The Design Week 2021 in the fashion district

Between vintage design and contemporary art galleries, luxury upcycling and designer luminescence, here's how the most glamorous area of the city has interpreted FuoriSalone 2021

The Quadrilatero della Moda comes to a new life for FuoriSalone 2021. These are the fashion brands that are activated, here as in Brera (such as Hermès alla Pelota and Dior at Palazzo Citterio), but also the design and contemporary art galleries. A path far removed from industrial design and focused on limited editions, which focuses on sustainability, from upcyling and reuse to research on high tech materials.

Metamorphosis by Bulgari at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Via Palestro 18

Near Corso Venezia, in front of the Montanelli gardens and the Milan planetarium, you can reach the Gallery of Modern Art which, on the occasion of the FuoriSalone 2021, hosts Bulgari and the great Metamorphosis exhibition, dedicated to its iconic Serpenti jewelry collection, one of the animals symbol of metamorphosis concept. On display the works of Ann Veronica Janssens, Azuma Makoto, Daan Roosegaarde and architect Vincent Van Duysen, with four completely reusable works made of sustainable materials to give shape to the concept of Metamorphosis.

Azuma Makoto (also present with an installation at the Bvlgari hotel), Daan Roosegaarde, Ann Veronica Janssen and Vincent Van Duysen exhibit four very different works for Design Week that share the concept of mutability.

The Garden of Eden by Makoto is a geometric tree in brass whose fruits, flowers and plants create a contrast with the rigorous geometry of the trunk and branches, constantly changing during the different hours of the day.

Lotus Oculus by Daan Roosegaarde, which is inspired by the architecture of the Pantheon, is a large surface composed of 'smart foils', intelligent flowers that are sensitive to light and heat and which, therefore, move and react in response to human behavior.

Ann Veronica Janssens, on the other hand, conceived a site specific installation using natural light starting from the optical effect of reflection to produce constantly changing impressions in the room and, finally, the architect Van Duysen, created a refuge, a space contemplative, where to find shelter and silence. Not to be missed.

Il Salotto di Milano, corso Venezia 7

Still in the center, in Corso Venezia, you have to go up to the third floor of a beautiful nineteenth-century building to immerse yourself in the imagination, between Jungle and Art Deco references, of the artist, stylist and designer Simone Guidarelli who, for Officinarkitettura, a company from Pieve di Cento (Bologna) known throughout Europe for its kerlite wallpapers and wallcoverings (a particular laminated stoneware they have patented), and together with Matrix International (a Tuscan furniture company) has created the Walldesign Urban Jungle collection.

Among gorillas wrapped in the branches of an elegant rose garden and herons fluttering among wreaths of king-size lilies, the glance is truly remarkable.

Entering the rooms decorated by Simone Guidarelli's drawings means immersing yourself in his world, made up of natural elements and bright colors. And, once again, art and design join the Green theme and sustainability, given that - thanks to the research of Offinarkitettura laboratories - the wallpaper is made of totally PVC free transpiring cellulose. Ecological to produce, therefore, and easy to recycle.

In the adjacent rooms, do not miss the solo exhibition of Ferruccio Gard, one of the leading exponents of optical, kinetic and neo-constructivist art, entitled "Gard the kinetic".

Tod's and artcycling, via Montenapoleone 13

In the heart of luxury, a reflection on the theme of recovery and sustainability. We are in via Montenapoleone 13, the large space of the Tod's boutique, where on the occasion of the FuoriSalone 2021 the Fermo-based company presents to the public the new Mosaic collection, inspired by the patchwork technique declined on bags with contrasting inserts made with waste pieces of every shade and size. It is luxury upcycling. Alongside this new line, Artcycling: an exhibition of works of art in recycled leather created by contemporary American artist Willie Cole.

The artist, as he told during the inauguration, literally sat next to the craftsmen of the Marche company and used leathers, semi-finished products and salvaged pieces from various productions which, thanks to his creativity, were transformed into raw materials.

A way to underline the red thread that unites art and craftsmanship, both capable of generating new life. At the end of the Design Week, these sculptures will leave for a series of exhibitions organized in Paris, London, New York and Miami, thus putting two themes into circulation: Italian creativity and environmental protection.

Terra al cubo by ISIA Faenza, Chiostri dell'Umanitaria

Terra al Cubo is the title of the interesting exhibition organized by ISIA Faenza (Higher Institute for Art Industries) in the Cloisters of the Humanitarian.

An exhibition that stems from the research activity on eco-design that the Faenza institute has been carrying out for years, focused on the house of the future and on sustainable design for innovative and experimental production.

So from the earth, through the art of ceramics, the students of the Isia Institute in Faenza reflect on new possible forms of coexistence with our planet and showcase works that are the result of a mix of manual skills and advanced technological research.

On display, a three-stage path with the works of the students of the two-year course specializing in product design and planning with innovative ceramic materials.

From the figure of the shaman of the Earthz section, symbol of a regenerated and surviving man, here are the prosthesis-containers to wear to defend against the heat and conserve water and food, 3D ceramic utensils and to purify water.

The Nomadism section, on the other hand, offers micro-housing units, transportable and easily decomposable, where to live, sleep, take refuge, from which to relate to nature, nomadic envelopes, shells made with recycled materials, polymers, smart fabrics, biomaterials and nanoceramics.

Finally, the Faventia_Upgrade collection, an iconic, material and experimental research designed for 3D printing, which gave birth to small containers with abstract decorations and calligraphy inspired by archaic images of Middle Eastern origin, made with ceramic mixtures in medieval and Faenza Renaissance paintings of brown, manganese, copper green and blue.

Also interesting is the innovative Air Guardians Designer project, with a series of air purifiers with ceramic filters enhanced by nanomaterials, which feed on light to activate as purifying and illuminating agents for new domestic and work spaces.

Luminosity, The Manzoni, via Manzoni 5

In the refined The Manzoni space, which is an extremely elegant showroom, restaurant and event space at the same time, Tom Dixon presents the Luminosity exhibition.

To do this, he inserts, in the softened half-light of the rooms, the luminous flashes of the new suspension lamps in Press glass and the Chandeliers with Led Melt, lights that are multiplied thanks to the reflections on the crystals of the tables on which we find the glasses and silver of the brand. , in a Baroque-inspired setting.

Thus begins a tour that, after the FuoriSalone in Milan, will take the new lamps by Tom Dixon around Europe, to reflect with the public on how light and materials can transform an environment.

Three exhibitions at Nilufar, via della Spiga 32

To close, one of the essential stops of the FuoriSalone, and one of the best known Milanese design galleries abroad, is Nilufar Gallery. Founded by the gallery owner, collector and patron Nina Yashar in 1979 in via Bigli and, since the end of the nineties, in the beautiful location in via della Spiga 32 (with another location in the large industrial space of 1500 square meters in via Lancetti 34, Nilufar Depot ).

In this space in the heart of the fashion district, welcoming, intimate and cozy, on the occasion of the Milan Design Week 2021 Nilufar Gallery welcomes the public celebrating the first 10 years of collaboration between Nina Yashar and the English designer Bethan Laura Wood, with the Ornate exhibition (which will continue until November).

On display, alongside some iconic pieces made exclusively for Nilufar over the years, 7 new pieces from the new collection of mirrors, lights and cabinets that take visitors on a wonderful journey into private lives and hidden feminine spaces.

The inspiration? As Bethan Laura Wood herself said, a personal space that refers to Virginia Woolf and her book A room of one's own, but always with the bright colors and surprising lines that make the style of the English designer unique. Inside the Gallery, two other exhibitions.

The first, in the showcase space, is Some Vibrant Things by Audrey Large, curated by Studio Vedet: magnetic objects with iridescent shades halfway between art and design and with sinuous and incomprehensible shapes, far from any definition. While, on the first floor, Arcoiris, the new series of wall lamps by Analogia Project, the creative couple formed by the architect Emilia Serra and the designer Andrea Mancuso, and two projects by Filippo Carandini (a bookcase and a low table) at the his first experience with Nilufar.

The wonders of Palazzo Bagatti Valsecchi

The journey through the FuoriSalone events in the heart of Milan cannot fail to include a stop at the Museo Bagatti Valsecchi, in via del Gesù 5 where, the second edition of Il Palazzo delle Meraviglie is open to the public, organized by Studio MHZ which collects the works of some excellences of contemporary design.

The protagonists of the 2021 edition are six international companies, including Perennials and Sutherland: in the loggia of one of the most important and best preserved museum houses in Europe, the brand created in Dallas by David and Ann Sutherland exhibits its collection of outdoor furniture and fabrics with a linear, clean and contemporary style, the result of collaboration with the Belgian architect and designer Vincent Van Duysen. Alongside the armchairs and outdoor tables of the Texan company, the works of DeCluuz, Jallu Ébenistes, LcD, Sohil and Van Rossum are exhibited at the Palazzo delle Meraviglie.