Milano Design Week: 5 things to see today / 3

La Pelota is always a guarantee and the French maison has not betrayed the audience of the Salone and the desire for spectacularity. After two years of virtual appointments, Hermès wants a return in the most physical way possible. Five large architectures recalling conceptually five houses, finished in soft lime and hand-decorated by La Scala artisans with colorful geometric patterns host home collections signed by names such as Studio Mumbai or Jasper Morrison. In an organic environment with walls that curve and become supports for objects, warmed by red lose soilon the floor, niche craftsmanship is celebrated. We find a hand-decorated papier-mâché armchair made in Lecce, enameled copper plates made in the Veneto, cashmere dyes from the Punjab, and so on. The installation bears the signature of architect and designer Charlotte Macaux Perelman. La Pelota, via Palermo 10 (Marianna Guerieri)

From 5 to 18 September at its headquarters in via San Marco 22, Cambi Casa d'Aste will showcase the best of contemporary design: Richard Hutten, Studio Pepe, Bethan Wood, Analogia Project, Objects of common interest and many others. Great international names and emerging talents to discover, an open window on the present and future of design, in an exclusive selection signed by Mr.Lawrence studio. The furniture and objects on display are a selection of the 160 pieces that will be auctioned in the dedicated 'CTMP Design Auction' on 14 September. Via San Marco 22, Brera (Marianna Guerieri)

A tour of the large showrooms in the city centre cannot miss Luceplan, whose products maintain a great balance between technological and formal research. Among this year's most interesting novelties are the Koinè suspension lamps by Mandalaki Studio, a minimal diffuser with a light source to which a mineral lens has been applied to distribute a wide, homogeneous beam of light, Doi by Meneghello Paolelli Associati, composed of a disc and a spotlight that interact thanks to a magnet that changes the appearance and direction of the light beam, Levante by Marco Spatti, three sails that form a suspension made of an unusual food-like material reminiscent of rice paper. The Luceplan showroom is in Corso Monforte, 7, M1 San Babila  (Loredana Mascheroni)

Perhaps the most successful initiative of the Supersalone: three large Arenas distributed among the various pavilions, each consisting of two tribunes and a central stage to host daily talks and lectures with the best names in the world of design, architecture, art, business and education to address pressing contemporary issues. Curated by Maria Cristina Didero, the program is really generous with appointments distributed throughout the day until Friday, September 10. After hosting in the past few days names such as Hans Ulrich Obrist, Beatriz Colomina, Aric Chen, Lilli Hollein (to name but a few), today it will be the turn of, among others, Michele De Lucchi, Nadja Swarovski, Libby Sellers, Alejandro Aravena, Massimiliano Gioni and Ilaria Bonacossa. In the coming days we will see names such as Carsten Höller, Cecilia Alemani, Bjarke Ingels, Formafantasma, and a selection of films from the Milan Design Film Festival (Tokyo Ride, Honeyland, Precise Poetry. Lina Bo Bardi's Architecture). For those who can’t go to the fair, the events will all be live streamed on the Salone del Mobile website. Rho Fiera (Marianna Guerieri)

“We shape technology”, explains Gigi Gaudio, CEO and founder of Icona Design. The company, founded about ten years ago, has expanded rapidly. Initially based in Turin and Shanghai, it has now opened offices in Los Angeles and Tokyo. “My dream is to design cars for the Japanese market, which are now so functional but so ugly,” smiles Gaudio, who has 60 years of experience in the automotive industry. But Icona is also a project that goes beyond automotive, he explains. In the space in Via Tortona are on display projects for sanitation in collaboration with Sanixair, including a wearable device that creates a negative ion mask, industrial machines that look like space stations, a self-driving robot, a model of a recharging station (we'll be seeing a lot of these in the future), a solar-powered capsule for drinking water in desert landscapes and a project for a smart city on the outskirts of Shanghai. And then, of course, there’s the company’s showpiece, Microlino, the electric microcar: “We haven't invented anything new, we’ve just taken a 70-year-old idea, the Isetta, and adapted it for today”, Gaudio concludes. At Tornerie Tortona, Via Tortona 30, MM1 Porta Genova (Alessandro Scarano)