Now in its eighth edition, Brera Design Week confirms its place as one of the most important events of the Fuorisalone, the festival dedicated to design that will animate Milan until 9 April.
The Brera Design Week officially opened on 4 April — a celebration of design, events and exhibitions scattered throughout the streets of Milan's namesake neighbourhood. It is a not-to-be-missed opportunity to get up close with the work of designers from all over the world, and much more besides. Throughout the Design Week 2017, visitors will have the chance to venture directly into the alleyways and courtyards of hidden historic buildings that serve as the ideal backdrop for the installations on show.
From this year the Brera district is expanding to encompass the new Porta Nuova neighbourhood, which plays host to numerous installations including: a reinterpretation of the shoe within new urban contexts created by Matteo Cibic for Timberland; Cassina 9.0 at Fondazione Feltrinelli, with its home of the future where human and machine coexist in perfect harmony and balance; and Gea by Alce Nero, on view on the stage at Eataly Smeraldo, which recreates agricultural landscapes and tells the story of the stages in a virtuous process of growing and transforming food, from the land to the end consumer, by means of a seed that sets in motion a dynamic system of gears touching sky, earth and greenery — conceived by dotdotdot in collaboration with Opendot with the aim of conveying to visitors the importance of leading a sustainable lifestyle by consuming food from organic farming.
Inside the smaller cloister of the Basilica di San Simpliciano, Mindcraft takes the stage — an exhibition entirely dedicated to Danish artists, curated by HenrikVibskov and commissioned by the Danish Ministry of Culture and the Danish Arts Foundation. Among the works worth highlighting is certainly that of Marianne Eriksen Scott-Hansen, a designer who works with paper to create sculptures inspired by nature, such as the multicoloured flower that takes centre stage in the installation.
The Pinacoteca di Brera once again confirms its role as the beating heart of the Brera Design Week. Among the exhibitions hosted in these spaces is White in the city by Oikos, which brought together some of the world's most celebrated architects to illustrate, through their creations, the importance of using a formaldehyde-free white paint to ensure healthier living environments. And in the same setting, Panasonic presents Electronics meets crafts, an artistic installation that seeks to unite, through a multisensory experience, the innovative and environmentally respectful technology of new hi-tech devices with the traditional craft techniques of Go on, a group of artisans from Kyoto, Japan.
Brera Design Week has more to offer than design installations in the strict sense — it is also home to true natural sculptures. Chief among them is Lost in time and place by Roberto Bonatti at Casa Formentini in via Formentini 1, where the union of botany and architecture has given life to a genuine oasis conceived to lend elegance to the spaces used for waste collection.
Among the green spaces not to be missed is the Orto botanico di Brera, which for the occasion opens its doors to the public, showcasing its cultivation of flowers, aromatic and medicinal plants set amid exhibitions and lounge areas where visitors can take a break immersed in nature.
At Hotel Baglioni in via Senato visitors can admire the permanent installation Lux with italian touch by Gaspare di Caro, which uses LED lighting and sophisticated video-mapping tools to transform the façade into a fresco inspired by the fabrics and carpets found in the building's interior furnishings — bringing to life a display of colour that is well worth an evening visit.