The Most Curious Finds at Milan Design Week
MILAN — The future is here, or so innovations and novelties displayed at Design Week suggested. During a season marked by exploration, environmental awareness and pushing technological boundaries, some of the designs might actually change your perspective. Here are WWD’s top picks:
Davide Oldani’s Sensory Stemware for Cassina
At an opening lunch hosted by Cassina and prepared by chef Davide Oldani, the design set was among the first to try out his new glass stemware, born from a collaboration between Oldani and his maître sommelier Manuele Pirovano. Dubbed H2D’O-V, the premium glassware was created specifically to enhance the wine-tasting experience, explained Haworth Lifestyle Design group chief executive officer Dario Rinero. He was seated next to journalists as they discovered how sipping from an elevated rim controls the flow of wine while taking polite sips. Haworth controls Cassina, Cappellini, Ceccotti, Karakter, Poltrona Frau, Luxury Living, Janus et Cie, lighting and accessories brand Luminaire and Interni.
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Handcrafted from mouth-blown crystalline glass, the H2D’O-V collection consists of five designs for sparkling wines, white wines (also valid as a universal goblet), red wines, sweet wines and spirits, and a water glass. This is a continuation of Oldani’s involvement with the firm. Last year Cassina presented a series of scenographic accessories for the Cassina Details Collection in collaboration with the renowned Italian chef and designer Attila Veress for the Torrecotta collection, another innovative debut comprised of four enameled pottery objects that can be stacked in different ways to create a highly scenic effect, available in earthy colors.
Gelatin Dining by Objects of Common Interest
Nilufar’s founder Nina Yashar sprinkled some cosmic stardust on the design community by inviting New York- and Athens-based research and design studio Objects of Common Interest to present “Purple Nebula” at Nilufar’s Viale Lancetti location during Design Week. Drawing inspiration from the cosmic wonders of outer space, particularly the ethereal nebulas where the color purple reigns supreme, “this collection reimagines the dining area as a monochromatic sanctuary, where subtle hints of purple beckon the viewer into a space of communal gathering and introspection,” Nilufar said. Above all, the chairs were gummy to the touch, to ensure maximum comfort.
The “Democratic” Bonnet Table by Marialaura Irvine for Mdf Italia
Who’s the boss? Apparently nobody has to be. Everyone is equal at the Bonnet table, which revolutionizes the idea of hierarchy. It’s a “democratic table” where there is no head, promoting a more equitable seating arrangement that encourages open dialogues and shared experiences, Milan-based Marialaura Irvine said, adding that she rose to the occasion by infusing Milanese design company Mdf’s radical designs with a softer touch, turning it into something she calls “soft pop” or “radical whisper,” thus “challenging industrial norms, subtly nudging them toward evolution,” she said.
With this asymmetric table system that can be configured in unexpected ways, Irvine facilitated a new form of social interaction and communal engagement.
Icy Light by Artemide
Brrrr. Giulia Foscari’s Criosfera lighting for Artemide this season looks chilling at first blush. Foscari is the founder of Una architectural studio and Unless, a nonprofit agency for change devoted to transnational research on global commons. Her interdisciplinary practice frequently operates within the realms of the environment, politics and technology, so it’s no surprise that this season she drew attention to global climate issues with her latest invention. “The ice core of Criosfera consists of a layering of blown recycled glass with an optic core that learns from the refractive nature of the ice surface of the Antarctic plateau to maximize the diffusion of light and evokes the stratification of polar ice,” she said.
Imperfetto Lab’s Sculptural Furniture
Do you sit on it or gaze at it? Either is fine, or so suggested the latest collection by Longiano, Italy-based Imperfetto Lab. The fiberglass bench by Verter Turroni is shaped like driftwood and is another play on contrasts and seemingly impossible balances. The firm said dimensions, also out of scale, offer illusory concepts that reveal unexpected lightness. In each work beauty is discovered through imperfection, which is nothing but the very fine craftsmanship on fiberglass, “skillfully sanded by hand to unleash its natural charm and make each piece one-of-a-kind.”
Davide Groppi Strips
Wires, be gone. This season, Davide Groppi, a lighting company controlled by Dexelance, unveiled Endless, an adhesive, conductive strip that can be applied to any kind of surface.
“The Endless system was designed and patented to bring ‘potential differences’ wherever you want them, creating graphic digital designs. This way current can run anywhere, allowing you to connect more than one luminaire at the same time,” the firm said. This way every space can come alight with ease and freedom.
B&B Italia’s Narinari
The Narinari small armchair by fashion designer Tiziano Guardini and architect and designer Luigi Ciuffreda is a collectors’ item, combining classic and futuristic elements in an unexpected shape. “You can even do lotus position on it,” said Guardini, emphasizing the comfort facilitated by the new chair, and who with Ciuffreda made his debut with B&B Italia this season.
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