What Does It Mean To Be At Milan Design Week?
Bon Giorno,
I grabbed Finn by the scruff of his neck and stared into his eyes, my demand simple: “if I ever suggest to you that we get a trade show booth at Milan Design Week then please take me out to pasture.’’
Hear me out. One of the most important reasons for us taking the whole team out to Milan was to investigate how other independent brands are communicating their ideas to a wider audience. As we’re learning, any designer can make a beautiful chair but it takes something special to communicate the meaning of what you’re doing by designing it and then connecting those ideas to a wider context which I like to call ‘living on earth with other humans’.
Though we did see some beautiful chairs (shout out to the Marcel Breuer galvanised number at House of Switzerland) it was the Atelier Luma exhibition at Alcova that blew us away. They presented a range of furniture and spatial designs that were meticulously crafted by combining locally-sourced materials with the skills and expertise of local artisans. From the construction materials used to the upholstery fabrics, and from plant-based chairs to compacted rice straw, each experimental object was the result of thorough research and extensive collaboration BUT MORE THAN THIS. They communicated so elegantly and proved that complex ideas can also be presented beautifully. It left us with lots to think about!
The other reason we were in Milan was to speak at IKEA’s 80th anniversary exhibition alongside the wonderful Gill from IKEA, Anna and Austė from Atelier100 & Studio Playground. Britney mic’d up, nerves settled, we got into a discussion about collaboration, what larger brands can do to support the ecosystem of new talent coming through and the importance of connecting with your audience. Finn and I spoke specifically about the lamp we designed for Atelier100 and how we never really set out to make a lamp but rather developed it iteratively with the local materials available to us. Sitting there on the stage I definitely had a moment of pure joy and appreciation thinking about all the incredible people we get to work with and the limitless possibilities that come with running a studio with your best friends.
Speaking of bigger brands: haters will say I’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid, but IKEA’s exhibition at Padiglione Visconti on Via Tortona in the heart of Milan’s design district was a genuinely exciting example of how to activate a large space using storytelling as a vehicle. As you entered there was a curated selection of the last 80 years of products developed by IKEA showing how their innovation was developed through breakthroughs in production methods and listening to people and what their life at home needs are. In the back of the space (below a giant disco ball shaped like an Allen key, a lovely touch) was a large mound of earth, a tree and an insight into the potential of how we may live in the future based on research conducted as part of their annual ‘Life at Home Report’. It was a sensory treat made all the sweeter at the end of the night where the whole place turned into an enormous rave with DJs. Did I think it would pop off so hard at the IKEA rave? No I did not.
Outside of the Fuorisalone events which we cruised to and from on Lime bikes in a citrusy procession we made a special trip to the Achille Castiglioni foundation for a tour. It was hard not to be seduced by his joyful approach to designing through observation, the foundation itself and his enthusiastic grand daughter who led the tour.
“If you’re not curious, forget about it. If you are not interested in others, what they do and how they behave, then being a designer is not for you,” said Achille Castiglioni, advising his students.
We are living in serious times with a climate emergency and we saw many examples of designers trying to produce work sustainably or confronting climate change. Some of these responses to such a serious issue felt dry, others lacking in soul or personality. The anxiety is almost palpable. Being surrounded by Castiglioni’s work was a reminder that you can have your cake and eat it too. You can be innovative, confront the big problems of your time but with humility and magnetism.
Did I mean what I said at the beginning? Look, it’s clearly something to show your work at somewhere like Milan Design Week. But in the same way don Castiglioni was able to be so playful and free, we relished not being shackled to a booth, able to breeze through the city and get inspired ourselves. Maybe next year the pasture’s grass might be greener. There is more Kool-Aid to be drunk.
Ciao Ragazzi,
Josef
PS: My editor requested a certain level of spiciness to this opinion piece, so please enjoy this meme I made earlier.
