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/ The ‘Lit’ pendant light by Umberto Asnago was a highlight among the glittering offerings on Penta’s stand at Euroluce. Reading as an entirely opaque, jewel-like carapace when switched off, in use the pendant transforms, emitting a warm glow through its translucent coloured glass shade. fanuli.com.au

2/ Swedish-chilean designer Anton Alvarez presented a series of 12 otherworldly sculptures inside a 15th-century Catholic church. Formed by forcing wax through a purpose-built extrusion machine, casting the fluted results in bronze using a traditional lost-wax technique and coating each piece with chemicals to encourage patination, the writhing creations are poised between functional and decorative, primordial and futuristic. antonalvarez.com 3/ The entrance to Milan design institution 10 Corso Como. 10corsocomo.com 4/ Milan’s magnificent Duomo. To plan your trip to the Italian design capital, visit emirates.com 5/ Gucci’s maximalist M.O. was on full display at its pop-up homewares boutique, where layer upon layer of patterns and textures via wallpaper, furniture, throws, dinnerware and candles affected the ambience of an eccentric private abode. gucci.com 6/ Elevating the ‘welcome mat’ to the realm of high glamour, a fabulous new floor rug was suspended at the entrance to the Fornasetti boutique. fornasetti.com 8/ Six Gallery unveiled new furniture by design duo David Lopez-quincoces and Fanny Bauer Grung and also offered a glimpse of its Sister Hotel project, set to open later this year. six-gallery.com 9/ A quick panini stop while roaming the streets of the Brera Design District.

SUMMING UP THE WO RK of Emiliano Salci and Britt Moran of Dimore Studio is like describing a favourite film you saw years ago – it’s hard to put your finger on why you love it so much, you just know you do. This is partly because they push a little harder than most designers and delve into areas others shy away from. In their interiors they mix unusual colours, contemporary and vintage furniture, and extraordinary fabrics.

In presenting their work during Milan Design Week, Dimore Studio emphasises creating a total atmosphere – incorporating music and light and a sense of drama – in order to create a truly exhilarating experience. “You might not believe it but I think a lot of what we do is quite understated,” says Britt, an American who has lived in Milan for about 20 years. “We do have our over-the-top moments but feel that most of our work is timeless ... because we mix the eras and references so freely.”

The duo has forged an empire that includes a collectable design arm, an interior and product design studio, and now a brand that will deliver more contemporary, fashion-oriented furniture, lighting and objects. They also design their own fabrics, raiding all manner of cultures and eras for inspiration. “When we started there was a very minimal design style that permeated everything in Milan. To stand out we wanted to do something that was totally opposite to minimal,” says Britt.

This year the studio launched nine re-editioned pieces from the archive of seminal 1970s Italian artisan Gabriella Crespi, who designed accessories for Christian Dior for nearly 20 years. In a moment of serendipity Dimore was also asked to create a collection of objects for Dior, ranging from an umbrella stand to vases and mirrors, presented within the frescoed walls of Casa degli Atellani. “Glamour, 70s disco, post-punk – they are all part of the Dimore Studio experience,” says Britt. dimorestudio.eu

SINCE FOUNDING THEIR studio in 2011, young Lebanese designers David Raffoul and Nicolas Moussallem have been wowing the design community with their combination of intricate detail and high-level craftsmanship. “Our years of study – first in Lebanon, then Milan – were an important part of what we have become. We realised early on we needed to go beyond the Middle East and develop a new language that reflects a broader identity,” says Nicolas.

This year the duo delivered a collection of delicate geometric designs for Milan-based rug company Cc-tapis inspired by a style of handworked plaster. The arched hand movement of the artisan is reflected in the shapes of the rugs and in their simple but graphic design. They also designed an extraordinary desk made from Indian rosewood and aluminium called ‘Prism’ for high-end Italian brand Gallotti&radice. The desk featured in the Milan Design Week installation, ‘Life in Vogue: The Interiors Cut’, in the offices of Vogue Italia.

The two designers have always been very involved in limited-edition collections. This year a new piece from the David/nicolas Supernova collection was on display at Vincenzo De Cotiis Gallery in the first Carpenters Workshop Gallery exhibition ever held in Milan. “Our recent work for Carpenters might appear to be a change from highly decorative to monolithic – it appears simple but this work is far more complex,” says Nicolas. “The collection, as the name suggests, is all about the explosion of a dead star. We wanted it to capture that moment of explosive chaos but for it still to be a usable furniture piece.”

David and Nicolas are currently completing their latest retail interior – the A&S Chronora vintage watch store in Beirut – where every aspect is sculpted and made to measure. “David is more of a dreamer while I am a bit stricter,” says Nicolas. “He draws ideas, I design in words. We interfere with each other’s concepts and fight a lot but it actually works for us. We really don’t know how to do it any other way.” davidandnicolas.com

11/ Interior designer Alexandra Donohoe Church with Boffi Studio Sydney director Edwina Withers. boffi.com 1 2/ Marking the brand’s 50th anniversary, Flos’s enormous, enfilading exhibition at Salone del Mobile had glittering offerings at every turn: from reissues of mid-century designs by Mario Bellini and Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni to new outdoor lighting shown in a lush, glowing garden. Michael Anastassiades presented his spectacular, grid-like LED constellation, ‘Coordinates’, Patricia Urquiola debuted the elegant ‘Flauta’ wall light and Formafantasma wowed with ‘Wireline’ which juxtaposes ribbed glass and rubber strips. euroluce.com.au 13/ Vitra used four distinctly styled sets to showcase the brand’s greatest hits. spacefurniture.com.au; livingedge.com.au 14/ Accessed via an entry festooned with raffia baskets, Loewe showed off impeccable leather craftsmanship via covetable objects by 11 artisans. The space itself was a manifesto of luxe rusticity. loewe.com 15/ An oyster shell inspired the fluid form of Yabu Pushelberg’s ‘Nacre’ crystal coffee table for Glas Italia. spacefurniture.com.au 16/ Melbourne lighting designer Christopher Boots showed his ‘Abacus’ brass and crystal chandeliers at a solo show. christopherboots.com 17/ Tom Dixon launched his permanent Milan showroom and restaurant, The Manzoni, furnished with new pieces, including the appealingly plump ‘Fat’ upholstered chairs. tomdixon.com

18 / Vogue Italia invited eight designers to radically re-imagine the magazine’s editorial offices. From David/nicolas, who imbued the editor-in-chief’s outpost with moody elegance, to Storagemilano, who invoked high-octane glamour for the gilt-clad newsroom, the talented cohort each conceived an expression of their own design DNA. vogue.it 19/ Originally designed by Shiro Kuramata in 1979, the ‘01 Chair’ was seen on the circus-themed Cappellini stand. cultdesign.com.au 20/ Interior designer Michelle Macarounas (pictured) of Infinite Design collaborated with photographer Dave Wheeler and creative director Jack Milenkovic to produce The Design Feast. infinitedesignstudio. com.au 21/ GAN’S cocooning stand had wall-to-wall rugs and a matching pouf by Patricia Urquiola, exploiting recycled wool and felt to emulate speckled stone. hubfurniture.com.au 22/ Inspired by musical pursuits, Apparatus Studio composed a bespoke series of cabinets, screens and lighting, all underscored by exquisite details, including embroidery reminiscent of Klimt’s cascading gold flecks. criteriacollection. com.au. 23/ The beautiful Marsotti store exhibited Carrara marble furniture, including Nendo’s ‘Ballerina’ console with legs akin to a dancer’s pointe. hubfurniture.com.au

37/ Spectacular rugs unveiled this year by Cc-tapis included the arresting harlequin-style ‘Xequer’ by Martino Gamper. cc-tapis.com 38/ With coloured glass a major trend across multiple Milan Design Week sites, the masters of the medium, Glas Italia, chose to up the ante at their Salone stand. From luminous and crystal-clear to layered and opaque, their offerings included Patricia Urquiola’s ‘L.A. Sunset’ table, inspired by the City of Angels at dusk. spacefurniture.com.au 39/ The Milan boutique of US outfit BDDW showed musical accoutrement – including guitars and amplifiers built from scratch – alongside a DJ booth clad in bespoke ceramic tiles. bddw.com 40/ A large-scale light installation projected onto Dekton stone slabs, Cosentino’s collaboration with designer Benjamin Hubert, ‘Raytrace’, was among the sights at Milano Centrale. cosentino.com 41/ Nendo designer Oki Sato let gravity work its magic for his ‘Melt’ collection of U-shaped, cast glass chairs for Wonderglass, presented in a dramatic procession amid a pitch-black hall. livingedge.com.au 42/ Cristina Celestino incorporated Fendi Casa’s signature stripe into a series of original armchairs, tables and floor lamps, displayed within a rose-tinted set titled ‘Back Home’. fendi.com

43. ONE OF THE MOST exciting parts of Design Week is having access to private courtyards around Milan and experiencing innovative and exciting installations that radically juxtapose with the original architecture and surrounds. Since 2012, fashion brand COS has collaborated with artists on boundary-pushing, site-specific works. For this year’s project, it engaged London-based French architect Arthur Mamou-mani as its creative partner.

Having conceived projects and installations everywhere from Burning Man festival to an eco-resort in Mexico, Mamou-mani’s work offers a glimpse into the future of design and construction, experimenting with renewable resources and modern technologies while drawing inspiration from nature. Conifera, a 3D-printed installation comprising 700 interlocking modular bio-bricks, combines the designer’s passion for engineering, digital design and fabricated architecture. Constantly pushing the sustainability envelope, Mamou-mani studio and COS worked together to create a unique high-tech structure that was in harmony with the 16thcentury grounds of its venue at Palazzo Isimbardi.

Citing Antoní Gaudi and engineer and architect Buckminster Fuller as design heroes, Mamou-mani used innovative 3D-printing methods to create a sculptural pathway of wood pulp and bio-bricks through the central courtyard to a translucent woven lattice structure made of white bio-plastic set amid the Palazzo’s lush gardens.

COS creative director Karin Gustafsson says she relishes the meeting of two disciplines, and the chance to “constantly challenge yourself to create something unique now for the future” using sustainable methods and materials that are fully biodegradable. Hoping the installation would inspire an awakening to the growing sustainability issue and trigger a conversation, Arthur says, “The more we talk about it the more things happen.” cosstores.com/au