Milano Design Week. What to see, day 2

Active since 2000, the expansive Superstudio complex stands as a historic landmark on Via Tortona, representing the inception and longevity of one of the earliest and most enduring Fuorisalone districts. Over a quarter of a century, Superstudio has evolved while maintaining its signature Superdesign Show alongside a diverse array of guest companies and entities. This year’s offerings, amidst the multitude of presentations, include a “cave” constructed from wooden trunks envisioned by Pritzker Prize winner Francis Kéré for the next125 kitchens. Additionally, visitors can explore the optical tunnel of the Designblok Cosmos pop-up, presented by the Prague International Design Festival, and immerse themselves in the Asian cluster featuring contributions from companies and projects from Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The Renaissance courtyards of Filarete, once the site of the first Sforza hospital and now home to a university, are once again transformed into a vibrant hub of installations - an iconic facet of Fuorisalone. This year, the university campus plays host to CrossVisions Interni 70, coinciding with the excitement of graduation days, adding a performative element that some participants wholeheartedly embrace. Against this backdrop, captivating installations emerge, including the misty body of water by Mad Architects for Amazon at the Cortile della Farmacia, Piero Lissoni’s creation for Sanlorenzo, Patricia Urquiola’s totem for Cimento, Kengo Kuma’s stone installations for Quarella, and within the Aula Magna, Mario Cucinella’s model for the Italian pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka.

The encounter between a designer and a company always generates interesting intersections between different formal vocabularies, aesthetics, sensibilities and attitudes. In the Lodes showroom on Via Moscova, the encounter between the Italian company that designs and produces lighting solutions with a distinctive decorative mark, and Paola Navone – OTTO Studio, an eclectic designer with an unconventional style and vision, is celebrated. The result of this collaboration is Oblò, a pendant lamp with a strongly decorative character that offers new insights into the use of Pyrex in lighting, which can be modelled like a liquid, malleable material. The product – and the immersive installation realised in the showroom – explores an imagery linked to the marine world, a theme still little explored in the field of lighting design, which gives the lamp a distinctive and unique personality.

A large monographic exhibition about Alessandro Benetti is produced jointly by the Triennale di Milano and the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, and curated by Fulvio Irace, an architectural historian who was part of the editorial staff of Mendini’s Domus in the 1980s. The installation is by Pierre Charpin, a French designer, for whom Mendini was a major source of inspiration. In the Triennale’s spazio Cubo, more than 400 objects, many from the rich Alessandro Mendini Archive, are organized in six thematic islands, which dialogue through a large open space. The overall result is an exuberant tale of shapes, colors and reflections, which tries to restore the simultaneously eclectic and elusive character of Mendini. He was a giant of Milanese and Italian design and architecture of the second half of the 20th century but also, in Irace’s words, “a minute and delicate man of immense intellectual and human generosity”.

Google returns to Design Week for the third time, and for the second year in a row since its highly acclaimed Shaped by Water installation. While the location remains the same, the exhibition undergoes a transformation, once again co-created by VP Hardware Design, Ivy Ross, with color at the forefront. Within the main space, a pathway of light and sound is established, delineated by semi-transparent canvas panels that divide the area into a series of booths and corridors. At the heart of this experience is the contribution of the artistic research laboratory Chromasonic, which has developed software that links sound to color. “The connection between light and sound creates a link between the ethereal and the material, between the progressive nature of light and the tactile aspect,” explains Chromasonic’s Johannes Girardoni. The following rooms focus on material design, with each room having a color theme, and culminate in an immersion into the spectrum of Google’s products, including smartphones and wearables.

In the expansive ground floor space of its new Milan headquarters, located in the heart of the city, the fashion brand, renowned for its architectural and design sensibility under the keen eye of Creative Director Matthieu Blazy, unveils an installation in collaboration with Cassina and the Le Corbusier Foundation. Center stage is taken by the LC14 Tabouret Cabanon, a stool previously presented at the brand’s FW show, now unveiled in a custom colored leather edition adorned with the Bottega’s iconic weave. The whiskey case, inspired by Le Corbusier, also makes an appearance and is positioned between two pyramids made entirely of stools.

In the expansive space of the Media Library on Via Moscova, a striking circular sofa composed of several modules takes center stage in the installation created to showcase AlUla’s dedication to design – an initiative that draws attention to its cultural endeavors, including Desert X. Designed by Cloud/Studio’s Sabine Marcelis, the sofa is envisioned as an ideal spot for stargazing under the clear desert sky – an experience reimagined within the confines of Milan, a city less known for its starry nights. Positioned beneath a large circular ceiling structure, the sofa provides a captivating backdrop for the creations of emerging designers involved in AlUla’s initiatives. An adjacent room features displays of the materials used, with cobblestones mirroring the pattern found in the center of the Saudi city, which was recently closed to traffic. As Saudi Arabia gains increasing attention for its architectural and design ventures (as seen in Neom), this exhibition offers a fascinating glimpse into its innovative projects.