Ventura Lambrate is the design district of Fuorisalone 2017 in Milan where you can find the most innovative and stimulating projects, all with an eye to the future.
Ventura Lambrate, the project that since 2010 has breathed new life into the Lambrate neighbourhood in the eastern part of Milan, is doubling up this year with Ventura Centrale in the former Magazzini Raccordati beneath the Central Station, confirming its importance as a hub of innovation, new talent and international design schools. It is a must for lovers of the Fuorisalone and the Design Week who also have an eye for social design and cultural heritage, the themes of the 2017 edition of Ventura Lambrate.
At Subalterno1 in Via Conte Rosso 22 is Anthropocene, an exhibition on the contrasts between nature and artifice told through the works of Italian and international designers. Various artefacts are on show, including Lorenzo Damiani's bowl collection 152, an alternative proposal for the conversion and disposal of special waste through the reuse of fragments of memory. Also part of Anthropocene are the hairdryer by Andrea de Chirico, creator of the project Superlocal, 0 miles production — a system for producing everyday objects on a local scale already exhibited at the new Design Museum in London — and BC-AD, experimental research by Ami Drach and Dov Ganchrow in the field of design and the study of tools, resulting in a series of objects for contemporary use derived from the observation of tools and hand axes.
One planet one future is a project by Anne de Carbuccia that documents, through photographs, installations and videos, the damage caused by humans to the environment. From 31 March, coinciding with the Salone del Mobile, the Italian headquarters of the New York-based artist's Time Shrine Foundation opens to the public for the first time, with the aim of raising awareness on issues related to respect for the planet Earth. The foundation's new premises at Via Conte Rosso 8 — buildings of an old 1920s factory converted to the highest sustainability standards — house de Carbuccia's large photographic works, divided into four themes: endangered species, water, war and waste.
Not to be missed are the works of the world's most prestigious design schools, in particular Material futures at Via Oslavia 1, the project by talented final-year students of the Master in Material Design at Central Saint Martins in London, which explores the possibility of creating materials with the minimum impact on our environment. Starting from various questions that the designers posed in order to predict the future of materials, creations have emerged that interweave science, technology and craftsmanship. On display are 26 projects, including solutions for combating so-called fast fashion by using 3D-printer technology to recycle textile fibre waste, and new models of farming integrated with technology and robotics to help small farms that are now disappearing.
Another project worth highlighting, at Via Ventura 15, is that of Maria Yablonina in collaboration with the service design company Logotel. The most significant installation in the exhibition Post human – When technology embedes society is Mobile robotic fabrication eco-system: three robots, interacting and moving synchronously on a large-scale structure, build a suspended web inspired by the way spiders weave their webs. The researcher's work is an attempt to hypothesise a new construction method that is fast and low-cost, capable of combining software and hardware to develop an innovative solution, as well as an invitation to reflect on the nature of the relationship between humans and advanced technology.
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This year the festive heart of Ventura Lambrate is the Ikea Festival, hosted at Via Ventura 14 in the spaces of a warehouse where the Swedish giant displays creations by various international designers, including Tom Dixon, inspired by the theme Let's make room for. Worth noting is Growroom, a spherical garden that can be built at home to bring greenery even into the city, complete with instructions to follow, in true Ikea style.
