Milan Design Week: A Roundup of Upcoming Projects
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
MILAN — Milan is buzzing in preparation of the international Salone del Mobile trade show and Design Week, running April 18 to 23, and fashion and design brands alike are gearing up to unveil their latest projects. Here a roundup of some of the expected initiatives — be ready to wear flats and sneakers to take it all in.
Louis Vuitton
Louis Vuitton will take over the Palazzo Serbelloni location in central Milan to showcase two separate projects. Launched in 2012, the brand’s Objets Nomades furniture and design collection will be enriched with 11 new creative and functional items, realized by the likes of Atelier Oï, Raw Edges, Atelier Biagetti, Marcel Wanders, Zanellato/Bortotto and Studio Campana.
More from WWD
A partner of the project since the inaugural collection, Atelier Oï developed four new designs, including the “Piva” lamp made of 57 frosted glass elements interspersed with a series of two-toned leather bands, and “Origami Bowls,” crafted by folding single pieces of leather into three-dimensional shapes.
Israeli designers Shay Alkalay and Yael Mer of London-based Raw Edges developed armchairs and a sofa in velvet and glossy leather, standing out for their sculptural appearance, inspired by the curved lines of a tennis ball. In a likewise eye-catching move, Brazilian brothers Fernando and Humberto Campana revisited their iconic “Cocoon” chair in the new “Disco Ball” edition bedecked by silver mosaics, as well as rendered the cloud-shaped “Bomboca” sofa in a striking metallic version.
Other highlights will include Atelier Biagetti’s “Flower Tower” glass lamp and the “Capeline” wavy one designed by Marcel Wanders; “Basket Table” designed by Zanellato/Bortotto and made of three leather bands woven into a honeycomb metal base, which was capped by a glazed stone top, and Studio Louis Vuitton’s “Flower Carafe” series handcrafted by Venetian artisans.
Flanking the Objets Nomades collection, the brand will also unveil the Cabinet of Curiosities by Marc Newson, in which the well-known Australian designer reinterpreted Louis Vuitton’s signature monogram trunk. Newson included 19 metal cubes covered in leather — eight of which feature secret compartments — in the design. The cubes are removable and can be rearranged in more than 1,000 combinations for further customization. Available in 40 pieces, the trunk comes with a metal plaque bearing both the name of the brand and Newson’s signature.
Hermès
Hermès is synonymous with quiet luxury, a trend that has been recently sweeping through the fashion conversation. For its latest interior design collection, the house has embraced a radical and pared-down approach taking over, as per usual, La Pelota sports center in Milan’s Brera district and installing an industrial-looking concrete and rebar structure.
A minimal undercurrent runs through the midcentury-inspired furniture pieces, including mouth-blown table lamps designed by Harri Koskinen that are reminiscent of lanterns, hand-embroidered, graphic-patterned carpets and refined upholstered wooden chairs nodding to 1930s designs.
Hermès Maison’s artistic directors Charlotte Macaux Perelman and Alexis Fabry channeled their creativity in the combination of different materials to convey an organic look and feel, with bronze, glass, leather and wood exalted via the minimalist designs. The house’s equestrian roots are celebrated in new porcelain and tableware sets, as well as plaids and carpets.
Bottega Veneta
Bottega Veneta is once again collaborating with architect and artist Gaetano Pesce, following a temporary site-specific artwork that he conceived of as a show space for the brand’s spring 2023 collection.
The Italian luxury brand will present a special edition of handbags realized for Pesce referencing his designs in the brand’s Via Montenapoleone store, which can be visited for a week from April 15 to 22.
The handcrafted bags are available in a limited edition for purchase and will be displayed as part of an installation called “Vieni a Vedere [Come and see].”
Dubbed “a grotto,” the immersive installation employs resin and fabric. “It is narrow and is walked through one by one, whether it is underground or above, you find a way through,” Pesce stated. “What you are actually walking through is the outline of a figure shooting for a basket. He represents almost a victory — it is not clear whether it goes in. In this case, the victory is discovery, the discovery of the language of representation. It is about opening new ways for design.”
This is the first time Pesce designed bags, called “My Dear Mountains” and “My Dear Prairies.” They are figurative, with Bottega Veneta’s signature Intrecciato weave showing two mountains with a sunrise or a sunset behind, reflecting Pesce’s own early life, in Italy growing up near the mountains in Este, and the prairies of America, where he lives today. “I wanted a bag with an optimistic view,” Pesce said.
Each glossy bag is individually painted with an airbrush technique to resemble Pesce’s watercolor rendering of the mountains in napa leather. A meticulous crochet technique is utilized for the prairies in seven shades of green calf and lamb leather. To celebrate the project, visitors will receive a free gift of a poster drawn by Pesce and hand-painted chocolates by Peyrano, the storied Turin, Italy-based chocolatier.
Gucci
Gucci is collaborating with Nomad for a second chapter of the “Artists in Flux” project unfolding on April 18 in a private house designed by the late architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni. The project first kicked off in St. Moritz in February and will travel to different locations during the year.
Nomad, established in 2017 by Giorgio Pace and Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte, is a unique art and collectible design fair, held biannually.
The “Artists in Flux” revolves around the notions of mobility, and this second chapter pivots around the dynamic New York creative scene, selecting multidisciplinary art collective CFGNY, comprising Tin Nguyenand, Daniel Chew, Kirsten Kilponen and Ten Izu; Design studio Objects of Common Interest, formed by Eleni Petaloti and Leonidas Trampoukis, and New York artist Rebecca Ness.
CFGNY explores the diasporic identity and the artists will also be showing their work during Milan Design Week in the “CFGNY: Emporium” exhibition curated by Felix Burrichter.
The work of Objects of Common Interest is influenced by Greece and New York and the artists are working on “Lights On,” a new site-specific installation in Bergamo, as part of the city’s Italian Capital of Culture 2023 program. An inflatable “fountain” by the duo will be on display and can be experienced at Alcova during Milan Design Week.
Rebecca Ness is interested in personal belongings and the subjects of her colorful, textured figurative paintings are drawn from her own everyday life experience, but have broader universal connotations. The artists will travel to the various destinations with their Gucci luggage, gathering for round table conversations, exhibitions and social events.
Dior
Dior and Philippe Starck continue their collaboration with a complete collection of furniture, including the Monsieur Dior armchair, as the designer also revisited the Medallion chair.
“After Miss Dior — the chair inspired by the iconic Medallion, created in 2022 for my first collaboration with Dior — it seemed natural to expand the family with Monsieur Dior, this new, unprecedented armchair,“ Starck said. “This duo of creations is perfectly balanced through the essential, existential notions of gravity and lightness, of yin and yang. Miss Dior and Mr. Dior, Catherine and Christian Dior, the sister and the brother, the chair and the armchair; it is the story of a sublime complementary duality.”
These pieces are available in different materials and colors — from aluminum to pink, black or fluorescent orange toile de Jouy, and several tables of different sizes and stools. The collection will be unveiled at the 18th-century Palazzo Citterio, together with a video and musical installation, realized especially for the House by Soundwalk Collective (Stephan Crasneanscki and Simone Merli).
Loewe
Arguably one of the most anticipated fashion brand design projects each year, Loewe’s latest Milan Design Week initiative continues to build on the house’s ambition to exalt craftsmanship. The Chair project, to be exhibited at 16th-century Palazzo Isimbardi, aligns the surrealist and playful template creative director Jonathan Anderson has been carving for the brand’s fashion line. Mundane chairs are embellished via woven textiles and materials, from leather and raffia, to strips of thermal blankets, shearling and felt, resulting in one-of-a-kind creations. Loewe sourced 22 vintage stick chairs and had additional eight manufactured in the U.K., adding orange shearling or oversize metal foils framing the backseat, for example. As part of the project, Loewe also linked with the Belgium-based Vincent Sheppard design firm to deliver eight chairs manufactured according to the Lloyd Loom technique and crafted from leather and natural fibers. All 38 design pieces, as well as handbags and leather goods inspired by the Loewe Chair project, will be on sale throughout the week.
Trussardi
In addition to showcasing its latest home collection, licensed to Luxury Living, Trussardi — albeit amid a shakeup on both creative and business leadership sides — is debuting a project geared at furthering the dialogue between its fashion and interiors divisions. Called “Design Wears Fashion,” it involves designer Francesca Lanzavecchia who created the Nebula round-shaped armchairs decked in four signature fabrics from the brand’s most recent fashion collections, designed by now-former creative directors Serhat Işık and Benjamin A. Huseby. A low, seat back armchair is upholstered in knits borrowed from the fall 2022 collection, while another version features a pleated champagne-colored satin inspired by frocks in the spring 2023 range. Referencing the Owena handbag, the additional two asymmetrical armchairs are covered in quilted black leather or in alligator-printed leather, also nodding to the spring 2023 lineup. The items will be displayed inside the recently revamped Palazzo Trussardi, close to La Scala theater.
Brioni
Brioni is leveraging the buzz around Milan Design Week to celebrate the reopening of its Milan flagship store on tony Via Gesù. Decked in travertine flooring, green and black marble and warm teak wood accents, the store was reconfigured and displays design pieces from masters including Gio Ponti, Carlo and Tobia Scarpa, Ico Parisi and Luigi Caccia Dominioni, all architects and creatives who helped define Italian design in the mid-20th century. Marking the reopening, the brand has teamed with Mita, the Genoa, Italy-based tapestry and carpet manufacturer that has been its go-to firm for interior textiles, to exhibit one-of-a-kind items. They include Ponti’s “Balletto alla Scala” artwork portraying dancers performing at the city’s opera house. The carpet decks the flagship’s staircase leading to the upper floor, where a VIP and bespoke room was installed.
Rick Owens at Galerie Philia
Galerie Philia, the international contemporary design and modern art gallery, launched in 2015, is presenting “Desacralized.” The off-site exhibition will feature more than 20 artists presenting their own interpretation of desacralization. It will be the first major exhibit to take place in San Vittore e 40 Martiri church, a deconsecrated building from the 11th century located in the center of Milan. The inspiration guidelines for the designers were to use objects that formerly had religious associations and have now become only functional. Besides that, they had just one more imperative, on which they collectively agreed on, the artworks should be entirely white. Rick Owens, among other key international designers who took part in this project, will also unveil his “desacralized” creation: his “Tomb chair” made from white marble and moose antlers.
A-Poc Able Issey Miyake
A-Poc Able Issey Miyake’s latest collaborative project with Nature Architects integrates the latter’s latest design solutions into the former’s design and manufacturing system, exploring the potential and the possible innovations of a piece of cloth in a series of prototypes.
Nature Architects, a spin off from the University of Tokyo, is a design company that develops original, function-oriented design algorithms trademarked and called DFM (Direct Functional Modeling) based on metamaterials, or materials that have properties other than those found in nature.
Compared with the conventional way of clothes-making, where a garment is made by cutting out separate parts that constitute and sewing them together, the integration of metamaterials into the A-POC system and original “Steam Stretch” allows for a variety of more complex pleating techniques that could not be realized before.
One of the prototypes developed from this project is a jacket that requires minimal sewing to finish — transforming from a flat fabric into a three-dimensional form in high-temperature steam. Beyond fashion, this project presents prototypes made from one piece of fabric with the prospect in fields of furniture, lighting fixtures or architecture.
A-Poc Able Issey Miyake is designed by Yoshiyuki Miyamae.
Byredo
For Salone del Mobile, Byredo invited multidisciplinary artist Dozie Kanu to take its signature fragrance “Bal d’Afrique” to life, combining art, history and design in exploring the intimacies that have shaped his relationship with the African continent and Afro-Diasporic culture.
Born into a Nigerian family in Houston, Kanu leaned on those closest to him to better understand home. In the exhibition opening on April 17 at Spazio Maiocchi, he will display artwork from his own archive as well as from the Saman Archive, a depository of photographic negatives collected from studio and itinerant photographers across Ghana. The project was founded in 2015 by artist and writer Adjoa Armah and was propelled by her curiosity to know a place through its visual history, including candid moments captured in nightclubs, beaches and traditional festivals.
“For many of us, the memories of others are the only way to know something dear to us — a person, a place, a time. That is how Bal d’Afrique came to be: a scent that was inspired by the memories of someone else,” said Byredo’s founder and creative director Ben Gorham about one of his earliest fragrances, launched more than a decade ago. “My father lived and traveled in Africa for 15 years. I would read his diaries; the way he traveled, the different people that he met.…For me, this was a way to connect to him and his diaries gave life to my imagination of the experience of arriving in Africa. Bal d’Afrique reflects that: it’s an imaginary journey as well as a complete celebration of how I see African culture and its influence,” Gorham added.
The showcase is part of Gorham’s annual curation of a multipart series celebrating one of Byredo’s scents. Through collaborations with creatives from different disciplines, each invited to share their own memories of the fragrance, the initiative aims to spark conversations and offer new interpretations and contexts to the brand’s perfumes.
Buccellati
After partnering with Stefano Boeri Interiors last year, Buccellati tapped Italian designer Michele De Lucchi and his multidisciplinary studio AMDL Circle to conceive an installation to be staged at the Portaluppi terrace of the brand’s Milan headquarters. As result, the space will be revisited with a fire red dome with a faceted and perforated structure evoking the cuts of the Italian jewelry company’s stones. Under the design, the “Buccellati Rosso Maraviglia” exhibition will be hosted to display not only the firm’s silver tableware collection but also the new line developed in collaboration with Venini. Curated by Federica Sala, the exhibit will also include a site-specific installation by landscape artist Lily Kwong in a nod to the botanical decorative elements marking Buccellati’s table accessories.
Jimmy Choo x Venini
In the fashion world, a Jimmy Choo stiletto is perhaps revered as a finely sculpted masterpiece. It comes as no surprise that the legendary shoemaker has teamed up with Venetian glass master Venini for a limited series of vases available in four different shades — soft hues that mirror the colors in and around the picturesque shores of the Lido and that range from dark green to amber. Venini’s iconic Poliedro (polyhedron) vase has been reimagined as modular light installation by superstars of Italian design Paolo Venini, Ignazio Gardella, Massimo Vignelli and Tobia Scarpa. The prismatic quality of these glass creations speaks to Jimmy Choo’s signature Diamond chain, currently playing out across the brand’s latest shoe, handbag and jewelry designs. These limited-edition creations will be displayed in the window of Jimmy Choo’s Milan flagship boutique, located on Via Sant Andrea, from April 18 to 23.
Aquazzura
After bringing the Italian joie de vivre to the table with an expansive home collection debuted at Milan Design Week last year, Aquazzura’s founder Edgardo Osorio is focusing on consolidating the vast tableware assortment, which launched with four collections and more than 400 stock keeping units. Taking things more slowly, this year he integrated new designs mainly in the glass category via the “Laguna” collection, which includes tumblers, wine glasses, martini glasses as well as some pieces like candleholders. Artfully crafted from handblown Murano glass, these items come with swirling patterns in shades ranging from turquoise to pink and are embellished with bright golden veining that catches and refracts the light at every toast.
Plan C
Carolina Castiglioni, the founder of Plan C, is known for her youthful, nonchalant spirit, finding artistic inspiration in unexpected places and infusing her children’s artwork into her collections. During Design Week, she will present a capsule collection called “Ritratti” or portraits — a series of colorful resin sculptures of which her children Margherita and Filippo and their friends are the protagonists. Also built around their portraits, is a series of ready-to-wear looks that includes mohair sweaters fashioned with intarsia patterns derived from the sculptures, sequined pencil skirts, as well as carpets developed in license with French home goods company Trame Paris. The immersive instillation will be unveiled at Milan’s Galleria il Vicolo, April 17 to 23.
“The most exciting thing about this project is that it enabled me to express my vision through different creative forms,” Castiglioni said. “I love designing fashion collections, but at the same time opening to different fields, like visual art and design, give me bigger chances to fully express myself. This has always been a key element of my career and I think in the future this will strongly influence the further development of the Plan C brand.”
Aliita
Founded in 2015 by Cynthia Vilchez Castiglioni, Aliita (an anagram for Italia) stands out for its sophisticated 9-karat gold creations with a discreet and refined style enriched by playful touches. For Design Week, Aliita comes to the fore with “Amanita,” a modern “Alice in Wonderland”-like tale of items born from a late-night journey through a dark forest. At the event, guests will be invited to pick up their own sculpted basket, made in collaboration with Casalinghe di Tokyo, a Lombardy-based concept envisaged by Alice Schillaci, an artist inspired by the Japanese concept of asobi — “the playful enjoyment of making for making’s sake.” Guests will then be led through a game of doors to discover Aliita’s new jewelry collection and elements created from the ancient technique of braiding, which recalls the natural web of mycelium. Amanita fungi-inspired jewels await, made in 9-karat gold with red and white coral or turquoise, hand-carved by master artisans. A special collection of ceramic mushrooms Mycophilia: Funky Ceramic Fungus, designed by Alessandra Modarelli and Margherita Pozzali will also be on display, for an immersive and trippy experience.
Kimy Gringoire x Adeline Halot
Jewelry designer Kimy Gringoire partnered with Belgian sculptor Adeline Halot on a special collection to be unveiled on April 19. Named “Glint,” the jewelry and accessories range combines Gringoire’s penchant for sculptural and wearable designs with Halot’s art, known for the unique handwoven metallic textiles mixing natural fibers and metallic yarns. As result, the collection interlaces metal, diamonds and pink tourmalines in arty chokers, cuffs, multifaceted earrings and handbags. The two talents will be in Milan to debut the tie-up upon the invitation of Etienne Russo, who will stage the presentation at the 17th-century building Palazzo Durini, home to the offices of his Villa Eugénie luxury event production company.
Serapian
A special installation dedicated to Milanese artist and designer Gabriella Crespi and curated by the Cameranesi & Pompili design studio will be staged at Serapian’s boutique in Milan’s Golden Triangle. The set-up will mark the launch of the “Gabriella Crespi x Serapian” collaboration that the luxury accessories brand first introduced to press and buyers during Milan Fashion Week in September.
Intended to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of Crespi, the collection includes bags and clutches blending Serapian’s signature Mosaico weaving technique with nods to the artist’s work, including brass elements and the ray pattern of her iconic “Rising Sun” line developed between 1973 and 1975. Flanking the range, a curated selection of Crespi’s personal design pieces hailing from her Milan residence will be also displayed at the store.
Valextra
Valextra partnered with Isabel + Helen on an animated sculptural installation located at its flagship store in Milan. Isabel + Helen is the creative studio of London-based design duo Isabel Gibson and Helen Chesner. Titled “The Rhythm of Valextra,” the leather goods brand is presenting a kinetic exploration of its foundations. Isabel + Helen created a dynamic exhibition of Valextra’s time-honed devices, from the brushes used to hand paint the signature black lacquered Costa, or the scissors that cut the patterns of the Millepunte calfskin, to the patented twist-lock clasp of the Iside handbag. This presentation of the brand’s manufacturing story shows how the tools and techniques are proudly preserved. “The Rhythm of Valextra” is a multisensory experience that celebrates both the final product and its details-oriented process.
United Colors of Benetton
The new Benetton Home collection will be presented in a pop-up store in via Capelli 1, from April 18 until mid-June.
The lineup designed by creative director Andrea Incontri will interact with the brand’s fashion collection, in sync with the spring 2023 theme, Fruit of Desire. Pop and colorful prints of apples, cherries and pears embellish kitchen, bath and bed linens, bathrobes, towels, plates and cups, resulting in a joyful and fun collection.
Timberland
In keeping with the 50th anniversary celebrations of its signature workwear yellow boots, Timberland is taking over Milan’s Triennale design museum with an AI-powered, immersive exhibition spotlighting the reinvention of the shoe by knit researcher and designer Suzanne Oude Hengel. The Netherlands-based creative is among the talents tapped by Timberland for its Future73 project aimed at reinventing the boots for celebratory capsule collection. Oude Hengel lent her penchant for all things knit for a 6-inch tall full knitted version of the boot, a first for the brand’s style. The Triennale exhibition powered by new media specialist Ouchhh aims to unpack the creative process. Articulated over three rooms, it showcases a mosaic of data-gathered archival imagery related to the boot, an AI-created pattern informed by Oude Hengel’s knitting techniques and a final AI-generated combination of the two inputs. The boots, as well as knitted slip-ons and apparel pieces, will be on sale starting in May.
Fabiana Filippi
“Secret Garden” is the name of the installation by artist Matteo Nasini in the Fabiana Filippi boutique in Via della Spiga, 7. The collaboration between the fashion brand and the artist, whose art spans from sound installations to textile and sculptural works, is part of the events of the international fair, Miart 2023. His most significant textiles works compose the installation, which involves all the store’s rooms and gives visitors a tactile and material dimension along the path. The textile element is molded and explored in different forms and proportions, colorful tapestries, sculptures with primordial charm and architectural elements covered entirely in wool in sync with Fabiana Filippi’s collections, a brand that has made the tradition of craftsmanship in the processing of yarn its distinctive feature.
RedDuo
RedDuo, the independent homeware brand founded in 2020 by Andrea Rosso and Fabiola di Virgilio, will make its Milan Design Week debut with a showcase at the Convey location. Here, the label will present its textile and ceramics collections as well as the “ModulaRED” modular installation in wood and brick, which was conceived specifically for the occasion.
Debuting next week, the “Loads of Lines Ritual Pillows” hand-painted cushions will add to the existing range of art blankets, which are the result of an upcycling project. Their lengthy production process involves three seamstresses for each piece and the use of every part of the waste fabrics employed. Once assembled, the blankets are hand-painted with a motif designed by Rosso and di Virgilio.
Flanking the textile collection, the “Third Eye” ceramics answer to the founders’ personal demand for a suitable support for burning Palo Santo, one of the couple’s daily rituals. The designs, launching in a mini-format in the new collection, were studied to have a holder as well as deflect the fall of ashes, and come in colors ranging from blue and moss green to cherry and pumpkin orange.
Launched during the pandemic, RedDuo aims to preserve the craftsmanship and know-how of artisans in the Veneto region, who have mastered the art of clay and textile production since the early 1900s. The brand’s products intend to reinterpret traditional crafts in a contemporary way and are manufactured in Italy through a short supply chain, using only recycled and traceable materials.
Jacob Cohën
Italian premium denim brand Jacob Cohën tied up with Inedito/Asnaghi to revisit the furniture manufacturer’s “Secret Shapes” collection. For the occasion, key pieces of the range — including the “Loto” armchair, the “Mellifera” dresser and the “Crono” coffee table — were reinterpreted by mixing denim with materials such as leather and brass, a combination that injected a more urban spin in the geometric designs. The line will be displayed during Milan Design Week at the Jacob Cohën store in the city’s tony shopping street Via della Spiga.
“The collaboration with Inedito/Asnaghi originated spontaneously, thanks to the values shared by two companies but also to the passion for creativity and experimentation, as well as the love for denim,” said the brand’s president and creative director Jennifer Tommasi Bardelle. She praised the furniture company for its ability “to blend tradition and innovation, creating a high-quality product that is usable and never dull.”
Marsèll
Since it opened its Marsèll Paradise multifunctional space in Milan in 2016, the footwear specialist has championed the arts, mounting art exhibitions, book presentations and installations at the location. In tandem with Design Week, Marsèll invited Berlin-based artist Carsten Nicolai to display the site-specific “Transmitter/Receiver” installation, a multisensory seismograph that grabs the signals of radioactive particles via a Geiger counter mounted on the Paradise’s rooftop and translates them into electric impulses in the shape of light and sound. The artwork was originally conceived for the Haus der Kunst Museum in Munich.
Separately, Marsèll is also linking with New York-based art collective CFGNY mounting an exhibition dubbed “Emporium,” which displays the past and present works from the four-member group comprising Daniel Chew, Tin Nguyen, Kirsten Kilponen and Ten Izu, who count fashion products among their media of choice, to discuss globalization and their Asian American roots.
Fila
Fila is to mark the 50th anniversary of its F-Box logo created by Sergio Privitera with an immersive AI experience. The “Regarding The Fila F-Box: The AI Experience” installation will be staged in an industrial space, a tunnel with a barrel vault, that will be decked with 50 monitors. Each screen will offer the interpretation of a single year elaborated by artificial intelligence by combining historical events and the F-Box logo in a single flow. The rich visuals will be flanked by two sound showers which will also deploy AI to elaborate conversations on the value of the logo itself. In addition, artist Malt Disney will be called to create a live video performance using archival materials, which will be projected on the barrel vault.
Fornasetti
Fornasetti, the brand founded in the vibrant post-war period by artist Piero Fornasetti, will unveil “The Syntax of Making,” which is composed of three new collections of furniture and accessories for the home. Characterized by its own unmistakable artistic language and imbuing artisan flair with traditional craft, Fornasetti translated its signature artistic language onto furniture and accessories for the home, including wooden cabinets and bedside tables, all of which are distinguished by compact dimensions. Trays, mirrors, lamps and the porcelain it is best known for are awash in motifs plucked from the Fornasetti archive: Giro di conchiglie — a swirl of shells enhanced with a striking hand-painted trompe l’oeil effect; Giardino Settecentesco (gardens of the 18th century) is characterized by fantastic landscapes and buildings in neoclassical style that coexist in a world where nature merges with architecture and finally, the Musciarabia, or rose pattern, celebrates the meticulous geometry and black linear patterns typical of Fornasetti, with the subtle contrast of pink hand painted flowers, just in time for spring.
Bitossi
Known for their uplifting patterns and cheeky phrases emblazoned onto porcelain, Bitossi Ceramics will be presenting two brand new collections with Muller Van Severen, the Belgian furniture duo
Fien Muller and Hannes Van Severen and Duccio Maria Gambi. Gambi is known for his work with discarded materials and flair for concrete casting and experimentation. Bitossi Home will unfurl their new collection, a playful installation by Pangea and its design duo Colombine Jubert and Laetitia Rouget, the colorful creatives bridging the gap between tangible art, fashion and performance art.
Lastly, Bitossi Ceramiche teamed up with Carwan Gallery in Greece and Paris-based designer Robert Stadler who modeled furnishings in the image of genetically modified fruit and vegetables, as tongue-in-cheek functional objects.
Seletti
Seletti, the Italian design brand known worldwide for its surrealist, unconventional take on reality, has teamed up with the artist and designer known as Marcantonio for its latest creation, the Window Lamp, fashioned with an idyllic baby blue sky and clouds in the backdrop.
“In lighting we have always tried to go beyond boundaries, creating objects with such a strong identity they people usually love or hate them!” enthused Stefano Seletti, the company’s art director. “Expressing the company’s ever-original approach to the theme of lighting, Marcantonio imagined the Window Lamp, playing on the reversal of indoor/outdoor perception, gives rise to a short-circuit of unexpected illusions.”
Acerbis
“Nanda Vigo e Claudio Salocchi. A Milanese Utopia” is a tribute to Milan and all its majestic wonders. Conscripted by the design firm’s creative duo Francesco Meda and David Lopez Quincoces, Acerbis brings the protagonists of the Milanese design heyday of the 70s to the fore. The duo pays tribute to the house’s legendary designer Nanda Vigo with the resurfacing of old icons from the archive, as well as a remake of her Due Più armchair, this time revamped in steel and fur from Mongolia that will dialogue with items from private collections, including the Napoleone table and Free System couch by Claudio Salocchi. Salocchi, an architect, interior and industrial designer is among many things, credited with injecting comfort into the bourgeoise salons of Milan. The exhibit will debut at Spotti, an urban shrine of interior design on Viale Piave 27 on April 16.
Ken Scott x Gabel 1957
In November 2022, Gabel inked an agreement with Mantero Seta, the Italian silk specialist that owns the Ken Scott brand, for a license to produce and distribute home linens and high-end furnishing accessories.
Now a collection based on a selection of thousands of archival designs from the Fondazione Ken Scott has been made available and will be presented during Design Week. The Ken Scott Foundation was established in 1989 by the Indiana-born designer, who died in 1991 and became popular in the ’60s and ’70s with his colorful prints.
Scott’s distinctive bright and sunny colors in unusual combinations stand out on cotton percalle bedsheets, cotton and linen tablecloths, and jacquard bathrobes. His passion for botany is reflected in flower patterns.
“One day I started designing fabrics; that was the end of my painting career,” said Scott famously. Born in 1918, he started studying painting in New York, and in 1955 he moved to Milan, where he founded the Falconetto Brand.
Luisa Beccaria
Luisa Beccaria is among the fashion designers who have managed to build a specific lifestyle around their fashion offering. Her flair for a certain understated sense of chic, out in force across her estates, be it on Capri’s cliffs or in the secluded Sicilian countryside, has informed her venture into homeware. During Milan Design Week the brand is launching a new tableware collection inspired by the spring 2023 fashion range, which incorporated an aquatic theme for an ethereal mermaid look. A selection of tablecloths, dishes, glasses and vases bear marine graphics, as well as aquatic plant patterns of water lilies, for example. There are six different porcelain table sets overall and just as many crafted from glass in a variety of colors.
Vitale Barberis Canonico
Textile specialist Vitale Barberis Canonico is showing the versatility of its fabrics by linking with fellow Piedmont-based furniture company Altrenotti, a specialist in bed-making. As part of the project, dubbed “Flannel Night,” woolen flannels in signature tailoring patterns such as Prince of Wales from Vitale Barberis Canonico will be used to upholster bed’s headboards and mattresses in the Altrenotti range, including its bestselling Biorest Mood and Biorest Country Living designs, as well as the brand new Lift bed designed by Giorgio Ragazzini and bowing at the 2023 edition of Salone del Mobile. A dedicated installation showcasing the collection will be mounted at the Vitale Barberis Canonico showroom in the Brera district.
Best of WWD
