Design Week 2024: designers put their face (and ideas) into it

Stars, emerging talents, new talents, very young people. They are the great protagonists of the Milan Design Week, with products, projects and installations that make the lounge area Mobile International. They who put their face and ideas, their heart and concepts into it, to project design into the future. There are many names, great confirmations and outsiders. Place of honor at SaloneSatellitea hotbed of talent that this year too ‘discovers’ three designers of tomorrow, who have just been awarded at the 13th edition of the SaloneSatellite Award, the most authoritative event of “young design” on stage in Pavilion 9 of Rho Fiera.

25 years of project culture

Born as a “planet” of the Salone, the SaloneSatellite it is a true “universe” in itself, a hotbed of talent, ~~the most authoritative event of “young design” created in 1998 by Marva Griffin~~ in this 13th edition celebrates 25 years old of connections and relationships between budding professionals, cultures and projects from all over the world.

«We believe in young people and the future they represent. Design, which is avant-garde par excellence, needs places of reference and meetings”

ORToday, in its 25th birthday, the edition has around 600 participants from 32 countries and 22 international design schools and universities from 13 countries. Among the exhibitions at the Triennale, ~~Satellite universe 25 years of SaloneSatellite~~ (until 28 April 2024) celebrates history, while the SaloneSatellite Award 2024 has decreed the winning new designers. First place goes to Chinese Studio Ololoo for the experimental lamp Deformation Under Pressure in inflatable PVC and aluminum in tension. Second Filippo AndrighettoItaly-Denmark for the bookshop Sailing ship of interlocking wood, for cabinet making. Third Voronoi Of Egoundesignwhich combines everyday life and new techniques with a 3D printed brass table set.

The Chinese duo Studio Ololoo with Marva Griffin, founder of the youth showcase at their 25th birthday

The festival of ideas

They are many and good, listing them from A to Z would fill a dictionary, or screen after screen. We chose and saw. The most emotional project, the architectural one, the technological one, the immersive installation, the experiments and the craft design, like that of the initiative Double Signature. Dialogues between design thinking and high craftsmanship on stage at Villa Mozart. 15 authors and as many artisans have created unique objects: among these, they stand out Ludovica Serafini and Roberto Palombawho gave life to a fascinating set of vases, while the famous Japanese design studio Nendo he created a chessboard with a surprising design. The initiative also involved international talents, such as the Los Angeles artist Elliott Barnes and the Ivorian Jean Servais Somianadding a global and diverse dimension to the collection.

Oki Sato of the Japanese studio Nendo creates a highly crafted chessboard for Doppia Firma, the ‘nendo: whispers of nature’ installation by Paola Lenti, a sink for Flaminia and the Clustered Cloud project by Nendo. Photo Edoardo Valle

RADICAL AND GENTLE

Among the most acclaimed, Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin di Ghostform they experience the radical dimension through harmony and kindness (they have, among other things, just inaugurated their first Milanese apartment). New art directors of the historic Venetian weaving company Rubelli, among the many events of this period include a solo exhibition at the ICA Foundation in Milan And the annual symposium Prada Frames at the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum. At Rho Fiera, however, the “Drafting Futures” Arena, a space for talks with a library and the Corraini Mobile Bookshop are designed.

Formafantasma for Cosentino with the ‘Earthic LAB’ installation, at the Gerolamo Theater

EXPLORING THE MATTER

South Tyrolean architectHannes Peer he trained at the school of Rem Koolhaas: here he learned not to standardize and standardize. In his studio in Via Privata Rezia creates the installation TheClearing where sculptures poised between neo-classicism and brutalism emphasize the strength of the primordial material, with the travertines and marbles of the Belgian Van Der Weghe sculpted and interpreted by cutting edge.

Via Rezia 1 | The Clearing by Hannes Peer and Van Den Weghe. Photo Danilo Pasquali

DOMESTIC RAINBOW

India Mahdavi, great interpreter of imagination and rigor. The Iranian-French architect interprets the tiles of with the tones of the sea and light textures like waves Alternative Artefacts Danto «They came to life in the centuries-old Japanese factory of Awajishima, an island in the Seto Inland Sea, and reflect its dual artisanal and technological soul». For cc-tapis instead i Chris Cross they are hand-woven carpets, in Varanasi, which show off a revisited tartan motif, where the chain stitching and wool weaves generate decorative layers in relief, 3D effect.

At Design Week India Mahdavi creates sensory tiles for Japanese Danto tiles and tartan rugs for cc-tapis. Portrait Antoine Doyen

THE SHAPE OF COLOR

Guillermo Santoma he is the visionary Spanish designer capable of giving shape to color. Here portrayed in the studio of his manifesto house in Barcelona (Casa Horta). For the exhibition installation of the project Gucci Design Again ventures a combination of burgundy and apple green backgrounds that define the volumes of the space. The exhibition in the Gucci boutique in via Monte Napoleone 7 and online in the Gucci Prospettive digital tour projects Italian style symbolized by five iconic pieces of furniture onto the catwalk. Designed by the creative director of the maison Sabato De Sarno, curated by Michela Pelizzari.