Imaginary cities and jellyfish vases
INDUSTRY professionals and design fans will have started heading to the Italian city of Milan earlier this week for the world’s biggest furniture fair, the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, which began yesterday and will continue till Sunday.
The main show now spills out into the city with a wider design week of events and exhibitions on related themes, including the International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition, Euroluce, Workplace3.0, and SaloneSatellite.
Here are three exhibitions to check out this year.
The Milan Triennale at the Palazzo della Triennale: The Triennale offers several events such as the Abet Laminati, An Imaginary City exhibition from Italian designer Paola Navone, which tells the story of Abet Laminati, a laminates manufacturer.
It features emblematic furniture pieces, including one by Ettore Sottsass, as well as creations specially designed for the exhibition.
For Action Giromari, House of Birds, 24 designers from Italy and further afield were invited to design a house for birds. Each was free to express and experiment their own vision through functions, forms, colours and finishes.
The Korea Craft and Design Foundation presents Between Serenity And Dynamism: Korean Ceramics, an exhibition exploring the art of ceramics, showcasing the work of some of the country’s most illustrious current artists.
Cos x Studio Swine at Cinema Arti: Clothing brand COS has teamed with London-based art and architecture practice Studio Swine for a multisensory installation. The work is billed as a “blossoming sculpture” of bubbles, mist and darkness. The installation will be housed in the Cinema Arti, a former movie theatre dating from the 1930s.
“Last year was a year full of changes and crisis, and so we wanted to create an installation that could offer a moment of contemplation,” explain Studio Swine’s Alexander Groves and Azusa Murakami.
“The inspiration for the installation was nature and the changing of the seasons.
“For us, this idea has such uni- versal beauty. We aim to create a democratic experience which brings people together.”
Jellyfish Vase by Nendo at the Jil Sander showroom: This year, renowned Japanese design studio Nendo offers an exhibition redefining the traditional role of the vase at the Jil Sander showroom.
Japanese designer Oki Sato’s studio will present 30 vases submerged in an aquarium filled with water. The vases are made from an ultra-thin transparent silicon material which is dyed twice, giving them a jellyfish-like appearance as they move around in the water. The strength and direction of the water’s current change to make the vases gently undulate like jellyfish. – AFP
For more information on the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, go to www.salonemilano.it/en.