The Definitive Guide to 2022 Milan Design Week
As the Salone del Mobile summer edition gears up for its June 6 kick-off, artisans and designers from around the world flock to Milan.
It's already been nine months since the return of Milan Design Week last September, an effort by everyone to bring everyone back together after a pandemic-inforced hiatus. Next month, attendees and designers will return to reward the commitment of those who, in this time, have continued to work, think, imagine, and create new scenarios and solutions in the name of a better future for our community.
From June 6 to 12, MDW will feature seven days full of events, exhibitions, and installations. To prepare you, L'OFFICIEL has selected some of the best exhibitions and hot spots to see during the Fuorisalone.
If MDW and Fuorisalone are about discovering new spaces and locations in Milan, the 2022 edition expands its perimeter towards the outer perimeter of the city. The charm of the large-scale volumes of industrial locations, reconverted and rethought, does nothing but support and nourish the decentralization of the urban core, effectively incorporating new points of reference on the city's cultural map. With 60,000 visitors in the previous edition, the heterogeneous project conceived by Joseph Grima of Space Caviar and Valentina Ciuffi of Studio Vedèt returns to the urban park of the Military Hospital Center of Milan in the Inganni area with an Alcova 2022 exhibition, based on research in the tech fields, materials, sustainable production and social practices, designed to immerse you in an alternate dimension featuring a wild park and buildings detached from their identity.
The selection of Alcova 2022 includes works from Leo Rydell Jost, Otherside Objects, The Empty Dinner, and Material Fixations by Natalia Triantafylli and Andrew Scott. While Curated by Alcova highlights the most interesting new talent from design schools across Europe, coffee breaks and happy hours can be enjoyed in the garden at Caffe Populaire by Lambert & Fils and DWA with Superflower Studio or at the Offcut Bar, a new hotspot with a lounge area. Finally, a rich program of talks and lectures is planned for the entire period at ZigZag Zurich.
Next stop, Baranzate. Inside the former Necchi factory 20 minutes northwest of the city center, Baranzate Ateliers takes shape as another decentralized space hosting designers, artists, collectors, architects, and enthusiasts unraveling the secrets to creation, all supported by the spirit of Zaventem Ateliers, a Belgian collective curated by architect Lionel Jadot who to encourage and protect craftsmanship. Here, Studiopepe by Arianna Lelli Mami and Chiara Di Pinto presents The Temple, based on the concept of the Greek sacred place Temenos, and an immersive installation inspired by the archetypal temple. Inside, organic-sculptural objects, entirely handmade, highlight the beauty of imperfection in a finished work. On June 8, hit the dance floor at the Je T'aime Party x Collectible Fair Event with a bar + DJ set by Dorion.
Diametrically opposite, just above the Lambrate district, near Cimiano, is Gallery Assab One, 2,500 square meters of post-industrial space across two floors converted into multipurpose exhibition spaces. During MDW, the gallery hosts the creativity and experience of Japanese designers. Tajimi Custom Tiles showcases impressive experimental objects from international designers such as Max Lamb, Kwangho Lee, and, for the first time, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, demonstrating the possible applications of customized ceramic support in architectural and design sectors. In parallel, Karimoku New Standard, a company specializing in contemporary wood furniture, presents an Office collection that upends the concept of comfort at a desk.
Born in 2015 in the spaces of the former silver factory in Viale Lancetti, Nilufar Depot is gallery owner Nina Yashar's second space. Detached from the first set in the heart of the Quadrilatero, Nilufar Dept allows you to create open your mind to monumental and scenographic exhibitions. Following the recent inauguration of Nilufar Nicelli, in the 20th-century private airport on the Lido of Venice, near where Biennale d'Arte 2022 was held, in Milan, Yashar presents work from nearly 20 creators: from Analogia Project to Laura Bethan Wood up to Vibeke Fonnesberg- Schmidt. (Via Lancetti 34).
Returning to the center in Via Spiga to admire the Reborn Project, Ginori 1735 promotes an initiative conceived and curated by Frédéric Chambre in collaboration with Nilufar Gallery, with designs by Andrea Zucchi, Martino Gamper, Federica Perazzoli, and Flavie Audie, conceived to celebrate the art of the table, design, and creativity.
From the ashes of Ventura Future and Ventura Centrale, concepts that have radically changed the pace of MDW, like Margriet Vollenberg's Dutch curation and exhibition project with Organization in Design and the vision of Beyond Space architects, exemplify how several disciplines (including fashion) can interact amiably with each other. Set up in the post-industrial area of over 10,000 square meters of the Certosa District, these pieces attract a young crowd.
On a raft suspended over the water at the center of Largo La Foppa in Brera stands a cell bounded by shoji sliding walls and a panoramic glass facade oriented to a more intimate and intimate dimension. It is the My Secret wellness module, an architectural element devoted to calm and contemplation according to the principles of biophilic architecture and a heartfelt tribute to the Japanese wellness culture conceived by architect Michele Perlini with Dornbracht together with Hofer Group.
Timberland also tests the theory that being in contact with nature improves our performance with its Floating Forest, a suspended multi-sensory forest conceived as an independent ecosystem. Created in collaboration with Stefano Boeri Interiors, the forest aims to equip and inspire new generations towards a greener and fairer future.
The big green wave continues with Completing the Fragments of Nature, a project conceived by a group of award-winning Domus Academy students whose project finally comes to life right in the roundabout in via Bergognone. Thanks to the design and production expertise of Urbo.Style, the brand behind the outdoor elements of the installation, the rotunda will be transformed into an open urban garden that will be visible at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Cristina Celestino takes over Radaelli Fioraio for a tribute to Nature in the heart of the Quadrilateral. Florilegio: Ecosystem of an Interior transforms a historic flower boutique on via Manzoni, a magical place frequented by Valentina Cortese, Maria Callas, and Grace Kelly, into a synthesis between nature and space through a constant dialogue between exterior and interior that harmonizes with the idea of design and domesticated nature.
Among the over 160 events pigeonholed in the format by Studiolabo, Porsche's The Art of Dreams is a new guest of the district. Floral artist Ruby Barber's immersive and dreamlike work reclaims Palazzo Clerici to explore the interaction between nature and technology. At the end of the building's courtyards, the awareness and wellness path continues with morning yoga and meditation sessions organized by Ciao Mondo by Licia Florio.
Fenix's The Wall of Wonders offers an experiential journey inside Casa Brera (via Formentini 10), transformed by artist Gustaf von Arbin and design duo Cara & Davide under the creative direction of Motel409 into an "abstract house." Each room tells a visual and sound story through domestic objects and furnishings. Spain also arrives in Brera with Inspired in Barcelona: A Gathering Place where the bar culture of Barcelona, with its colors and its captivating energy, transforms via Madonnina 12.
Triennale Milano and Memphis Milano present Memphis Again, an exhibition directed and curated by Christoph Radl which will be held until the end of MDW in the Curva di Triennale with over 200 pieces from designers that are changing the paradigms of interior design.
In the same vein, the Aldo Rossi exhibit at Museo del Novecento pays tribute to the architect, designer, theorist, and critic of 20th-century visual culture for the first time with over 350 pieces of furniture, prototypes, models, paintings, and drawings created by Rossi between 1960 and 1997.
Finally, the Eames family and Form Portfolios present Seeing with the Heart, the first comprehensive exhibition of the multimedia work from Lucia Eames, the daughter of the famous designer spouses. Until June 10, see the complexity of the artist's poetics through her ability to combine different techniques such as cut-outs, photography, and drawing in her personal life story.
