Milan Design Week: The Highlights
The 2024 season is brimming with a record number of openings, activations, debuts, landmark collaborations and parties that will help set the tone for the future of design.
MILAN — The ties among the worlds of fashion, design, art and architecture have never been stronger. Milan Design Week 2024 will run from Monday to April 22 and the calendar is bursting with events and projects that will help shape the future of the industry. Under the aegis of the theme “Materia Natura,” (Italian for “natural matter”) brands are gearing up to unfurl projects that pay homage to the culture of conscious design.
Here, a roundup of some of the key events, as previewed by WWD.
Bottega Veneta
Bottega Veneta is partnering with Cassina and Fondation Le Corbusier for “On the Rocks,” a large-scale installation staged at Palazzo San Fedele and centered on the bespoke LC14 Tabouret Cabanon stools, which punctuated the venue of the brand's fall 2024 runway show in February. Originally conceived for Le Corbusier's cabin in Roquebrune Cap Martin on the French Riviera, the design draws inspiration from a wooden box of whisky the acclaimed architect found on the beach.
A new limited-edition stool iteration defined by Bottega Veneta's signature leatherwork will also be showcased at the exhibition, which is open to the public. Further marking the project, 100 wood stools featuring a serial number as well as 60 pieces of the Intrecciato leather-made versions in yellow, red, green and blue will be available for purchase.
Hermès
In keeping with its legacy of designs that stand the test of time, Hermès' latest home decor collection debuting at Milan Design Week with an installation at the La Pelota venue is poised to showcase old and new pieces together, highlighting the enduring appeal of the house's lifestyle objects. The French house's equestrian heritage echoes in the Diapason d'Hermès armchair in hammered aluminum and leather, which mingles with a midcentury-nodding table lamp crafted from waxed brass and featuring a bicolor chèvre or Swift leather lampshade. A new 27-piece tableware set, called Tressage Équestres and inspired by the passementerie typical of harnessmaking, features subtle braiding patterns conceived by Parisian artist Virginie Jamin and done in a subdued color palette with occasional accents of yellow, red and blue.
Miu Miu
Miu Miu is opting for a cultural approach and promoting literature and the arts with its activation during the week. The brand will introduce its inaugural Literary Club “Writing Life,” a two-day event spotlighting the work of the late Italian writers and poets Sibilla Aleramo and Alba De Céspedes. A schedule of talks, readings and live music performances will aim to evoke the spirit of literary salons and artist collectives of yore at the city's Circolo Filologico Milanese location on Wednesday and Thursday.
Conversations will center on two landmark books by these authors, exploring women's position in society, from motherhood to work. Wrapped in a special Miu Miu packaging, the titles selected and available at the event will be Aleramo's 1906 book “A Woman” (considered Italy's first feminist novel) and De Céspedes's “Forbidden Notebook,” published in 1952. Panelists will include 2000 Pulitzer Prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri; Strega prize finalist Claudia Durastanti; critically acclaimed writer Sheila Heti; 2011 Campiello Opera Prima winner Viola Di Grado; Booker Prize long-listed author Selby Wynn Schwartz, and novelist, memoirist and film-maker Xiaolu Guo.
Zegna
Zegna is launching the “Born in Oasi Zegna” book through an exhibition open to the public from Tuesday to April 21 at Zegna headquarters. The book is full of images, illustrations, words and historic bits that tell the story of Oasi Zegna, a natural territory that covers an area of 38 square miles in the Biella Alps of Piedmont in northern Italy. At the beginning of the last century, founder Ermenegildo Zegna undertook a vast reforestation program, which now boasts more than 500,000 trees, in the mountain area surrounding his wool mill.
The book is now available to buy exclusively at Zegna stores globally and online at the brand's website. “We are very proud to unveil the ‘Born in Oasi Zegna' book that narrates a timeless story never told before. It's a legacy that the founder, our great grandfather, left us for the future generations. His vision went beyond reason and as a generation we are just its custodians” stated Edoardo Zegna, chief marketing, digital and sustainability officer.
JW Anderson
JW Anderson from Wednesday will host “Days,” an installation showcasing 37 Patrick Carroll artworks made by stretching textiles he knitted onto stretcher bars as if they were paintings.
From his large collection of yarns, nearly all scavenged from yarn remainder shops selling the fashion industry's leftovers, Carroll forges compositions of varied textures, materials and colors in fabrics like wool, linen, silk and more.
Each work is done by hand on a flatbed domestic knitting machine from the 1970s at his studio in Los Angeles. Knitted into the works are bits of text. About half the works, available for purchase at the JW Anderson store, bear a single word evoking a concept like music, abnegation, pity, voices, or permanence. Others quote works of literature, some refer to already existing works of art, and some feature Carroll's own phrases.
Missoni
In addition to its presence at the Rho fairgrounds, Missoni will stage a series of events in town. Every morning breakfast will be served courtesy of the “Caffé Suonarestella” format, the brand's takeover of Italian social media personality Paolo Stella's apartment intended to spotlight its entire home collection designed by creative director Alberto Caliri. Items of the line also will be displayed at the new Missoni store located a stone's throw from the city's Golden Triangle, while the brand's headquarters in the Brera district will showcase designs from the new outdoor project developed with specialist Roda.
“A central illuminated island, like a magical garden of stone and glass, welcomes the items of the collection in the midst of special lighting effects,” teased Caliri about the installation conceived to present the Roda project. Upholstered in Missoni fabrics in five different patterns, the range will include the modular sofa Mamba; the theatrical daybed Arena; the lounge chair Laze, and a series of poufs, among others.
Weekend Max Mara
Weekend Max Mara in collaboration with Bitossi Ceramics will present “On Slowness,” an installation inside the fashion brand's boutique at Corso Vittorio Emanuele II 5, curated by Objects of Common Interest and the creative agency Studio Blanco. The main pieces of “On Slowness” are represented by the ceramics from the Tuscan manufacturer. These include the latest designs for the 2024 Design Week by designers Patricia Urquiola, Zaven, and Objects of Common Interest themselves. Additionally, there's a selection of contemporary pieces from Bitossi, crafted by designers such as Muller Van Severen, Faye TooGood, Max Lamb, and Formafantasma. The installation will debut at the store on Wednesday.
Off-White
Off-White is releasing a limited-edition rug, which will also take center stage at the brand's Via Verri flagship with an immersive floor-to-ceiling installation and a takeover of its windows. Available in only 40 pieces and coming with a numbered label, the design is marked by a floral pattern in a deep blue shade and bold lettering in popping yellow reading “Don't walk here.” Crafted in Germany with a double-layer felt lining, the rug is to retail at 1,250 euros starting from Monday, while the brand will host in-store cocktails and DJ sets the following two days to celebrate the launch.
Issey Miyake
Issey Miyake's 2024 design project, to be unveiled at the brand's Milan store, is called “Fold and Crease,” a self-explanatory name suggesting that the Dutch collective We
Make Carpets selected for the initiative meant to highlight the DNA and core design and manufacturing ethos of the Japanese brand. Known for picking everyday objects such as chip forks, clothes pegs and sponges and arranging them into site-specific installations in carpet-reminding shapes, the Dutch artists wished to develop artworks that “would not visually compete with the clothing in the store and on the other hand [that] incorporate[d] some aspects that we felt most inspired [by],” they said. The results are carpets crafted from red-tipped wooden skewers or pins that create patterns evoking the signature Issey Miyake pleats.
La DoubleJ
Two novelties are to mark J. J. Martin's showcase of her brand La DoubleJ's new homewares collection, dubbed “Solar.”
For the first time the presentation will be held not at the label's flagship but at the Palazzo Belgioioso venue, whose elements were referenced in the range. For example, the 18th century mosaic of the location inspired the “Sunrays” pattern on dessert plates, cups and the statement Bubble Vase painted with 18-karat gold bands.
Flanked by an installation by artist Max Siedentopf, the 36-piece collection of porcelain plates and bowls, hand-blown Murano glassware from Venice, table linens crafted in Como and hand-woven raffia placemats made by artisans in Colombia, was rendered in a moodboosting palette of warm terracotta, electric azure and gold details for a heightened visual impact.
In another new turn, the collection will be see now, buy now, dropping both online and at the La DoubleJ store in Milan during the design week.
Rimowa
If only Rimowa's signature grooved aluminum suitcase could also make coffee. That might have been the thinking behind the collaboration between the German luxury luggage maker and La Marzocco, a Florence-based leader in handmade espresso machinery. The tie-up promises to rise to cult status as much as the brand's traveling product thanks to Linea Mini, a limited-edition compact espresso machine evoking Rimowa's silver suitcases in its design and featuring an array of artisanal components, like hot water tap and knobs made in aluminum and bearing both parties' monograms.
Available on a made-to-order basis starting Monday, the item is the star of the Caffè Rimowa pop-up installed at Milan's Spazio Maiocchi and running through April 21.
MCM Wearable Casa
To mark its design week debut, German luxury brand MCM will unveil the MCM Wearable Casa collection conceived with Atelier Biagetti and displayed at 17th-century Palazzo Cusani location.
The result is a seven-item line blending a futuristic flair and playful touch with the brand's aesthetic codes, including its monogram logo. Highlights will encompass the Chatty sofa evoking street graffiti art with sinuous curves; the transformative Tatamu design marked by modular elements and soft rolls of mats, and the versatile Mind Teaser item winking to the Tetris game with its shiny and compact shape that can turn into a stool, chair or coffee table. The Clepsydra portable lantern doubling as a hat, the Magic Gilet wearable storage design and the Backpack accommodating small pets comfortably will be also displayed at the exhibition.
The showcase will reflect the collection's multifunctional approach, with a hybrid space granting access to visitors both physically and remotely through a metaverse activation enabling users to virtually wear total looks by MCM and interact with the objects.
Serapian
Serapian will support the Doppia Firma exhibition at its charming Villa Mozart headquarters. At its eighth edition, the project celebrates creative partnerships between international designers, companies and local artisans, resulting in designs made expressly for the event.
The likes of Cristina Celestino, Marcel Wanders, Studio Job, Nendo, Nada Debs, Agostino Iacurci, and Elliott Barnes have partnered with companies including Ganci Argenterie, Tonino Negri and Artepura as well as with Milan artisans to create 15 objects.
For one, Serapian's tie-up with Celestino gave way to an armchair elevated by the brand's signature Mosaico leather weaving technique. The distinctive motif will also enhance the geometric shape of a series of trays that the label developed with Italian design company Bonacina.
Valextra
Valextra has conscripted Italian graphic design firm Studio Temp to shed new light on its codes and heritage, unveiling a full
roster of initiatives to coincide with Milan Design Week. Under the moniker “Valextra Vocabolario,” the luxury leathergoods specialist is mounting an installation at its Milan store, debuting a new Iside top handle bag and a range of nylon accessories, unveiling a repair service and taking over the La Rinascente department store's windows.
“The collaboration is a continuation of Valextra's enduring commitment and connection to the world of design [which] informs our approach 365 days of the year,” said Valextra chief executive officer Xavier Rougeaux. “Valextra and Salone del Mobile share a special synergy that continues to inherently define what we both strive to be conduits of; celebrating and capturing the inspiration that leaps off the streets of Milan and informing the globally renowned Made in Italy identity that incorporates style, engineering, and architecture.”
Floor-to-ceiling aluminum sheets and pink carpeting will reconfigure the brand's flagship store on Via Manzoni, known for its minimalist, even austere décor, turning it into an installation apt for showcasing new products. The latter include the 3D-printed Iside Onda top handle crafted from biodegradable corn filaments and bearing a wavy pattern, as well as Valextra Assoluto, a unisex capsule of regenerated nylon accessories, including a shopper, bumbag and backpack accented with a new matte black V-shaped hardware and matching zippers. Marking the introduction of the first Valextra Spa repair, cleaning and polishing service, a life-size wellness center is being mounted inside the store as part of the overall installation, housing artisans at work. Tongue-in-cheek merchandise – including towels, sleeping masks and aluminum trays – has been developed by Studio Temp to mark the initiative.