Milan Design Week: ready for a new design district?

The innovative feature of the next Milan Design Week is the debut of a new design district.

From 4th to 9th April 2017 artisans, young designers and emerging brands will be the protagonists of Isola Design District.

A local marketing project supported by the Municipality of Milan, where local enterprises are going to be actively involved too, enhancing the historical and artistic heritage of the entire area.

Among many talented designers, a name stands out: Kensaku Oshiro, who is exhibiting in his new studio in via Della Pergola the chair realized for the award-winning restaurant Keisuke Matsushima, in Nice.

The result is a symbol of a lifestyle that is based on the common way of living and being together around a table for lunches or dinners.

Japan will be also represented by the designers Tomoya Tabuchi e Tomoyuki Sakadida, with their new projects created for e’interiors, a contract company based in Tokyo.

Netherlands is another country highly represented in the district.

At O’, an artists’ residency and nonprofit art organization that hosts exhibitions, live performances and concerts, Dutch Invertuals is presenting its project named Harvest, a glimpse into the future of design with new works specially realized for Milan Design Week.

Ten designers are exploring aesthetics and complexities of a world in transition, reproducing different sceneries of future landscapes.

Design can also create socio economic opportunities for disadvantaged people.

That’s the theme of Social Label, the initiative that Studio Boot and C-mone are presenting at Crud, a new work concept dedicated to people squeezed out of the working world, in order to restore new possibilities involving designers, companies (social firms), healthcare and governmental, organizations.

They are expressly inviting others to cooperate, minding the gap of some of us to the labour market.

In this way, companies will be connected with top designers and quality products, spreading social values and contributing to create an inclusive society.

At Frida, historical and iconic bar of the neighborhood, Source is giving life to an exhibition on the theme of Obstacles and Solution, curated by Valia Barriello, a reflection about difficulties that designers and architects have to face during the creation of their projects.

Known designers as Paolo Ulian, Lorenzo Damiani, Donata Paruccini, Carlo Contin, Federico Angi are going to show up their works in addiction to a selection of emerging designers, proving the obstacles they have faced during their career.

One more time, Milan Design Market opens the way to young creatives after the success of last year.

For its second edition it is moving to Isola Design District, inside the Gianni Rizzotti Photography Studio, a wonderful 400 square metres loft in Via Pastrengo.

This location is hosting the exhibition of 30 designers from different parts of the world, besides a 6 axis robot producing 3D printing objects, a research and development project by Caracol Design Studio, and the installation named Suspended Garden, with the Junit lamps realized by the German firm Schneid, thanks to whom it has recently received the prestigious German Design Award.

Moreover, Patrick Palcic is leading visitors in a fragrance experience never felt before, with the interactive installation Odor Per Imbrem and his Copper Clock.

Copper Clock by Patrick Palcic

Many local artisans will be projecting and realizing the informative totems located through the streets with maps and guides; Pietro Algranti, one of them, is opening the doors of his Studio on Via Pepe, where he creates daring interiors using recycled materials as wood, iron, copper and aluminum.

Local shops and restaurants are going to host indoor installations and exhibitions, completing an itinerary aimed to let Milano Design Week visitors know more about the neighborhood.

In Isola Design District, there will be also space for green lovers.

With the installation realized by Offfi in its botany lab in via Carmagnola, the Suspended Garden by Bici&Radici at Milan Design Market and the Green Island project, a 3-stops project researching the Emilia Faro’s vegetable sculptures: from Tiger in Porta Garibaldi Station passing by the Algranti Lab, to the eco-furniture showroom Riva Reno, where an original installation named Botanik will be placed.

Stringa by Sebastiano Tonelli

Students will also be an essential part of the Design District, thanks to the collaboration with the Polytechnic University of Milan – Design School.

University students and recent graduates are asked to develop their ideas in the contest called Isola is.

They will be producing signal devices and detectors useful to improve the perception of the neighborhood and the orientation within it.

During the week, a schedule full of events and workshops in all the locations involved, as the coworking space in via Pastrengo named Yoroom.

On April 6th, Superficial is presenting there a talk with designers and companies about contests in which projects made a clear mark, both for the result achieved and the cultural match obtained.

The opening day of the District will be on April 4th.