Sustainable design is one of the central themes of the projects, exhibitions and events not to be missed during Fuorisalone 2019, running from 8 to 14 April. Here are the highlights, divided by area.
Many projects, exhibitions and events (and even some parties) at Milan's Design Week 2019 place the relationship between humanity and nature and the principles of sustainability at the heart of their proposals — principles they are called upon to embrace in order to safeguard our future. Setting the tone is the major exhibition at the twenty-second Triennale di Milano, running until 1 September: Broken Nature: design takes on human survival, which explores the role design can play in mending our now-compromised relationship with the environment. Here you will find a true itinerary through the most interesting proposals from a sustainable design perspective: the exhibitions and projects not to be missed during Fuorisalone 2019, running from 8 to 14 April, as well as one proposal within the Salone del mobile di Milano.
The Lambrate district reaffirms its place among Milan's most vibrant and creative neighbourhoods, with the return of the events, exhibitions, shows and installations of Lambrate design district, of which LifeGate is media partner, spread across an exhibition area of more than 13,000 square metres. Sustainability is the focus at via Conte Rosso 34, at the Upcycling Lab, where German design studio Dwalischwili is running a week-long workshop with young designers on the reuse of production waste from cosmetics company Cosnova Beauty.
The story of the Be bwisstainable project, aimed at raising public awareness on the subject of ethical and eco-sustainable production, is told through the figure of Pinocchio. The project, which has received the patronage of the Comune di Milano and the Fondazione nazionale Carlo Collodi, presents itself as a diffuse exhibition — a reflection on new domestic lifestyles — featuring projects developed over the past three years in the Smart design laboratory of the Scuola del design at the Politecnico di Milano. Among the themes addressed, Zero waste, the area dedicated to reducing food waste, stands out: it will show how to reuse food leftovers while ensuring the final quality is not compromised.
Where: Lambrate design district
Read also: Fuorisalone 2019, the Lambrate design district is richer than ever
The third edition of Smart city: people, technology & materials returns, and once again LifeGate is media partner of the exhibition-event conceived and organised by Material ConneXion Italia, on show at Superstudio 13. Inaugurated on 13 March, the opening date of Milan's Digital Week, it continues until 14 April, when the Design Week closes. This year's exhibition, through the 40 events and debates on the programme, will reflect on ideas and proposals for building smart cities increasingly founded on a system of relationships that generates value, where technology truly serves as a support tool for people.
Where: Superstudio 13, via Bugatti 9 and via Forcella 13
Read also: Smart city: people, technology & materials returns — the exhibition-event by Material ConneXion Italia
A training and collective work project, aimed at valuing and enhancing the wealth of knowledge and skills possessed by people who arrive in Italy, conceived by the non-profit cultural association Connecting cultures. Italian designers and men and women of diverse backgrounds with craft and tailoring skills collaborate together to create capsule collections of sustainable design using reclaimed materials. The project launches with Please sit! by designer and artist Denise Bonapace: 21 chairs, unique pieces, made by recovering old seats reinvented with weaving applications and tailoring techniques. Each piece is signed and comes with a passport attesting to its uniqueness, and the funds raised from sales will go towards supporting the association's projects.
Where: Connecting cultures, via Novi 2
The forest and its ecosystem, wood and the sustainable use of ancient and new materials are the themes explored this year by Belgium is design in the exhibition Generous nature — a strong statement by designers and companies on the protection of the ecosystem and sustainable development. The scenography, designed by designer Benoit Deneufbourg in collaboration with La fabrika studio, will travel to the museo del design di Gand after Milan. The materials were chosen according to a circular economy logic: the exhibition structures are made of recycled cardboard and constructed using Really panels by Kvadrat, an innovative material conceived from recycled fabrics.
Where: Opificio 31, via Tortona 31
An installation within Fuorisalone 2019 presented by the Istituto europeo di design (Ied): an immersive journey through "100 questions for tomorrow on the future of the Planet" that leads visitors to reflect on the themes of social and environmental sustainability. The project involved students from the eleven campuses of the network spanning Ied Italy, Spain and Brazil, and will launch "100 design projects" over the next two years — that is, projects capable of restoring our relationship with nature.
Where: Loftino, Opificio 31, via Tortona 31
Design your life is the theme of Brera design district, meaning sustainability expressed in many different ways. Design as a life project. Or rather "design thinking" — that is, the "design mindset" and its creative, innovative approach as a means of shaping one's existence sustainably. The inquiry draws inspiration from the 2016 book by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, Designing your life: How to build a well-lived, joyful life. It is an invitation to adopt a design approach in everyday choices, and for designers to work more consciously on the sustainable impact of their work.
Where: Brera design district
[vimeo url="https://vimeo.com/318007987″]Video Cano Cristales[/vimeo]
A large water installation by Marco Balich, curator of major events, paying tribute to the genius of Leonardo da Vinci. Covering the Conca dell'Incoronata, a structure developed by Balich worldwide shows features a large mirror of water at whose far end a skyline shifts according to the time of day — a skyline that tells, simultaneously, between reason and enchantment, a small fragment of the Renaissance and the future of Milan. Beneath this structure, inside the canal itself, visitors can experience the beauty, energy and form of water in an immersive environment that envelops them in image and sound through the use of the most advanced technologies.
Where: Conca dell'Incoronata, via San Marco
A collection designed by Mario Cucinella: objects rooted in the culture of the Bauhaus, which turns one hundred years old this year, with the rediscovery of great master craftspeople working in glass, marble, solid wood, ceramic, terracotta, brass, steel and textile. Building objects is the result of careful research into materials and ancient manual expertise, while also drawing on the extraordinary development of certain production processes founded on technological innovations, in which 3D printers play a central role.
Where: via Varese 12
Read also: Mario Cucinella. Più l'architettura italiana si radica nel territorio più diventa sostenibile
Algranti Lab collects reclaimed materials — primarily wood, iron, copper and aluminium from industrial and private decommissioning, such as pallets and scaffolding planks, gutters and sheet metal made unique by natural oxidation — and uses them to create furniture and home accessories. It presents the first pieces of a new collection in reclaimed brass, offering unusual expressive results with soft, warm and luminous painterly tones.
Where: Algranti Lab, via Pepe 20
An exhibition-market curated by Elif Resitoglu that for its fourth edition presents the theme Find the lost city: a selection of projects made with unconventional materials such as pineapple, metal waste and cannabis. Among the objects — all for sale — a special corner will be dedicated to Neubau, an eyewear brand from Vienna that this year presents the special model Walter & Wassily created for the Bauhaus centenary.
Where: via Pastrengo 14
On Tuesday 9 April at 10:30, the talk Biblioteca degli Alberi: poetry, planet and repair – designing green spaces for the 21st Century, organised together with Aesop, with Petra Blaise, Jana Crepon, Paola Antonelli, Tom Piper, Carlo Ratti and Marcus Fairs. At 17:00, the round table Milano smart with Renato Galliano, Carlo Masseroli, Guido Inzaghi, Michele Crisci, Marco Landoni and Matteo Ravà. Registration is required via this link; the full programme of design conferences organised by Icon magazine is available here.
Where: Fondazione Riccardo Catella, via Gaetano de Castillia 28
In the year marking the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death, Unduetrestella design week — which organises events related to design, furnishing and the production of objects and installations for the world of children — dedicates a project to Leonardo as designer. To honour the childlike dimension of his vision, products from Italian and international heritage companies have been brought together, including the Abitacolo by Bruno Munari (1971) and the H-Horse in methacrylate by Nendo for Kartell (2016).
Where: Fabbrica del Vapore, via Procaccini 4
Promoted by the magazine Interni, the exhibition places human beings and their vital, concrete and deep needs at the centre of design: wellbeing and balance, memory and history, imagination and relationships, knowledge and discussion, the desire for beauty and environmental protection. At the heart of the Human spaces theme are projects of places, environments, territories and contexts, and of services and objects whose primary focus is a vision of collective wellbeing, realised through installations by architects and designers including Hani Rashid, Carlo Ratti, Ingo Maurer, Ico Migliore e Mara Servetto, Humbero Campana, Piero Lissoni, Fabio Novembre, Mac Stopa, Dorota Koziara, Marco Merendi, Claudio Larcher and Marco Acerbis.
Among the installations, notable for its scenic impact and symbolic value is
