The bars at Milano Design Week 2022

Locanda alla Mano, at the centre of the park in Piazza del Cannone, is transformed by IAAD Istituto d'Arte Applicata e Design and Accademia Italiana into a laboratory, in five days of formation and sharing through workshops focusing on the themes of circular economy and regeneration. More than 100 students from the European network of the two schools is taking part, guided by workshop leaders such as Marina Spadafora, Francesco Faccin, Stefano Mirti and Luca Scarlini, in what IAAD's artistic director Marco Rainò defines as “an en plein air training project, the outcomes of which have the ambition of triggering a process of reflection and influencing a new awareness”.

Campari Soda wants to build its presence at MDW22 upon a viral attitude, by exploding into a multiplicity of projects spreading all across Milan. The brand will land in a series of iconic locations through the city with “Aperitivo Design by Campari Soda”, celebrating the aperitivo ritual and distributing gifts from the Fabrica per Campari Soda collection. On Wednesday, June 8th, “Design Connection” is being presented, a collaboration with Alessi, a duo of objects matching the futurist signature shapes by Fortunato Depero with the design by Giulio Iacchetti. Cirifletto is a steel mirror expanding the space around, while Senzabuio is a lamp for happy hours reproducing a sunset atmosphere. From June 9th on, the #Senzaetichette interactive district will be activated in the Isola area, and a new wall painting promoted by Campari will debark in via Melchiorre Gioia.

In the predictable chaos of Design Week, Beck’s proposes to eliminate background noise and unnecessary stimuli with a sound design installation conceived by sound designer and sound artist Chiara Luzzana. Entering a soundproof room, 12 bottles of Beck's Unfiltered are transformed into musical instruments, which interact with body movements. The collection of all the compositions created will be used to compose an overall soundtrack to the entire experience.

For Design Variations 2022, the international exhibition dedicated to design culture, MoscaPartners has entrusted Marialaura Rossiello Irvine with the reinterpretation of the bar on the ground floor of the Circolo Filologico Milanese (Milan Philological Society). The bar is the first step in a process that will valorize this place dedicated to study and culture as the epicentre of exhibitions and activities. A series of serene and intimate spaces is created within the building, divided between a bar, a reading area, a lounge and a garden, in what Rossiello calls “a makeover process that reconstructs the existing and is generated as a melting pot of material, texture and colour”, where materials and furnishings are selected in collaboration with a number of leading international partners. In this perpsective, we know that the makeover of the Caffè del Circolo is destined to survive the Design Week, as a confirmation of its ability to trigger placemaking processes that go beyond the temporary dimension.

“The American Bar in Vienna was an avant-garde and inclusive design, capable in just a few square metres of formally rewriting the customs and ways of socialising for a society in the throes of profound change”, says Davide Fabio Colaci who, together with Luisa Bertoldo, has envisaged to recreate in the theatre of the Circolo Arci Bellezza, the disruptive force of a true fetish in architectural history: Adolf Loos' American Bar. This scenographic installation presents the new Stones collection by Marimar, and at the same time aims to become one the most attractive meeting spaces for architects, designers and enthusiasts.

Upon its first participation in the Milan Design Week, Porsche combines the fragile world of flowers with contemporary technology, in the work of floral artist Ruby Barber of Studio Mary Lennox: in such spirit, The Art of Dreams transposes into physical reality a landscape of ideas that were initially conceived for the virtual world of renderings and animations.
The garden of the second courtyard of Palazzo Clerici is then dedicated to a temporary bar providing a much-needed island of relaxation in the hyperactivity of the Week: one can have a coffee in the morning, after a yoga and meditation class in collaboration with CiaoMondo, meet for lunch or treat oneself to an ice cream, all while sitting on Minecraft by Argentinian artist Alek O., a group of sculptures born from tiles found in the basements of Milan.

Signature Kitchen Suite, the high-end home appliances brand of the LG Electronics group, renovates its three-storey showroom in via Manzoni with a project by Studio Calvi Brambilla, and opens it with an immersive experience starting from the outdoor gallery — close to the Porta Nuova arches — where an illustration by Carlo Stanga marks the beginning of a journey: True To Nature wants to make the public aware of the need to rediscover a strong bond with nature, and does so by taking people through times, seasons and craftsmanship involved in the production of foods and drinks which are now known throughout the world as excellences. Of course, the fruits of this journey can be tasted.

Lambert & Fils and DWA are presenting the second edition of Café Populaire, an aperitif garden open for eight days at Alcova. The essentiality of food of wine and human connection is celebrated: the gardens are flooded with wildflowers, and the space is defined by curved, rhythmic shapes, with an undulating water sculpture linking the new lighting collections by Lambert & Fils — the modular Silo collection is presented — with floral wallpaper by Superflower.