During the Design Week, 12 souvenirs present an eclectic side of Milan

“Kitsch by definition, for some time now I have been of the opinion that souvenirs needed to be brought up to date and revisited as limited-edition items. There are those who want a memento of Milan, but they don’t want something that’s too obvious”. This need led to the “Souvenir Milano” project, curated by Raffaella Guidobono for the Brera Design Apartment during the 2018 Milan International Furniture Fair. The curator asked twelve designers to express the essence of Milan through a (portable) symbol. The results range between 7 to 90 euros in price. “A souvenir should be pop, it should represent a famous aspect of the city, perhaps with bright colours, and a fairly basic style; but there are some who want to take home a piece of Milan which is a little more studied, which can take its place in a home styled to the same principles”. Symbols and monuments, but that’s not all. The Milan that the curator wants to be able to take home is made up of icons such as fashion, as she explains: “Icons which are not necessarily location-dependant. For example, with BottegaNove I worked on a single sequin which represents the fashion system: a surface which identifies fashion, miniaturised in a gold and Limoges ceramic sequin. A small object, which is however a fridge magnet.

Among the souvenirs, there are also symbols and places which are more personal and are (literally) worn on the skin. This is the case of the “temporary tattoos made with patterns from the pavement of the Duomo Galleria” by Sara Ricciardi. who: “has fun with culture and transforms wonderful patterns (which are recognisable from above) into tattoos. A piece of Milan to wear on your body”. Then there is Giulio Ceppi’s Last Supper, an elliptical-shaped brooch. “The Last Supper is seen much more by foreigners than by Italians. It is a wonderful treasure, and it has been summed up by Ceppi in an oval, a piece of jewellery. The result has an almost mineral effect, due to a sheet of silver hearted at an unusual temperature”. But there is also an “edible” Milan. Here is how Astrid Luglio has worked with locally-produced saffron: “I wanted to present a side of Milan connected to the saffron risotto, the company ZafferanaMI, a spice which is closely related to the subject of Milanese food”. There is also the Osso Buco by Giovanna Carboni: “It is a vase, a real piece of bone which has been immersed in epoxy resin”.  Maddalena Selvini recreates the traditional paving blocks of the city’s streets in a sculptural version: “Another aspect that I wanted to see presented. She baked a cube of porphyry at an extremely high temperature and, by smoothing the corners, turned it into an object”.  

 Stories of Italy worked with Bob Noorda’s original Milan underground logo: “Made up of two mirrored letter Ms, they created a pot mat made out of re-compacted material from their packaging, in various colours, which forms blotches. A very light object that also recalls Albini’s surfaces on the underground walls”.  And then there is the Milanese aperitif by Agonstina Buttoni: “She created a glass out of borosilicate glass, a tribute to the aperitif as an opportunity to meet, to discuss, to relax”. With the idea of Milan as the centre of creativity, the Argentinian Cynthia Vilchez Castiglioni, designing for Aliita, created a light bulb-shaped piece of jewellery as a symbol of the ideas that are generated. Gio Tirotto redesigned the Duomo with matches: “He is the only one I allowed to work with this symbol. He has created a small sculpture, removing the sulphur from the matches, one sees a little Duomo. It is the most fragile and at the same time the cheapest design”. And the most precious? The one by Castiglioni, in 9-carat gold. Among the symbols of Milan, we just had to have the Velasca tower, and this was the project for Leftover, for Studio F: “Miniaturised, it becomes a love-letter holder, an object for the bathroom shelf with which to leave a message in the morning or evening. There is also space for these things in love”. 

Lastly, a fun “Bye Bye Fly”, a mosquito swatter by Giulio Iacchetti which, instead of the traditional weave, shows the road map of Milan: “Mosquitoes are a part of Milan, they can be celebrated”. If souvenirs are kitsch by definition, a question rises regarding aesthetics (and ethics): are they a good thing or a bad thing? “Per se, it has a value, not everyone has the same tastes”, concludes the curator. “Kitsch represents people with a different kind of taste. There is a part of the world that finds gratification in the euphoria of combinations, this should be respected. It is not the same thing as bad taste”. Seen through these souvenirs, Milan emerges as eclectic, not obvious. To be represented and experienced.