived before his death, which is showing Pesce's most recent works from 2023-2024, some completed just weeks before the exhibition was originally due to open.

Outside the historic library, there is a new monumental installation of a man crouching on all fours that was designed to reflect the "tiredness of the so-called stronger sex".

There were speeches and standing ovations in honour of the "maestro", with attendees including Pesce's children Milena and Jacopo Pesce alongside designers including Fabio Novembre.

10:30am Carlo Ratti returns to Brera Botanical Garden with sunRICE, an installation of sculpture made of rice husk that demonstrate the potential of the material.

The biodegradable objects can be used as fertiliser after the exhibition concludes. Chef Niko Romito has also baked rice "cookies" for the occasion, available to try at the site – Jane Englefield

10:00am Those in need of some rest and recuperation from the frenzy of Milan design week, writes Dezeen's Max Fraser, have been enjoying the calm space of the Bocci apartment, a permanent showcase for the Canadian brand's lighting collections.

The space underwent a makeover for this year's event with walls hand painted by skilled artisans Pictalab to evoke velvet and parchment.

As well as impressive clusters of their pendants hanging in the various rooms, Bocci was also launching 14p, their first portable table light made from sepia-toned cast-glass.

Fans of the beautiful Bocci tote bag (launched last year as part of the company's rebrand by Studio Frith) could pick up a new red and blue colourway for 2024. The Dezeen team, already heavy users of the 2023 bag, are thrilled!

9:30am Morning! Welcome to the fifth and final day of Dezeen's reporting from Milan design week.

This week more than 20 of the Dezeen team have been out and about in Milan, soaking up all that Salone del Mobile and the wider Fuorisalone have to offer.

Among them, Dezeen's editorial director Max Fraser, editor-at-large Amy Frearson, digitial editor Rupert Bickersteth, deputy editor Cajsa Carlson, US editor Ben Dreith, design editor Jennifer Hahn, social editor Clara Finnigan, design and interiors reporter Jane Englefield and editorial assistant Starr Charles have been reporting from the 62nd edition of the world's biggest design fair.

Our live coverage from Milan wouldn't have been possible without all the work also going on from the dozens of Dezeeners in our London HQ, and in Shanghai and the US where we also have teams.

This week we have partnered with brands on exclusive video content, co-hosted parties, thrown a Dezeen Awards dinner at Villa Necchi, moderated panel discussions, interviewed designers and architects, attended exhibitions, installations, previews and product launches – and we've drunk a few negronis at Milan's legendary Bar Basso too!

 

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There would be nothing to report if it weren't for the wonderful designers, artists, architects and multi-disciplinary practitioners who bring their creativity and their creations to Milan every year  – so here's to them, and our final day covering all the goings-on across the city. Let's go!

Catch up on everything that has happened so far this week:

Day one from Milan design week 2024

Day two from Milan design week 2024

Day three from Milan design week 2024

Day four from Milan design week 2024

To keep you up to date, 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 Jennifer Hahn.

The post Day five from Milan design week 2024 appeared first on Dezeen.

Dezeen Showroom: a collection of console tables and benches informed by kimonos are included among products on Dezeen Showroom that were presented during Milan design week.

Leading designers and brands unveiled products and collections during this year's event, including a series of undulating lighting, an office chair with a deliberately bent metal structure and a credenza with dramatic proportions and refined materials.

Milan design week took place from 15 to 19 April, attended by 300,000 visitors, and is a significant event in the global design calendar, featuring installations and events based in hundreds of venues throughout Milan's multiple design districts.

Visit Dezeen's dedicated digital guide for a comprehensive list of the installations, exhibitions and talks that took place as part of this year's edition.

Read on to see our top picks of products, furnishings and homewares that launched during the week that were listed on Dezeen Showroom.

Andromeda credenza by LSM for UniFor

Italian furniture company UniFor presented its Andromeda furniture collection at Milan design week, which was designed by architecture and design studio LSM.

One of the pieces in the series is the Andromeda credenza, which shares the wider collection's stately proportions and refined materials – it comprises an aluminium base with options for other materials including glass, travertine, wood and travertine.

Find out more about Andromeda credenza ›

Pop lighting collection by Nahtrang for Rakumba

A snaking modular lighting fixture is at the centre of Spanish design studio Nahtrang lighting collection, created for Australian brand Rakumba.

Floor and table lights as well as wall lamps are also included in the Pop lighting collection, which comes in a selection of playful colourways and metallic finishes.

Find out more about Pop ›

New Marquina Bamboo stone finish by Antolini

Verona-based Italian stone brand Antolini has pioneered a new type of surface finish called New Marquina Bamboo, which has long, vertical etched lines that mimic the appearance of tall sheaths of bamboo.

The finish has a distinctive, textural quality and can be applied to a spectrum of natural stone in order to enhance the appearance of organically occurring striations.

Find out more about New Marquina Bamboo ›

Origata collection by Nao Tamura for Porro

Italian furniture brand Porro worked with Japanese designer Nao Tamura on a duo of furniture items that are based on the meticulous process of cutting out material for kimonos.

A console table and bench make up the Origata collection, both of which are made from aluminium sheets that are crimped to resemble folds of a kimono garment.

Find out more about Origata ›

Typo office chair by AMDL Circle for Mara

Furniture brand Mara has created a task chair with a playful spine-like structure characterised by purposefully crimped metal.

The Typo office chair comes in a selection of finishes and colourways for the frame and seat.

Find out more about Typo ›

Gubia cabinet by Gordon Guillaumier for Alf DaFrè

Italian furniture company Alf DaFrè has created a distinctive wooden cabinet defined by its mottled surface, created using a carpentry tool called a gauge chisel.

The Gubia cabinet has concealed handles and doors and is supported by four slim, tubular legs at each corner.

Find out more about Gubia ›

Poetica furniture system by Scavolini

Italian design brand Scavolini has presented a range of its furnishing systems at Milan design week including Poetica, which aims to create a homely and comfortable atmosphere thanks to its use of wood.

The system combines base and wall cabinets that can be used in bathrooms, kitchens and living areas.

Find out more about Poetica ›

Frammento tiles by Marazzi

Italian tile company Marazzi has designed a series of floor coverings that mimic the distinctive appearance of traditional terrazzo but are made using an AI program.

Frammento tiles have a multicoloured, flecked finish which was created using AI through a process that included scanning reference material.

Find out more about Frammento ›

Pietra Tiburtina tile collection by Casalgrande Padana

Casalgrande Padana's latest surface collection features a duo of tiles, one with naturalistic striations and one with a cloudy pattern, both reminiscent of different cuts of travertine stone.

The Pietra Tiburtina tile collection can be used on walls and floors as well as to create countertops, washbasin and furniture.

Find out more about Pietra Tiburtina ›

Spoon XL bathtub by Benedini Associati for Agape

Italian bathroom company Agape has released a new version of its Spoon XL bathtub that is made out of travertine, a popular material for furniture and buildings since ancient Rome.

The Spoon XL bathtub has a characteristically curved half-egg shape, and this version has naturally-occuring details and inclusions.

Find out more about Spoon XL ›

Dezeen Showroom

Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.

Dezeen Showroom is an example of partnership content on Dezeen. Find out more about partnership content here.

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Dutch architecture studio Cloud and designer Sabine Marcelis have created scenography for a lounge promoting the design and culture of AlUla, Saudi Arabia, during Milan design week.

Located within a library in Milan's Brera neighbourhood, the lounge's main space has a massive seating area with a table at its centre created by French design studio Hall Haus. The studio also created ambient sounds that play constantly from speakers that were covered in fabric to blend into the earthy hues of the space.

Marcelis and life partner Paul Cournet, who runs architecture studio Cloud, topped the space with a massive overhead cylinder with a soft light that occasionally changes colour.

The form of the light was chosen to mimic those found in AlUla, which face downward to limit light pollution in the area, according to Marcelis.

Alongside the sofa are a series of sculptural chairs by French designer Leo Orta and lamps by India-based Studio Raw Material, all of which were created during a design residency held at AlUla.

"We've tried to transform this space into something that does justice to the [residency] projects but also gives you a feeling of what AlUla is like," Marcelis told Dezeen.

"What's nice for the designers in residency was that they got into the local culture."

Also included in the space was a massive steel screen created by Bahraini design studio Bahraini Danish. Outside, in the entry courtyard, Saudi Arabian designer Leen Ajlan created a series of wooden platforms with benches, based on the set-up of Saudi folk games.

At the back of the space was a selection of collectible design pieces, curated by Samer Yamani. Each piece utilised materials taken directly from AlUla, such as a couch dyed with local pigments and a lamp created with stacked and embroidered water pouches designed by Zahrah Alghamdi.

Also in the curatorial section were planters made of 3D-printed bioplastics created with materials from fruit husks and designed by TechnoCrafts.

In the surrounding rooms leading off from the main lounge, tables with the raw materials used to created the pieces were displayed to shown as were infographics relating the material with the history of AlUla.

AlUla is a city in the Medina Province of Saudi Arabia, which is located near a series of rock dwellings and tombs that are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Earlier this year the Design Space AlUla gallery opened in the city with an opening exhibition that presented 10 recent projects from the region.

Also under development in AlUla are a cave hotel by French architect Jean Nouvel and a Bedouin-inspired tent resort by French architecture studio AW2.

The photography is courtesy of Design Space AlUla 2024.

Design Space AlUla is open from 15 to 21 April at Mediateca Santa Teresa during Milan design week. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

The post Cloud and Sabine Marcelis create lounge that "gives you a feeling of what AlUla is like" appeared first on Dezeen.

Dutch designer Marjan van Aubel has exhibited a solar-powered installation in collaboration with car brand Lexus at this year's Milan design week.

Named 8 minutes and 20 seconds in reference to the amount of time it takes sunlight to reach the earth, the installation features a full-size silhouette of the brand's Future Zero-Emission Catalyst concept car made using sheets of organic photovoltaics that rely on sunlight to function.

Following its first showcase at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami (ICA Miami) last year, the installation was updated by Lexus from its initial iteration to be "even more reflective and immersive" within its new context at the Superstudio garden in Milan.

"In my ideal future, the future is solar-powered," Marjan van Aubel told Dezeen.

"Where we can generate energy on the location where we need it in a beautiful way, not only aesthetically, but also done in a way that's thinking about [a] materials impact on our world," she continued.

"Design week is about showing new things, working with colours and giving this optimistic hope [and] joyful experience."

Exhibited in a range of colours, the silhouette of the concept car centres the installation and is composed of a steel structure within which the panels were held – each depicting a different "slice" of the car.

The structure was raised on a platform finished with mirrored acrylic that nods to Lexus' future use of this technology, and is imbedded with motion sensors that trigger sounds when approached by visitors.

Among the new additions to the installation are four sculptural trees that surround the car and are similarly made using steel and acrylic panels.

Situated behind the car, an "interactive sun" – made up of 16 of Van Aubel's Sunne lamps arranged in a circle – is hosted within a white box with a circular entrance. Inside, a sensor triggers the lamps to change colour when a visitor touches it.

Reprised from Van Aubel's Solar Biennale, a circular sculptural seating area was also placed within the installation and is finished with mirrored acrylic.

Following its showcase in Milan, the travelling installation will likely be exhibited at another location, although it is not yet known where.

Additionally, the artwork has been designed for disassembly and will be recycled at the end of its lifecycle.

"[Recycling] is a very important part of the way I work and design," said Van Aubel.

"What's nice with the solar panels [is that] they are not made of toxic materials, or glued together," she continued. "Even the solar cells can be taken apart and can be reused and recycled."

Alongside van Aubel, designer Hideki Yoshimoto has also collaborated with Lexus to create an immersive installation featuring illuminated fibreglass sculptures.

Other exhibitions and installations currently on show at Milan design week include a show by designer Faye Toogood that explores "sexuality and the body" and furniture made from reused skyscraper formwork.

The photography is courtesy of Lexus.

8 minutes and 20 seconds is open from 15 to 21 April at Superstudio during Milan design week. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week. 

The post Marjan van Aubel unveils "even more reflective and immersive" solar-powered installation appeared first on Dezeen.

The Dezeen team are reporting live from Milan Design Week (15-19 April). Read on for all the coverage from the fourth day (Thursday 18 April).

5:30pm Dezeen co-ceo Ben Hobson reports from a talk that has just taken place in the middle of Dutch brand Moooi's Living Room exhibition at Salone Dei Tessuti.

Dezeen's editorial director Max Fraser spoke to Yves Behar, Lidewij Edelkoort and Marcel Wanders about how lighting, scent and surfaces can combine to create richer interior environments.

This is Dezeen's last talk of Milan design week, which means that you'll be much more likely to see Max – who has been moderating all week – out at Bar Basso tonight! Saluti!

5:15pm Luggage brand Rimowa has collaborated with coffee maker La Marzocco on the Linea Mini espresso machine.

To launch the collaboration they have been hosting the Caffe Rimowa all week during Milan design week.

As day four begins to wind up before this evening's festivities, we'll need all the caffeine we can get to make it through – happy for it also to be in the form of espresso martinis.

The Linea Mini is made in La Marzocco's factory in Florence and the signature Rimowa grooved panels that can be found on their luggage and clad the coffee machine were made in Rimowa's Cologne factory, before the two are assembled by hand.

4:45pm Spotted at Spazio Maiocchi: Sabine Marcelis's first-ever chair design, created for Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum.

And check out Dezeen's TikTok of Sabine's installation with Paul Cournet called Design Space AlUla (see 3:15pm entry from day two).

4:30pm Francis Kéré spoke to Dezeen's Starr Charles (see 4pm entry from day two) about his circular pavilion made from spruce logs designed for Germany kitchen brand Next125 at Milan design week.

"If you think about [a cave], you relate to the light from outside to little openings," Kéré said.

"This is what brought us to think about using these logs and let gaps in between so that light can come through. That was [going to] create a warm place; a welcoming place."

Read the full article now › 

4:00pm Dezeen's Jane Englefield is still in Milan's Isola district, where designers from the MENA region are showing at the Routes to Roots exhibition.

A handful of the designers took cues from various local architecture and materials when creating their pieces.

Saudi Arabian practitioners Abdulqader ALsuwaidan, Hayat Almousa, Lama Dardas and Nawaf Alghamdi collaborated to create a mini, folded aluminium "pavilion" as "a contemporary interpretation of Islamic architecture".

Manahel Al Qassem, also from Saudi Arabia, designed handbags informed by the country's architectural forms using a "zero waste biomaterial".

Egyptian collective Shell Homage created disc-shaped lighting out of biogradable materials made from egg and nut shells.

3:30pm Around the Table is an installation by Spanish design studio Masquespacio, writes Dezeen and interiors reporter Jane Englefield.

Curated for Isola Studio, the table setting and tableware pieces were designed to transform the venue into a private space for dinner experiences at night.

3:00pm British studio Foster + Partners has unveiled its latest chair design for German furniture brand Walter Knoll, the seventh in their ongoing collaboration.

The chair's front legs, arms and supportive upper backrest are made from solid steam bent dowels.

The molded plywood seat rests on timber cross rails, gently curving over the top of the backrest and downwards towards the floor.

Called Osuu, the streamlined which chair features removable leather seat covers, was showcased in Walter Knoll's spacious Brera showroom – Cajsa Carlson

2:45pm At the Issey Miyake store, innovative usage of everyday object animates an installation, called Fold and Crease, by the Dutch art collective We Make Carpets.

Dezeen's Clara Finnigan reports from the store, where coloured wooden skewers and pins stuck into foam sheets give the impression of cascading, crafted "blankets".

Find out more about Fold and Crease on Dezeen Events Guide › 

2:30pm Georgian studio Rooms Studio has created a series of six sculptural beds for an exhibition at Italian arts school SIAM on Via Santa Marta, in the 5vie district.

One of the beds includes a metallic mattress and has exhaust pipes on the bottom, perfect for getting a few Z's while going at the fast pace of Milan design week – Ben Dreith

2:00pm Dezeen's social editor Clara Finnigan has been to see skincare brand Aesop's first partnership with Salone del Mobile.

They are hosting four activations across the city. At the Piazza Cordusio, the space is clad in tiles made from soap.

1:30pm We have rounded up a selection of key installations from Milan design week (see below).

One of the twelve is the installation at Salone del Mobile designed by film director David Lynch (see 2:45pm entry from day two), which you can now read the full report about by Cajsa Carlson, featuring all the photos.

1:15pm Play a game of chair or dog with us from Baranzate Ateliers!

Besides the chainmail (see 11:15am entry below), 7,000 square metres of collectible design is on display at the second edition of Baranzate Ateliers presented by Zaventem Ateliers.

Belgian-based Zaventem Ateliers showcases work from "industrial wastelands" in European cities.

Founded in 2019 at an ex-industrial warehouse in the village of Zaventem, near Brussels, Zaventem Ateliers is now home to 21 emerging and established creators "united by their passion for producing and processing materials".

12:30pm Dry ice, smoke machines, steam – all three have been notably deployed across Milan design week installations to add atmosphere and, arguably, to help soften the edges of newly fabricated installs that can otherwise land in ancient Milanese courtyards with stark contrast.

Inherently hard to capture on film, the Dezeen team have seen steam rising from around Samuel Ross's toilet for Kohler, smoke machines concealing and revealing the Lasvit installation, and in traditional MAD Architects fashion, billowing clouds of smoke animate their Amazing Walk installation with Amazon.

Showing for the seventh time in Milan, MAD's huge Amazing Walk installation has taken over the Cortile della Farmacia courtyard of the University of Milan for the week.

11:30am At the Acquasanta installation by AATC and Co, part of the Design Variations exhibition at Milan design week, brands showed limited-edition collectible designs made from "200-million-years-old" marble from the historic Breccia Medicea dell'Acquasanta quarry.

AATC and Co art director Umberto Gabriele told Dezeen's deputy editor Cajsa Carlson that the brand gave designers a three-part brief: to use a very old material but give it a contemporary vision, to create designs that showcase the multiple layers of the stone, and to think of sustainability by using specific cuts of stone that might otherwise have gone to waste.

Among the pieces was design studio Etamorph's curvy pink stool, which showcases the stratification of the marble in the mountain.

"It tries to interpret the layers in a way that explores it with geometry, the curves and layers of stone, because this is very sexy," Etamorph design director Enrico Tognoni told Dezeen.

"This stone might be two million years old – because the entire quarry is 200 million old – it gives us an idea of how small we are."

11:15am Collectible design showcase Baranzate Ateliers came fully armed this year, with Mexican studio Panorammma and Belgian designers Chanel Kapitanj and Niels Raoul Boone all showing chainmail seating.

10:30am At Super Club in Tortona last night, Dezeen co-hosted an America night party with North American design platform ICFF and others. Dezeen co-ceo Wai Shin Li and US editor Ben Dreith were both in attendance.

10:00am Dezeen's Jennifer Hahn has also been to see DesignSingapore Council's return to Milan design week with Future Impact 2, an exhibition looking at material innovation "to create a more sustainable future".

From designer Gabriel Tan, lamps with 3D-printed skeletons feature shades hand-woven from translucent fishing line, which showcase how tech and craft can collaborate – rather than one supplanting the other.

A mono material chair by David Lee – made from a single sheet of aluminium so it can be easily recycled once the water-based paint is stripped away – was informed by the shape of the PlayStation logo.

Genevieve Ang and Interactive Materials Lab exhibited heat-transmitting ceramics.

Elsewhere, a stool by Christian+Jade was made with a seat of natural rubber derived from the Rubber tree, and a base made of wood from the same tree, which is normally incinerated once the tree no longer produces rubber.

9:00am Good morning! Kicking off day four at Milan design week with one of the Dezeen team's favourite projects so far.

The École cantonale d'art de Lausanne (ECAL) is exhibiting cellulose-sponge furniture designed by product design master's students, to be shipped in the form of flat sheets and expanded at home by wetting them in the shower.

The show at Spazio Orso 16, which is titled UPS – Under Pressure Solutions, is an experimental research project led by five industrial designers teaching at ECAL.

The biodegradable material can expand to up to ten times its size and, once dried, can hold even heavy loads – as kindly demonstrated by ECAL graduate Maxwell Ashford.

To keep you up to date, follow the live coverage from. You can catch up on everything that happened on day one and day two and day three 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 Jane Englefield.

The post Day four from Milan design week 2024 appeared first on Dezeen.

Artist Patrick Carroll has used recycled yarn to create hand-knitted painting-style pieces for the Days textile exhibition at JW Anderson's Milan store during Milan design week.

Carroll presented translucent artworks that look "as if they are paintings", which were made using a 1970s flatbed domestic knitting machine and displayed on wooden stretcher bars – the skeleton of a traditional art canvas – in the store.

"My stuff is a little bit transparent – you can see the architecture of it all," Carroll told Dezeen at the JW Anderson flagship store in Milan, where the work is exhibited in a show called Days.

"I was making clothing initially," he explained, donning one of his own pink creations.

Carroll decided to apply his practice to artworks, designing pieces made from yarn salvaged from remainder shops that liquidate the fashion industry's leftover textiles rather than sourcing new materials.

Recycled wool, linen, mohair, silk and cashmere all feature in the rectilinear works, which are finished in colours ranging from coral to aqua to ochre.

Like Carroll's clothing, each piece was characterised by one or a handful of words lifted from sources including literature, existing artworks or the artist's own writing.

The smallest pieces in the collection were displayed on gridded shelving while larger pieces can be found on various walls throughout the store.

When viewed together, the works were positioned to create a "modular chorus", explained the artist, who encouraged viewers to form their own relationships with the words weaved into the textiles.

Days follows Carroll's first collaboration with JW Anderson in 2022 when the artist designed seven knitted outfits for the brand. The clothes were worn by models posing on chunky blue plinths positioned outside the venue of JW Anderson's Spring Summer 2023 menswear show in Milan.

"I think what makes the works a little bit unique is that they have legs in all these disciplines – fashion, design and art," added Carroll.

Founded by Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson, JW Anderson previously created hoodies and tailored shorts moulded from plasticine for its Spring Summer 2024 womenswear show at London Fashion Week.

Various other fashion brands have a presence at this year's Milan design week. Hermès has created an installation that uses reclaimed bricks, slate, marble and terracotta to draw attention to the brand's artisan roots while Marimekko has transformed a traditional Milanese bar into a flower-clad day-to-night cafe.

The photography is courtesy of Patrick Carroll and JW Anderson. 

Days is on display from 17 to 21 April 2024 at the JW Anderson store, Via Sant'Andrea 16, Milan. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

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The latest edition of our weekly Dezeen Agenda newsletter features a collection of gaming furniture by IKEA. Subscribe to Dezeen Agenda now.

IKEA has debuted a series of gaming furniture which aims to challenge the stereotypical "cyberpunk-esque" aesthetic often associated with the genre.

The Brännboll collection, revealed at this year's Milan design week, comprises 20 pieces of seating, storage and assorted accessories to enhance the immersive gaming experience at home, while seamlessly blending into the home environment when not in use.

This week's newsletter also featured the news of a fire at Copenhagen's old stock exchange which caused the spire to collapse, Mikhail Riches' plans for the final phase of Park Hill regeneration and designer Maria Vittoria Paggini's "porno-chic" home makeover for Milan design week.

Dezeen Agenda

Dezeen Agenda is a curated newsletter sent every Tuesday containing the most important news highlights from Dezeen. Read the latest edition of Dezeen Agenda or subscribe here.

You can also subscribe to our other newsletters; Dezeen Debate is sent every Thursday and features the hottest reader comments and most-debated stories, Dezeen Daily is our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours and Dezeen In Depth is sent on the last Friday of every month and delves deeper into the major stories shaping architecture and design. 

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Home fitness brand Technogym has invited 40 international designers and artists to reimagine its exercise bench for its Milan design week exhibition, which is captured in this video produced by Dezeen.

To celebrate its 40th anniversary, Technogym asked 40 leading designers including Nendo, Patricia Urquiola and Rolf Sachs to reinterpret the brand's weight storage bench.

Titled Design to Move, the exhibition takes place at Technogym's three-storey flagship store in Milan.

Top image: Patricia Urquiola's reinterpretation of the bench. The exhibition showcases Technogym's product range.

Customised designs range from padded seating and colourful decals to sleek, metallic finishes. Swiss designer Sachs eschewed traditional weights all together and replaced them with whimsical elements such as a miniature statue of David, a stiletto shoe and an hourglass.

The special edition benches will be available for purchase after the show's run, with some being auctioned in collaboration with auction house Sotheby's. All sales proceeds from the items will be donated to UNICEF.

The show was conceived by Italian designer Giulio Cappellini and curated by Bruna Roccasalva, artistic director of Fondazione Furla to explore the connection between design, style and wellness.

Other designers invited to redesign the exercise bench include Italian architects Antonio Citterio, Piero Lissoni and Michele Bönan, as well as interior designer Kelly Hoppen and Italian designer Elena Salmistraro.

The exhibition will run until the end of Milan design week on 21 April.

Founded in 1983 by Nerio Alessandri, Technogym is a fitness, wellness, sports and health brand that specialises in smart fitness equipment.

Design to Move is open to the public at Technogym Milano, Via Durini, 1 from 16 to 21 April. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

Partnership content

This video was produced by Dezeen for Technogym as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen's partnership content here.

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Dezeen has teamed up with Hydro to make a video documenting its exhibition at this year's Milan design week, in which seven designers have created objects made from aluminium scrap.

Titled 100R, the exhibition takes place at Spazio Maiocchi in Milan and features designs made from the Norwegian brand's Hydro Circal 100R recycled aluminium product.

Hydro unveiled objects at this year's Milan design week

According to the brand, Hydro Circal 100R is the first aluminium product made entirely from post-consumer scrap that can be mass-produced on an industrial scale.

The product was designed to have a carbon footprint that is 97 per cent lower than the global average for primary-grade aluminium.

Hydro enlisted the artistic direction of Norwegian designer Lars Beller Fjetland to lead concept development and strategy for the exhibition.

Designed in collaboration with Shapes by Hydro – a knowledge hub created by Hydro – the challenge assigned to the seven designers was to create a product made purely from extruded aluminium that can be mass-produced on demand.

Amongst the designs featured in the exhibition are the Grotte Lamp by Inga Sempé and the Billet Chair by product designer John Tree.

Other designs include the Prøve Light by Max Lamb, a coat hanger called Tsuba by Andreas Engesvik, a series of containers named Nave 1, 2, & 3 by Shane Schneck, a partition called Serial by Rachel Griffin and a system used for constructing shelving called T-Slot Board by Philippe Malouin. 

Hydro claims that Circal 100R can be endlessly recycled without any loss of quality, with hopes that the material will still be used a hundred years from now.

The 100R exhibition takes place at Spazio Maiocchi during Milan Design Week from 15-21 April 2024.

The photography is by Einar Aslaksen.

Milan design week takes place from 16 April to 21 April 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

Partnership content

This video was produced by Dezeen as part of a partnership with Hydro. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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As Milan design week continues, we have rounded up the key installations from the year's biggest design event,  featuring some of the world's best-known brands and designers.

With this year's event seemingly returning to pre-pandemic levels of activity, Milan has been packed with installations created by some of the world's best-known designers and architects for leading brands.

The Dezeen team, which has been reporting live from the event, has selected 12 of the most impactful and intriguing installation from the event.

They are works created by Sabine Marcelis, India Mahdavi and MAD for brands including Google, Kohler, Amazon and Porsche, along with a debut from film director David Lynch and even a bright orange toilet.

Read on for the 12 key installations from this year's Milan design week:

Making Sense of Color by Chromasonic and Google

Technology brand Google collaborated with research studio Chromasonic to create a kaleidoscopic maze of semi-transparent screens lit from above.

The installation was designed to simulate the experience of having synesthesia – a perceptual phenomenon where people experience one sense through another, for example hearing colours.

Read more about Making Sense of Color ›

Re/Creation by Lasvit

Monumental glass portals, some as tall as 4.8 metres, have been erected in the 15th-century Palazzo Isimbardi as part of an installation by Czech glassmaker Lasvit, designed to mirror the surrounding architecture.

Each pane is embossed with a different abstract pattern created via a range of eclectic mediums including bubble wrap, crumpled pieces of paper and the fingers of art director Maxim Velcovsky, who designed the installation.

They were realised using the company's fused glass technique, which involves imprinting the desired pattern on a bed of sand, which according to Velcovsky is then fired in a custom-built "jumbo kiln", effectively turning the glass into a "canvas that you can draw on".

Read more about Re/Creation ›

Terminal 02 by Samuel Ross for Kohler

Much like a throne, Samuel Ross's bright-orange brutalist Formation 02 toilet takes pride of place at the centre of this installation, created in collaboration with bathroom brand Kohler.

To reach it, visitors make their way through a network of giant industrial pipes that snake their way across the courtyard of the Palazzo Del Senato – sometimes closed and sometimes open to reveal the water they carry.

It hopes to draw attention to the incredible yet often under appreciated feats of industrial engineering necessary to deliver water across vast bodies of land. "It's such a novelty that we take for granted now," Ross told Dezeen.

Read more about Terminal 02 ›

Design Space AlUla by Paul Cournet and Sabine Marcelis

Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis and architect Paul Cournet have created a lounge celebrating the culture and design of Saudi Arabian region AlUla at the Mediateca di Santa Teresa in Brera.

The scenography includes a massive overhead light based on the lights in AlUla, which face down to prevent light pollution and a massive seating area designed by Hall Haus.

It also includes a series of collectible design pieces curated by Samer Yamani that use materials found locally in the Saudi Arabian region.

A Thinking Room by David Lynch

Film director David Lynch has revealed a talent for furniture design at tradeshow Salone del Mobile, where he created the A Thinking Room installation, two identical rooms within pavilions hung with red velvet drapes.

Inside the rooms, a central wooden chair with mystical metal rods coming out of it takes centre stage. It is surrounded by photos and videos in specially designed frames and sits on a floor with a wave pattern.

A Thinking Room was designed to be a relaxing space for visitors to Salone del Mobile, who can immersive themselves in its Lynchian atmosphere to escape the hustle and bustle of the tradeshow.

Read more about A Thinking Room ›

DIURNO by Panter & Tourron and Davide Rapp

Lausanne based design studio Panter & Tourron has transformed the interior of a Milanese apartment into a "speakeasy-style secret lounge” that aims to question both the past and future of the living room.

Visitors are invited to lounge on a modular yellow sofa-bed hybrid, in a room surrounded by purple curtains and other experimental furniture and lighting designs.

From here, they can watch a series of motage-style video works by artist Davide Rapp, including one featuring hundreds of clips from Italian movies where the sofa has a key role in the narrative.

The Imperfect Home by Inga Sempé and Studio A/C

A standout installation at the Triennale Milano takes the form of an entire home, filled almost entirely with furniture, lighting and homeware designed by French designer Inga Sempé and designed in collaboration with Milan-based Studio A/C.

As the title, The Imperfect Home, suggests, this is no show home. It is instead filled with the mess of everyday life; there are personal objects everywhere, hair on the sink, dirty coffee cups and hanging laundry.

The aim was to create the sense that the house had been "lived in right up until moments before the exhibition opened".

Amazing Walk by MAD for Amazon

Installed in the Cortile della Farmacia courtyard of the University of Milan, the 7.5-metre-tall pavilion, which has no internal column, was designed by MAD founder Ma Yansong to recall the shape of a mountain.

Clad in a semi-reflective, transparent skin, the pavilion was designed "as a space of connection" and is surrounded by mist at night.

The Art of Dreams by Numen/For Use for Porsche

Design collective Numen/For Use created a netted installation for automobile brand Porsche, which was informed by the brand's 1960s black and white houndstooth pattern.

Described as "an inhabitable utopia", visitors to the installation were invited to "climb inside and investigate the suspended landscape".

Read more about The Art of Dreams ›

The Fireplace by Diébédo Francis Kéré for Next125

Burkinabè architect Diébédo Francis Kéré collaborated with German kitchen brand Next125 to design a circular pavilion made from spruce logs at this year's Milan design week.

Exhibited at Superstudio Events, the installation features arched openings and a dome-like structure that is organised around a sleek kitchen island from Next125's collection.

Read more about The Fireplace ›

The Topography of Material by Hermès

Fashion brand Hermès went to the ground with its exhibition The Topography of Material – a patterned floor made up of different reclaimed materials including stone, clay and volcanic rocks.

The brand also showcased pieces from its archive next to new pieces that were made using the same material or otherwise had a connection to the older designs.

Read more about The Topography of Material ›

Archaeology of Tiles by India Mahdavi for Alternative Artefacts Danto

French designer India Mahdavi has created eight 3D ladders wrapped in tiles in this installation for newly launched Japanese brand Alternative Artefacts Danto.

As a spin-off of Danto, one of Japan's oldest mass-produced tile manufactuers, the brand has taken over a series of room inside an eighth-century former residence in the 5VIE design district.

Leaned up against walls and extending out to the terrace, Mahdavi's tile-covered ladders feature bold colours and contemporary patterns that playfully contrast with the period details.

The post Twelve key installations from Milan design week 2024 appeared first on Dezeen.

Film director David Lynch revealed his furniture design skills at tradeshow Salone del Mobile during Milan design week, where he created a large wooden chair in a room with an ocean-like pattern floor.

Known for his dark Americana films, including Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, as well as cult TV series Twin Peaks, the filmmaker was chosen to design the installation after curator Antonio Monda found out he makes furniture in his free time.

"Last summer, Salone asked me if I could find the personality who wasn't from the field of design to create an event," Monda  told Dezeen.

"And I remembered when I was in Rome as artistic director for the Rome Film Festival, I visited David Lynch because I presented him with the Lifetime Achievement Award," he continued. "When I went to visit him he was polishing a desk and I said what are you doing? And he said, 'I do furniture. I build furniture.'"

After taking a couple of weeks to come up with an idea, Lynch came back with a sketch for A Thinking Room that was sent to the famous theatre Piccolo Teatro in Milan.

Because of the anticipated popularity, two identical rooms were created and sit in two pavilions, hung with dramatic red-velvet curtains, at the entrance of hall 5 and 7 at the tradeshow.

The deep-blue rooms, which were intended to be a relaxing space for visitors to the tradeshow, each surround a large wooden chair in which visitors can sit and write or draw using a fold-out desk.

"Lynch practices transcendental meditation, and he said 'this [room] is for meditation, but those who don't do meditation can just think and relax," Monda said. "His idea is [for it] to be a renovation or revolution of our souls."

Lynch went over the design on Zoom calls with a team from Piccolo Teatro, which built the room itself, as well as the large wooden chair and a series of frames that hold photos and videos.

The room also features a floor with a pattern of abstract waves and textured, tubular walls painted in a dark blue colour.

"The blue immediately connects with Blue Velvet; Lynch doesn't want to put the installation together with the films at all, but it's impossible not to," Monda added.

Piccolo Teatro worked closely with Lynch to make sure all the details of the room were in line with the director's concept.

"We started from a few sketches that Lynch sent to us and we developed everything, plans, sections, renderings – the most important things thing was to create a lot of samples of all the things that you can see inside this room," Piccolo Teatro's project leader Paolo di Benedetto said.

"We sent everything to David in Los Angeles to check," he added. "The most important thing for David was to create this kind of atmosphere inside the room; the possibility to see the images, sit on the chair and write and connect with the energy."

Lynch had a clear vision for the space from the beginning, taking an interest in the materials and colours used and even creating a small decorative sculpture that sits at the top of the picture frames that hang on its walls.

"We sent him twelve samples for the walls, with more texture and less texture and many different blue shades," di Benedetto said. "He was happy like a child when he received all of the samples in LA."

On top of the large chair, seven metal rods connect it to the ceiling, where they branch out. Like the often ambiguous images in his films, the design was left unexplained by Lynch.

"The only thing that we know is that these are the connections between something like the soul and the absolute; a flow of energy from your soul," Monda said.

Other exhibitions and installations currently on show at Milan design week include a show by designer Faye Toogood that explores "sexuality and the body" and furniture made from reused skyscraper formwork.

The photography is courtesy of Salone del Mobile.

A Thinking Room is on show at Salone del Mobile 10 from 16 to 21 April during See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

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Dutch beer brand Heineken and US clothing company Bodega have launched The Boring Phone at Milan design week, a "dumb" phone designed to prevent young adults from scrolling on smartphones.

Produced by Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Human Mobile Devices (HMD), which manufactures Nokia phones, The Boring Phone has been stripped of the "distractions" seen in today's smartphones and is used primarily for phone calls and text messages.

Most notable feature is the absence of internet access and social media, which was intended to encourage young adults to "disconnect with their tech" and have social interactions in person rather than scrolling on smartphones.

Reminiscent of the mobile phone technology available in the early 2000s, the flip phone has a transparent casing that users can cover in holographic stickers and a monochromatic sub-screen displaying two Heineken beer bottles.

Its design was informed by Newtro culture, retro aesthetics interpreted in a modern context, aiming to appeal to a Gen Z and Millennial audience.

In keeping with its old-school design, the phone has a long battery life of a week in standby time. It also has a 0.3-megapixel camera, FM radio and a snake game.

"Smartphones can be too interesting, so we wanted to design a boring one," said Bodega co-founder Oliver Mak.

"We were really inspired by the rise of Newtro and wanted to reinterpret a past cultural icon that some younger Zillennials may not have experienced before."

By limiting the phone's technology, Heineken and Bodega hope young adults will be encouraged to make more meaningful social connections without being distracted by the pull of social media.

"With smartphones becoming so advanced and interesting to the user, it's easier than ever to connect to the online world but harder to stay in the moment," said the brands.

"With modern-day frills removed, the phone is unable to download social media or other apps that take away from being present."

The Boring Phone concept resulted from research commissioned by Heineken on smartphone use among Gen Z and Millennials in the UK and US.

According to the brand, 90 per cent of those in the study admitted to "doom scrolling" in social scenarios and checked their phones an average of seven times on a night out.

Heineken claims that attitudes towards mobile phone use are changing. Its research found that 37 per cent of Gen Z and Millennials claim they think they check their phones too often in social situations, and 32 per cent said they would prefer to be able to "switch off" from their phones on nights out.

While HMD has produced just 5,000 Boring Phones, none of which are available for purchase, an app will be launched in June that will turn smartphones "boring" to help people disconnect from their technology.

Also informed by phone of the past, US start-up Clicks Technology recently unveiled a keyboard attachment for iPhones, which features raised buttons reminiscent of Blackberry phones in the early 2000s.

In other mobile phone news, Nokia partnered with repair specialists iFixit to create a smartphone with a DIY repair kit, aiming to make it easier for people to fix their phones themselves.

The post Heineken and Bodega unveil nostalgic Boring Phone for Gen Z and Millennials appeared first on Dezeen.

Design collective Numen/For Use has created a netted installation for automobile brand Porsche's The Art of Dreams exhibition at Milan design week, which also features a Vitra furniture collection.

The black and white houndstooth of the Porsche "pepita" pattern informed themes of geometry, symmetry, rhythm and repetition that guided the car brand's installation.

Design collective Numen/For Use created an enormous black and white netted installation that filled the courtyards of the Palazzo Clerici in the northern Italian city.

"Our idea of a dream is an inhabitable utopia," said Numen/For Use. "For us, dreaming is a process of self-discovery in which we confront the new and the unknown. The monochrome diagonals within the Pepita pattern suggest a cloud of excited starlings fleeing the binary black and white matrix."

The pepita pattern is made up of small squares connected by diagonal stripes, known as houndstooth or sometimes dog tooth.

Porsche's pepita pattern debuted in 1948 in the 356 C, 911 Porsche. A bright red original 356 model was exhibited on a plinth at The Art of Dreams.

The huge lightweight construction by Numen/For Use was made of delicate cells and contrasting single-colour nets.

Visitors were invited to "climb inside and investigate the suspended landscape".

Intended as an interactive, climbable installation – titled Lines of Flight – the structure was animated by dancers at the launch event on 16 April, with choreography by Imre and Marne van Opstal and costumes by Alessandro Vigilante.

The Art of Dreams was also the launch event for a limited-edition furniture collection by Vitra for Porsche, which features three chairs upholstered in the pepita pattern.

The Eames Plastic Side Chair, first designed by Charles and Ray Eames in 1950, has been re-editioned with full upholstery in the Porsche pepita pattern.

The collection also includes re-editions of two designs by Italian architect Antonio Citterio: his 2013 Petit Repos chair and the 2010 ID Trim L.

"Together with Vitra, we are bringing design dreams back to life because the iconic Pepita pattern is more than just a pattern," said Porsche's Ragnar Schulte.

"It is cultural heritage."

A global initiative from Porsche, The Art of Dreams – a series of interactive art installations in various major cities – aims to foster creative collaborations that inspire dreaming.

Other installations on show at this year's Milan design week include a sculptural interpretation of a boat made of stainless steel by Nfemi Marcus-Bello and a patterned stone-and-clay-floor showcased by fashion house Hermès.

Porsche – The Art of Dreams takes place from 16 to 21 April 2024 at Palazzo Clerici, Via Clerici 5, 20121 Milan, Italy. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

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Burkinabè architect Diébédo Francis Kéré has created a circular pavilion made from spruce logs for German kitchen brand Next125, which is being exhibited at Superstudio for Milan design week.

Named The Fireplace, the pavilion aims to explore the concept of a kitchen as a place for communal gathering and sharing through its rounded structure and centralised kitchen unit.

"Circularity is always about how you – in a democratic way – gather alongside around the fire, like our ancestor has done always around the fireplace," Kéré told Dezeen in Milan.

"The fireplace is then the idea where we really will come together and gather around the fire," he continued. "But what is modern fire? It is a kitchen."

Aiming to contrast a "modern sophisticated kitchen" with the "archaic" wooden shelter, the pavilion is centred by a sleek kitchen island from Next 125's collection that features mirrored units topped with a marbled surface.

Behind it, a matching fridge unit is integrated into the wooden structure serving as a backdrop to the island. A circular table adjoined to the island is held up by two metal legs and creates an additional shared surface.

Two arched openings appear as if carved into the structure and enable a flow of movement in and around the centralised kitchen unit.

Emphasising an element of communal gathering, wooden seating seemingly extends from the structure's walls and wraps around the base of the pavilion.

The roof, which was constructed from 600 logs arranged into bundles, forms a dome – giving the space a sense of grandeur.

Small, hidden openings in the roof, which are likened by Kéré to natural openings within a cave, create pockets of light that shine into the interior.

"If you think about [a cave], you relate to the light from outside to little openings," Kéré said.

"This is what brought us to think about using these logs and let gaps in between so that light can come through. That was [going to] create a warm place; a welcoming place."

The pine used for the project was sourced locally to Next125's base in Germany, where the structure was manufactured by a local carpenter before being shipped in six sections and installed in Milan.

Following its display during Milan Design Week, the pavilion will be relocated elsewhere – although its next home is not yet confirmed.

Other installations on show at this year's Milan design week include a sculptural interpretation of a boat made of stainless steel by Nfemi Marcus-Bello and a patterned stone-and-clay-floor showcased by fashion house Hermès.

The photography is courtesy of Next125.

The Fireplace is open from 15 to 21 April at Superstudio during Milan design week. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

The post Francis Kéré arranges spruce log pavilion around communal kitchen in Milan appeared first on Dezeen.

The Dezeen team are reporting live from Milan Design Week (15-19 April). Read on for all the coverage from the third day (Wednesday 17 April).

5:30pm Dezeen editor-at-large Amy Frearson has also been at Triennale Milano for the major exhibition exploring the legacy of the late designer, artist and architect Alessandro Mendini.

Dezeen Studio have already produced a video of the exhibition for the institution (see 1:30pm update from day two coverage).

Titled Io sono un drago, which translates as "I am a dragon", the show takes visitors on a journey through Mendini's work and ideas.

Starting with a scaled-up version of one of Mendini's most iconic works, the Proust armchair, other work on show includes a spinning carousel featuring works he created for homeware brand Alessi.

It concludes with a new, disorienting installation from designer Philippe Starck – a former collaborator of Mendini's – which surrounds visitors with projections of Mendini's floating head.

And on that note, we say a cheery ciao to you from day three in Milan! Tune in tomorrow for everything that is yet to come.

In the meantime, catch up on everything that happened on day one and day two.

4:30pm After her sandwich outside (see the 2pm entry below) Dezeen design editor Jennifer Hahn reports on highlights from the Triennale Milano.

Besides the Alessandro Mendini retrospective (more on that shortly from Dezeen editor-at-large Amy Frearson), French designer Inga Sempé has created a full-scale home interior inside the museum.

Sempé focuses her research on everyday household objects and their industrial production.

The installation at Triennale is called The Imperfect Home which invites visitors to "experience spaces with everyday gestures, filled with timeless objects, far from the rules of marketing".

Elsewhere, British-Ghanaian designer Giles Nartey is exhibiting a communal table made for making fufu – a West African food made by pounding cassava and plantain into a dough – as part of the Wallpaper* class of 2024.

Also not to be missed is Walking Sticks and Canes, a small but mighty display of walking aids made by 18 designers for their future selves.

Particular favourites include a height-adjustable model with a corkscrew mechanism by Alban Le Henry, a cane for off-road walking by Michel Charlot and a hollow version by Julie Richoz that was designed for picking flowers on hikes.

3:30pm In a break from the persistence of newness at Milan design week, writes Dezeen editorial director Max Fraser, architecture historian and researcher Adam Stěch has displayed thousands of his own photographs celebrating unique details from 20th century architecture and interiors.

"If you want to find the beauty, you have to spend the time searching for it"

"I want to look at old things and bring them to life again through these photographs," Stěch told Fraser."The show aims to inspire practitioners and designers, not academics."

The exhibition, in tunnel 56 of Dropcity (see the 9am entry below), is themed according to ten categories: lighting, seating, storage spaces, tables, railings, doors, handles, windows, floors and walls.

The images are collected from more than 45 countries in the world.

Stěch has been touring for years to collate what he hopes will become the biggest database of one-of-a-kind designs from specific buildings and interiors captured by a single person.

"If you want to find the beauty, you have to spend the time searching for it," he said. "It's a lifetime of work."

2:30pm Dezeen deputy editor Cajsa Carlson reports that furniture brand Knoll's stand at Salone del Mobile, designed from recycled materials by Belgian studio Office, features plenty of design classics.

Chairs by Mies van der Rohe and Frank Gehry were placed between glass cubicles filled with plants, creating a modernist greenhouse office aesthetic.

2:00pm Lunch! from the build-your-own sandwich shop outside Triennale Milano, where the Alessandro Mendini retrospective exhibition is on show.

1:30pm Pink light glows in the interior of Bar Unniko – Finnish lifestyle brand Marimekko's pop-up cafe, which has taken over Milan's Bar Stoppani for the week.

Dezeen's Jane Englefield reports that the traditional Milanese interior was left largely untouched with the exception of recognisable Marimekko poppies covering the umbrellas, awning, floor and petite espresso cups.

12:30pm Following the preview in yesterday's live coverage (see 10:30am entry from day two) you can now read Jennifer Hahn's full write-up of her conversation with Faye Toogood about the Rude Arts Club exhibition at the CC-Tapis showroom.

"Sexual energy is a big part of being human," Toogood said, as she talked Hahn through the thinking behind her new collections. Read the rest below › 

12:00pm Dezeen editor-at-large Amy Frearson paid a visit to an experimental pop-up shop, the New Store, installed by Rotterdam's Nieuwe Instituut in Milan's Isola area.

The store is offering free hair cuts, courtesy of local hairdresser Alberto Fucci, and using the harvested hair in different ways.

Textile producer Human Material Loop is turning the trimmings into yarns that can be used to make clothing, while textile artist Woo Jin Joo is creating a huge embroidered blanket with help from visitors.

Unfortunately for Frearson, Fucci was booked up for the day so she didn't manage to get a trim.

11:45am Italian kitchen brand Elica's Straordinaria installation, designed by Japanese studio we+ and curated by Marcello Smarrelli of the Fondazione Ermanno Casoli, is shimmering in the courtyard of Palazzo Litta, reports Dezeen social editor Clara Finnigan.

The installation is one of many at this year's Milan design week that focus on creating immersive, sensory experiences.

Straordinaria aims to mimic the lightness of clouds with colourful perspex poles that hang freely from the roof of the central pavilion, which visitors are invited to walk through and activate as they do so.

Watch the installation in motion on Dezeen's TikTok › 

11:30am Dezeen's Jane Englefield has skipped from one fashion brand (see Days exhibition at JW Anderson, 10:45am below) to another and is now at Loewe Lamps in the Palazzo Citterio.

Spanish fashion brand Loewe is showing at Milan design week for the eighth time with an exhibition of lamps created by 24 international artists.

Birch twigs, horse hair, glass and leather are among the range of materials used to create the individual lamps, which illuminate a large room in the palazzo.

11:15am Johanna Seelemann, who was shortlisted for emerging designer of the year at Dezeen Awards 2023, is exhibiting a series of urban interventions designed to make cities better places to live for both humans and other species such as plants and animals.

Jennifer Hahn reports that among the products is cladding that doubles up as an insect hotel.

Terracotta vases that are buried beside urban plants so they can gradually release water through their porous shells to conserve resources.

Visitors are encouraged to take away small seed bombs made by mixing local clays with native plant species. Shaped like Enzo Mari's iconic Milanese Panettone bollards, the souvenirs hope to encourage visitors to have a hand in bringing nature back into the city.

10:45am Dezeen design and interiors reporter Jane Englefield has been to see Days, an exhibition by Patrick Carroll presented in the Milan JW Anderson store.

Carroll has stretched textiles that he has knitted onto stretcher bars as if they are paintings, using yarn salvaged from remainder shops that liquidate the fashion industry's leftovers.

Knitted into the works are bits of text, half the works bear a single word like: abnegation, pity and permanence.

10:30am Dezeen’s editorial director Max Fraser moderated a panel discussion at kitchen brand Gaggenau's The Elevation of Gravity installation at Villa Necchi Campiglio this morning.

Fraser was joined by Zaha Hadid Architects associate director Johannes Schafelner, SOM interiors lead Francesca Portesine and Industrial Facility founder Kim Colin to discuss how principles of reduction and essentialism in architecture and design can be employed to improve our lives.

The installation features an induction hob seamlessly integrated into a huge cantilevered slab that juts dramatically from a piece of rock.

10:15am Commerce platform Artemest's 2nd edition of L'Appartamento is taking place at Residenza Vignale on Via Enrico Toti.

There's a very long line of people in the Milan sunshine waiting to get in but Dezeen social editor Clara Finnigan had an early doors appointment (watch this space for more on our Instagram later).

Inside six international interior design studios – Elicyon, Gachot, Rottet Studio, Studio Meshary, AINassar, Tamara Feldman and VSHD Design – have each curated a room, exclusively using furniture, lighting, décor and art from over 170 of Artemest's artisans, brands and artists.

Find out more about Artemest's L'Appartamento on Dezeen Events Guide › 

9am Good morning! Day three is beginning at Milan design week and Dezeen's Starr Charles has been to new Milanese architecture and design centre Dropcity.

Dropcity occupies previously abandoned, connected tunnels behind Milan Central Station and is due to open permanently in the autumn of this year.

Founded by architect Andrea Caputo, Dropcity will be showcasing its construction process taking place within the tunnels throughout the week, with one tunnel being reconstructed with 3D-printed walls and structures.

There are 15 variously numbered tunnels, and in tunnel 38 is an exhibition by Socii titled Socii Circus: Upholding cultural commons.

The space has been turned into part-workshop – with carpenters at work throughout the week– and part-display, with old and new creations showcased on a stage at the front of the tunnel, made from found materials and building waste.

Recycled wood and other materials were used for all designs within the collection.

On of the pieces is a handcrafted wooden daybed decorated with 11,000 seeds created by design collective Garbage Kids, who make furniture in Tbilisi and Tallinn.

To keep you up to date, follow the live coverage from. You can catch up on everything that happened on day one and day two 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 Jane Englefield.

The post Day three from Milan design week 2024 appeared first on Dezeen.

Jumbo poppies synonymous with Marimekko cover the floor of Bar Unikko, a pink-hued pop-up cafe created as a Milan design week pit stop to mark the print's 60th anniversary.

Named after Unikko, the recognisable poppy pattern designed by Maija Isola in 1964, the cafe is a pop-up project at Bar Stoppani in Milan.

Marimekko purposefully left the interior layout of the cafe, which is a collaboration with interior design magazine Apartamento, largely untouched to create a contrast between the Finnish brand's design language and traditional Italian eateries.

"The idea was to really acknowledge where we are and find a real Milanese institution," creative director Rebekka Bay told Dezeen at the cafe. "If that hadn't been our intent, then we could have just taken on an empty space."

Bar Unikko is positioned on a corner site with a large pink and orange awning emblazoned with oversized poppies, which also feature on table umbrellas that create a striking landmark when approaching the cafe.

"We've really taken the pattern out of its normal context and let it come to life in a whole new way," added Bay, who described the contrast between Marimekko motifs and the existing bar interior as "refreshing".

"In the Nordics, we're obsessed with cleanliness, systems and functionality," she continued. "Whereas here, it's dramatic and complex."

Spread across a single room, the interior kept its existing dark blue accents, burl wood panels, circular tables and a large bar positioned in front of mirrors.

A neon poppy was placed above one of the tables, which were topped with gold Verner Panton Flowerpot lamps.

The brand also added its signature pattern to the floor, characterised by poppies finished in two shades of pink, and a blue and yellow curtain at the back of the space.

Other than these bold features, Bay explained that the Marimekko touches are found in the "little things".

Floral crockery, coasters, napkins and matches appear throughout Bar Unniko, which also includes Oiva – a collection of petite patterned espresso cups designed specifically for the takeover.

"At first glance, you're walking into a Milanese bar, and it doesn't actually look like we've done much – but then the more you immerse yourself you start noticing these things," said Bay.

Framed black and white photographs of the late Marimekko founder Armi Ratia were mounted to the walls as a nod to the brand's history.

Throughout the day, the changing light alters the pink glow that illuminates the interior while a shifting soundtrack signals the transition from morning to afternoon to evening.

Bay explained that communal gathering is at the heart of Marimekko, which is why the brand chose to create a day-to-night cafe to celebrate 60 years of its well-known print.

"Our founder famously said, I think at the beginning of Marimekko, that the brand could've been anything," reflected the creative director. "Our mission is not only to bring joy to people's lives but to bring people together."

Other highlights from this year's edition of Milan design week include Faye Toogood's Rude Arts Club exhibition, furniture made from reused skyscraper formwork and an inflatable gaming chair from IKEA.

The photography is by Sean Davidson.

Bar Unikko is open from 15 to 21 April 2024 at Bar Stoppani, Via Antonio Stoppani 15, 20129, Milan. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

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Nigerian designer Nifemi Marcus-Bello has created a sculptural interpretation of a boat from stainless steel to highlight the dangerous crossing faced by people crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

Named Omi Iyọ – Yoruba for saltwater, the stainless steel sculptural object is on show at 5VIE Design Week during Milan's annual design week.

The shape is a reference to the boats that carry migrants from the coast of North Africa to southern European nations like Italy.

According to the designer it was rendered in highly polished stainless steel, to create a "space for reflection" for viewers of the piece, on show during this year's Milan design week.

It was filled with salt that will fall slowly from a hole in the bottom of the piece, creating a pile on the floor over the course of the installation.

Marcus-Bello told Dezeen that the idea for the piece came from a conversation he had with a migrant during a previous Milan design week.

He believes that it was a perfect time to reflect on the ongoing tension over migrants in Italy by showing the piece, which debuted at last year's Design Miami in Miami Beach.

"I don't know if the conversation is being had as often as it should," said Marcus-Bello. "In West Africa, where a lot of these migrants come from, it's actually kind of swept under the rug."

For the designer, the "sensitive subject matter" and the potential for reflection it represents came before a consideration of materiality.

"The material isn't as important as the message," he said. "Most of the work that I've done in the past, there's always a socioeconomic aspect to it," he continued.

The piece was presented on a dark blue backing in a historic building in Milan. Marcus-Bello hopes the installation is one of the "calmest" during the busy design week.

Omi Iyọ is for sale, with the designer planning to donate the proceeds from the sale to a charity that aids migrants.

Other highlights from this year's edition of Milan design week include an inflatable gaming chair from IKEA and lighting sculptures by Leo Maher that reference "queer legends".

The photography is by Amir Farzad.

Omi Iyọ is on show from 15-21 April as part of Milan design week. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

The post Nifemi Marcus-Bello highlights plight of migrant Mediterranean Sea crossings in Milan installation appeared first on Dezeen.

Pillowy lamps, daybeds that look like stacked mattresses and rugs featuring abstract renderings of private body parts feature in an exhibition of new launches from Faye Toogood at Milan design week.

The Rude Arts Club showcase brings together products created by the British designer for rug company CC-Tapis and furniture brand Tacchini that explore sex and the human form from a female perspective.

"This is my take on embracing all that comes with being a woman," Toogood told Dezeen. "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."

"I'm a second-wave feminist," she added. "We were much more like: being female is not part of the conversation. We don't want to talk about it. We're just designers."

The collection of Rude rugs was born from impromptu paintings made by Toogood after visiting an exhibition of work by artist Francis Bacon, who made the human body his central subject.

"It got me thinking about the male interpretation of sexuality and the body," Toogood said. "And I thought, I'll have a go at doing that myself."

The designer initially suggested half as a joke that CC-Tapis should turn her "mischievous" paintings into rugs for their latest collaboration.

But co-founder Fabrizio Cantoni ran with the idea and produced one rug for each of the seven paintings, featuring abstract shapes reminiscent of breasts, ovaries and a three-pronged phallus.

"It's a kind of expression of the human body – male, female, everyone – but also the sexual energy that is a big part of being human," Toogood said.

Each rug was made using a different technique and different yarns, helping to translate the textural qualities of the different brush strokes.

"Normally when you do a collection, you pick your technique and then you run it across the five different designs," the designer said. "So this is pretty mega in terms of the amount of work and the amount of master craftsmanship it's taken to do this."

At the Rude Arts Club exhibition, the rugs are hung on the walls alonside the paintings themselves.

They provide a backdrop for Toogood's designs for Tacchini – the Solar daybeds and sofas, which are so plush they "feel like a cloud", and the Lunar lights and mirrors made of "scrunchable" white artists' canvas.

These offer a more subtle take on the theme, with soft curves and textures suggesting piles of pillows and mattresses as in the fairytale of the Princess and the Pea.

"Celebrating female energy and womanhood in design – and acknowledging it – is not something that personally I have done," Toogood said. "And I feel it's not something that the design industry has done either."

"There are still very few female designers that we all know about, talk about, write about," she added. "And there's not enough acknowledgement of female designers right at the top level."

This is despite the fact that female designers bring a unique perspective to the table, according to Toogood, and can sometimes even be better at capturing that elusive emotional quality that helps an object resonate with people.

"The industrial designers have realised sales are showing that it pays when you create something that connects with other human beings," Toogood said. "We don't need more chairs, more rugs. So how can you make something that's actually going to connect with people?

"It has to hold something other than the rigour of design and proportion and perfection of material, it has to have something else," she added. "What's that magic ingredient that connects people to that object? That's what I'm really trying to discover."

"I achieve it on some things and I don't on others, and I don't always know why."

Other highlights from this year's edition of Milan design week include an inflatable gaming chair from IKEA and lighting sculptures by Leo Maher that reference "queer legends".

Rude Arts Club is on display at the CC-Tapis showroom from 16 to 21 April. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

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French fashion house Hermès has designed an installation that uses reclaimed bricks, slate, marble and terracotta to draw attention to the brand's artisan roots at Milan design week.

The brand's annual installation, which has previously featured lantern-like light structures and latticed iron cages, this year drew visitors' attention downwards.

Spread across the floor of the La Pelota venue in Milan, Hermès home artistic directors Charlotte Macaux Perelman and Alexis Fabry created a patterned surface made up of over twenty different organic materials.

The materials, which include stone, clay, earth, soil and volcanic rocks, were divided by a walking path and assembled in patterns that were inspired by a jockey silk blouse from the house's archive.

"It's a question of how to create a graphism, a pattern, using lots of different materials," Perelman told Dezeen.

The materials used for the installation were all sourced from within an hour's distance from Milan and hand-laid, a process that took four weeks in total.

Following Milan design week, the installation will be dismantled with the materials sent back to the local suppliers to be reused and recycled.

"These are all reclaimed materials that we recycled; I contacted many suppliers to get these materials which already existed," Perelman said.

By converting existing organic materials into a decorative surface the designers wanted to reference the process of turning the raw materials that Hermès works with, such as raw leather and cashmere, into products.

"The quality and the value of the object is not just the quality of the original material but about what we do with that material, the hand that adds the workmanship to the material itself," Fabry told Dezeen.

A path laid out across the surface allows visitors to see the different materials close-up, before going behind a screen to see a collection of Hermès home products.

Here, newly launched pieces are juxtaposed with existing products from the house's archive.

The older pieces were chosen because of their connection with the new designs, and were hidden away to let visitors experience "the idea of slowness".

"The intention was to show the connection with the earth, with the ground, and the connection with the legacy of Hermès," Perelman explained.

"In the project, we also tried to put across the idea of slowness, of the path to get there, like a journey – not to show the objects therefore in the first part of the cinematography, but to allow for the passage of the path to get there to give people the time to discover these objects."

Perelman and Fabry added that the overall idea behind the installation, which is a contrast to the brand's previous more sculptural ones, was to empty, rather than fill the space.

"One of our initial intentions is that instead of filling space, we wanted to empty space," Fabry said.

"One of the shortcomings of this period in time is that there is an over-abundance, an intention of adding and adding, whereas we instead want to empty."

The installation was also designed by the two directors as a way of focusing on time and the brand's relationship with it.

"We felt it was important to think of time because we have a specific relationship with time within Hermès – it's a very long term time because we want our objects to last for a long time," Perelman said.

"Speaking of time as a course that we have to follow, we tried to understand what this course was and we decided to work on the actual ground, the earth itself, because it's the root of all human beings," she added.

Other highlights from this year's edition of Milan design week include an inflatable gaming chair from IKEA and lighting sculptures by Leo Maher that reference "queer legends".

The photography is courtesy of Hermès.

Hermès installation and collection are on show from 16 to 21 April 2024 at La Pelota, Via Palermo 10, as part of Milan design week. See our dedicated Milan guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

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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).

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.

 

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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.

The post Day two from Milan design week 2024 appeared first on Dezeen.

Design studio Niceworkshop has created furniture for recycling brand Format made from aluminium formwork used for pouring the concrete on large-scale buildings, which is on show at Milan design week.

Showcased at the Capsule showcase at Corso Como 10, the collection includes chairs, benches and tables made from slabs of aluminium fastened together by industrial bolts.

Niceworkshop worked with Format, the design and recycling arm of Korean construction company Sungji Alfex, to reuse the large metal panels used in the pouring of concrete in the construction of large buildings.

"My family has been making formwork in Korea for more than 50 years," Format co-founder Phillip Lee told Dezeen.

"And instead of throwing it away, I thought we should recreate it into something else."

Because the company doesn't have a design background, Format looked to Hyunseog Oh of Niceworkshop to take the industrial materials and create collectible design objects.

The installation included two collections with similar forms. Called Aged Form Line, the first collection was made with formwork directly reused from construction and "captures the enduring texture of concrete on the surface event after the repair process".

These pieces have a darker hue with slight imperfections on the surfaces of the furniture.

The other series is called New Form Line and features furniture created with aluminium that has been recycled. These have a much more lustrous hue and smoother surfaces.

Niceworkshop showed chairs, benches and tables created with both materials. The design of both pieces is almost identical, with the rivet holes from the original formwork used as the points of connection between the different pieces of furniture.

The New Form Line pieces were presented as a group, set up as they might look in a space, while the Aged Form Line was presented on aluminium plinths, separately.

In the centre of the space, an example of how the material looks as it is used in the construction process, rebar and all, was shown to let visitors understand better where the material comes from.

"Our use of the materials was inspired by the circulation of the process of aluminium," said Oh, noting how similar the final product looks to the actual formwork.

The collection is the first collaboration between Format and Niceworkshop and is the debut collection of Niceworkshop during Milan design week.

The photography is courtesy of T-Space at 10 Corso Como unless otherwise stated.

The Aluminum Formwork Series is on show at Corso Como 10 from 15 to 21 April during See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

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Vancouver-based lighting company A-N-D has showcased two collections at Alcova during Milan design week, adapting its chandeliers to be placed on the floor to respect the historic setting.

The lights flanked the walls of a room on the ground floor of Villa Bagatti Valsecchi, a 17th-century villa outside of Milan that is one of two locations for year's iteration of the Alcova design showcase.

The lights were presented alongside a colourful platformed rug by Italian brand CC Tapis and a blue fibreglass couch by Turkish studio Uma Objects.

Altogether, the installation of lights and furniture was designed to contrasts the historical finishes of the space, which has a domed ceiling with a fresco of the Greek myth of Daphne.

A-N-D co-founder Lukas Peet said that the location was a challenge because they could not make any interventions into the walls or ceilings.

"When you're unable to confidently hang anything, or interact with the walls or the ceiling – that's a major challenge as a lighting brand that mostly works with pendants," he told Dezeen.

This led the studio pair to release new editions of two existing light collections – the Vale and Collumn light collections. Conceptualised initially as chandeliers, the lights were taken from their hanging context and set up on the floor in modular configurations.

Vale has curved glass over a thin light strip and utilises an edge-to-edge connection. The studio created large, free-standing sculptural constructions using the light, wrapping them like screens at two sides of the room.

The studio said that the Vale lights were arranged to act almost architecturally, as additional walls in the space.

The studio's other pieces were from the Column series, which has thick multi-sided blocks of glass placed on top of each other and was informed by the classical Greek Doric column. Peet said that the lighting was arranged to be like a "forest" so that people visiting had to interact with the lights and walk around them.

"I think it works together," said A-N-D co-founder Caine Heintzman of the modern furniture in the historic room. "The modularity of the lighting allowed us to tailor the installation to the space."

Both designers joked that even though they had little idea of the space, the pieces ended up being in conversation with the fresco of Daphne on the ceiling, as she represents plants and the pieces were arranged as if "growing" from the floor.

Dozens of designers set up pieces throughout the manor house and grounds of Villa Bagatti Valsecchi and at Villa Borsani, a secondary Alcova location just a few minutes walk from the first.

Alcova co-founder Joseph Grima said that this year's iteration sees the first residential locations for the showcase.

He told Dezeen that the location, around 40 kilometres from Milan city centre, was chosen to showcase the important design outside of the city – Villa Borsani was the home of Osvaldo Borsani, an important mid-century Milanese architect and designer.

"We wanted to shine a light on the fact that Milan is not just the centre – all of these spaces that we know very well – but it's also this whole area around it."

The photography is by A-N-D.

Alcova 2024 is on show from 15-21 April as part of Milan design week. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

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Czech glass-making brand Lasvit has unveiled an outdoor installation made from fused glass at Milan design week, shown in this video produced for the brand by Dezeen.

Titled Porta, the installation was created by Lasvit art director Maxim Velcovsky and forms part of the brand's Re/Creation exhibition at Palazzo Isimbardi in Milan.

The installation is part of Lasvit's Re/Creation exhibition in Milan

The installation encompasses a maze of large glass panels created using an artisanal fused glass method.

In this technique, glass is heated into a molten state and is then poured over a hand-crafted mould. The liquid glass naturally spreads and settles under its own weight and gravity, which determines its unique organic textures within the material.

The panels used in Velcovsky's installation were created in Europe's largest glass kiln. They were designed to demonstrate the brand's technical prowess and to create a space for visitors to relax in.

"Glass becomes a 'canvas' for the artist and gives the opportunity to create relief surfaces and surfaces of large dimensions," Velcovsky told Dezeen.

"When making glass, you feel like you are on a beach, where you can draw your ideas in the sand and create an infinite number of images, structures and textures. These ideas are then embedded in the glass and remain on the surface in relief," he continued.

The exhibition also includes a new lighting collection by Swedish studio Claesson Koivisto Rune comprising table lamps and a ceiling light.

The collection, called Nebula, features a series of bulb-like table lamps in two sizes that use a diffusing glass lens to transmit light upwards.

Other pieces within the exhibition include an installation by Lasvit senior designer Maria Culenova, which uses layers of folded plywood and copper to create custom lighting modules, as well as a diluted lighting collection by Canadian design duo Yabu Pushelberg.

The exhibition architecture and design were created by multidisciplinary design firm Cirque Menu.

Re/Creation is open to the public at the Palazzo Isimbardi, Corso Monforte, 35, from 16 to 21 April at this year's Milan design week. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

Partnership content

This video was produced by Dezeen for Lasvit as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen's partnership content here. 

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Google has returned to Milan design week with a kaleidoscopic installation by research studio Chromasonic, designed to simulate the experience of having synesthesia.

Stretching across 600 square metres inside a redeveloped industrial building near Porta Venezia, Making Sense of Color takes visitors on a "sensorial journey" through a maze of semi-transparent screens.

Changing patterns of coloured light are projected onto these screens, accompanied by sound in frequencies equivalent to the real wavelengths of the various shades.

Red light has the longest wavelengths and therefore generates the lowest sound while yellow, green and blue have progressively shorter wavelengths that result in higher-pitched sounds.

This effectively allows visitors to experience the colours through two different senses simultaneously, leading Chromasonic co-founder Johannes Girardoni to describe the experience as an "artificial state" of synesthesia – a perceptual phenomenon where people experience one sense through another, for example hearing colours.

"We make light audible and sound visible so it's this cross-pollination, this merging of the senses," he told Dezeen.

By augmenting people's natural sensory perception without relying on a device like AR goggles, Girardoni says the installation can help visitors feel more present and grounded in their bodies.

It approximates the experience of mindfulness meditation, which involves honing an awareness of feelings and bodily sensations in the here and now, rather than ruminating about the past or the future.

"It's a way to connect to your senses, but also just to connect to yourself and feel very present, which can be hard to find sometimes in a very busy and distracted world," said Chromasonic co-founder Harriet Girardoni. "It's a bit like a meditation practice, although it's sort of effortless."

The installation's three-metre-high fabric screens were arranged to form 21 volumes, each illuminated by a single LED square from above.

A matrix of 24 speakers were positioned to provide localised sound that changes based on the colour that is being projected in a given area at a given time.

"We algorithmically link light and sound so we can move them together through that space as a linked object," Johannes Girardoni said.

"So when you see colour moving, you also are hearing or feeling that colour in your body and in your ears," his partner added. "Because the sound is really a physical expression of the light."

To achieve this, the studio developed a "refrequencing" software that can take any waveform – whether light, sound or even the frequencies of our bodies – and translate it into another.

This technology also forms the basis of Chromasonic's permanent Satellite One installation in Venice, California. The studio is currently working on a study with a scientist from the University of Southern California (USC) to gain more concrete data about how the experience impacts visitors.

"We've had thousands of people through our site," Harriet Girardoni said. "And we know from the research that we've done that there are quote unquote benefits to this, everything from reducing stress and anxiety to just becoming more joyful."

"Participants feel a momentary sense of awe much like what happens out in nature when you're standing in front of a mountain range or on the ocean," Johannes Girardoni added. "It's these moments of awe that connect us to our own senses and our own sense of presence."

"You can get this through meditation, you can get this in nature but for a lot of people, these things are not so accessible."

The Making Sense of Color installation was co-created by Google's vice president of hardware design Ivy Ross and culminates in a series of rooms exploring how her design team uses colour to shape users' perceptions and experiences.

"Each color gives off a different vibration and has a biological and psychological effect on people," Ross said.

"We are conscious of always having a range of colours that feel right for the moment in time. For example this year we have a particular tone of blue in our products that is very calming."

Google is a regular figure on the Milan design week circuit, with previous contributions including giant water-covered speakers and a string of interiors designed using the principles of neuroaesthetics.

Making Sense of Color is on display at Garage 21 as part of Milan design week 2024. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

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As Milan design week continues, we've selected six pop-up spaces where you can grab a bite to eat while admiring the latest design launches in the Italian capital.

Included in the roundup are restaurant spaces temporarily overhauled by design brands, a cosy dining room set in a Milanese palace and a hot dog pop-up by Swedish retailer IKEA.

See Dezeen Events Guide's guide to Milan design week 2024 for details of the hundreds of events, installations and exhibitions taking place across the city and follow Dezeen LIVE for updates and exclusive previews from the team throughout the event.

Caffè Populaire by DWA Design Studio and Lambert & Fils

Italian practice DWA Design Studio and Montreal-based lighting studio Lambert & Fils have returned to Milan for the third edition of Caffè Populaire, a showcase of the brand's latest designs with complimentary aperitivo and food art.

Taking place in the studio and garden of DWA Design Studio from 14 to 18 April, the practic launched its Unico collection of vessels alongside the Isle lighting series by Lambert & Fils.

Aiming to create an immersive experience for visitors, food-art studio Ananas Ananas and designer Sophie Lou Jacobsen have created a bright orange food bar for the pop-up.

Via Giulio e Corrado Venini 85, Milan

Bar Unikko by Marimekko & Apartamento

Finnish lifestyle brand Marimekko is celebrating the 60th anniversary of its Unikko print by turning the Bar Stoppani restaurant into a week-long pop-up space named Bar Unikko.

Created in collaboration with interiors publication Apartamento, large-scale prints of the iconic floral design will feature throughout the restaurant from 15 to 21 April, and visitors can purchase limited-edition Unikko espresso cups, coffee mugs and wooden trays.

Bar Stoppani, Via Antonio Stoppani 15, Milan

Hot Dog Extravaganza by IKEA

IKEA is offering visitors new takes on its classic hot dog dish, including plant-based, shrimp and ice cream hot dogs.

Served around long tables and picnic-style benches from 10am to 11pm local time, the retailer hopes it becomes a space where "strangers become friends".

Via Tortona 58, Milan

Time Travel by Nuova Group

Designed to provide "a "momentary Americana escape" from Milan, the Time Travel installation at the Via Stampa bistro was designed by California-based studio Nuova Group to take visitors back in time to 1971.

Nuova Group overhauled one of the main dining halls of the restaurant with an exhibition of limited-edition furniture and lighting, a dedicated Time Travel's bar and theatrical performances taking place from 13 to 21 April.

Via Stampa 8, Milan

Trattoria Altra Vista by Anotherview

Art collective Anotherview set out to create a "lived-in" space at Milan's Palazzo Litta for the Trattoria Altra Vista installation, created in collaboration with Italian designers Analogia Project, Andrea Zambelli, Benedetta Mori Ubaldini, Matteo Di Ciommo, Duilio Forte and Simone Fanciullacci.

Taking place from 15 to 21 April, the installation aims to combine design, art, cuisine and lifestyle with a bar, a long dining table and a series of digital windows set up in a room in the baroque palace.

The space will host three exclusive dinners during Milan design week and will be open to the public during the day with talks and presentations.

Palazzo Litta, Corso Magenta 24, Milan

Sant Ambroeus takeover by Cabana

Italian lifestyle brand Cabana has launched its Toscana textile design in a coral hue for its takeover of the Sant Ambroeus restaurant.

The floral print has been added to the table cloths, napkins and curtains in the restaurant for the duration of Milan design week.

The restaurant's private dining room has also been permanently transformed by interior designer Ashley Hicks with colours and surfaces pulled from the Cabana magazine.

Sant Ambroeus, Corso Giacomo Matteotti 7, Milan

Milan design week 2024 takes place from 16 to 21 April 2023. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

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Cultural institutions Triennale Milano and Fondation Cartier are hosting a retrospective show of Italian designer Alessandro Mendini at this year's Milan design week, showcased in this video produced by Dezeen for Triennale.

The exhibition takes place at Trienalle Milano

Triennale Milano partnered with the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain to host the exhibition, which explores Mendini's work across the fields of architecture, art, design and theory.

Titled Io Sono Un Drago (I am a dragon), the show brings together over 400 different works and intends to explore Mendini's philosophical approach to the world around him.

Mendini was an Italian architect and designer known for his role as a key figure in the radical design and postmodernist movements of the 1960s and '70s.

Through his 60-year career he created some of the most iconic design pieces of the 20th century, such as the Proust armchair, which combined baroque references with pointillist patterns. Mendini passed away at the age of 87 in February 2019.

Split into six thematic sections, the show looks back on Mendini's life and work, with the first section, titled Identikit, showcasing a series of self-portraits Mendini created over the course of his life.

The following sections explore aspects of his work including his firm Atelier Mendini, which designed buildings such as the Groninger Museum and the Arts metro stations in Naples, as well as exploring his research in radical design theory.

The last section of the exhibition consists of three immersive installations that Mendini created towards the end of his life, which play with the concepts of dreams and nightmares.

As part of the wider exhibition, French designer Phillipe Starck will also debut an immersive installation created in homage to Mendini during the run of the design week.

Titled What? A homage to Alessandro Mendini, the installation aims to take visitors into a sensory journey through Mendini's subconscious.

Speaking on the installation, Starck said "before being a human, [Mendini] was an idea, a sensation, an osmotic vibration that I wanted to recapture through the installation, conceived as an immersive experience in Alessandro Mendini's brain".

Starck's installation will be located in Triennale Milano's Impluvium space.

Io Sono Un Drago is open to the public at the Trienalle Milano 13 April to 13 October. What? A homage to Alessandro Mendini runs from the 16 April- 13 October. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

Partnership content

This video was produced by Dezeen for Triennale as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen's partnership content here. 

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Japanese designer Hideki Yoshimoto has unveiled the Beyond the Horizon immersive art installation at this year's Milan Design Week, designed in collaboration with car brand Lexus.

Drawing on Lexus' LF-ZC (Lexus Future Zero-emission Catalyst) concept car, which "explores possibilities for a next-generation Lexus battery electric vehicle", the installation aims to encapsulate and represent the brand's focus on the future.

"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," Yoshimoto told Dezeen in Milan.

The reflective installation features a model of the car, which is positioned at the centre of the installation to act as a "beacon" towards this new future and flanked by a series of illuminated sculptures.

"The sculptures are almost like soldiers," Yoshimoto said.

"They are pulling this leader – the car – or protecting the car to going beyond the horizon into space or a new world."

The installation floor was lined with mirrored surfaces intended to give the effect of water, while illuminated backing panels depict the sky's landscape – shifting from morning to night – with the line between them indicating the horizon.

Aiming to combine themes of tradition and future, the sculptures were made using traditional Japanese washi paper crafted into unique patterns which was then encased with fibreglass.

The sculptures respond to human movement – emitting a white glow when approached that simultaneously reveals the patterned paper inside.

Adding to the immersive experience, calming music was played through a collection of speakers to add to the sensory experience.

Japanese washi paper was similarly used to create the shifting landscapes displayed across the space's backing panels.

"I created that landscape on the massive screen [using] Japanese washi paper – resonating with the brand's respect to Japanese craftsmanship," Yoshimoto said.

Yoshimoto is founder of the design and innovation brand Tangent and was awarded the first Lexus Design Award in 2013 for his lighting design Inaho.

Elsewhere in Milan, IKEA has unveiled an inflatable chair that "challenges traditional gaming design" and V-Zug has opened its inaugural Milan showroom featuring neutral tones.

The photography is courtesy of Lexus.

Beyond the Horizon is on show from 15 to 21 April 2024 as part of Milan design week. See our Milan design week 2024 guide on Dezeen Events Guide for information about the many other exhibitions, installations and talks taking place throughout the week.

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