Highlights From Milan Design Week

I like to keep an eye on emerging design in the world and the annual Milan Design Week is a pretty interesting event to be aware of. Last month's MDW had a lot of the usual Italian modern minimalist design that, frankly, leaves me a little cold. But there were a few products of note...even if a few of them are on the minimalist side.

The blown glass cylinders of the Noctambule light fixture by Konstantin Grcic for FLOS are fairly unique.

Take a look at the amazing DC 1206C Chandelier by Milanese architect Vincenzo de Cotiis (he is also showing at this year's Venice Biennale--busy guy!).

LED lights have made possible a slew of lighting fixtures never before imagined. I love this Wireline fixture by Formafantasma for FLOS. It looks like tube lighting suspended by belting leather!

The FORM totem light by London-born and NYC-based furniture and interior designer Anna Karlin is truly stunning.

Bethan Laura Wood had a solo show at the new Nilafur25 space. Here are some wild, jungle-y, maximalist sconces I would love to put in someone's home!

It wasn't just lighting that caught my eye...here is a new rug by Fornasetti called Peccato Originale...

...and another rug collection that is just gorgeous is the Feathers collection in round and freeform designs by Maarten De Ceulaer for CC-Tapis.

Creative Director Michael Reynolds, Hoffman Creative, and Flavor Paper teamed with the Tom of Finland Foundation on a custom wallcovering. Conceived by Reynolds and Hoffman Creative, the design combines archival illustrations by Tom of Finland with expert manufacturing by Flavor Paper.

I'm in love with these Bubblegraphy vases by Adrianus Kundert in collaboration with Thomas van der Sman for Oddness. The pattern on each vase is created by a special process of blowing air bubbles in the glaze!

https://www.salonemilano.it/en

"Maestà Soffrente" by Gaetano Pesce

Italian designer Gaetano Pesce created a special gigantic version of his iconic UP5 and 6 Chair, also known as the "Donna" Chair for last month's Milan Design Week.

Gaetano Pesce originally created his chair for B&B Italia (then known as C&B Italia) in 1969 out of polyurethane foam and a jersey stretch fabric. Primarily an architect, Pesce is also an industrial designer working on creating chairs with organic forms. His UP5 and 6 Chair--5 is the chair and 6 is the attached ottoman--is also known as the "La Mama Chair" or the "Donna Chair" (donna being the Italian word for woman) because the form is unmistakably female. The chair is still in production through B&B Italia who describe the chair this way:

"The chair is a metaphor of a large comfortable womb and recalls ancient statues of fertility goddesses. However, it has something extra: a spherical ottoman tied to the armchair. Therefore, the image of comfort and convenience is combined with a more figurative image of a woman with a ball and chain on her foot. Gaetano Pesce explains the project as follows: 'At that time, I was telling a personal story about my concept of women: I believe that women have always been unwilling prisoners of themselves. This is why I decided to give this armchair the shape of a woman with a ball and chain, a traditional image of a prisoner.'"

Perhaps what Pesce more accurately means is that women, by being themselves, have always been prisoners of men.

So to mark the 50th anniversary of the chair, and to highlight the ongoing struggles that women around the world face on a daily basis, Pesce revisited his Donna Chair, creating a 26-foot high version pierced with arrows to bring attention to violence against women. Titled "Maestà Soffrente," or "Suffering Majesty," the piece was shown from April 7 t0 14, 2019 in the Piazza del Duomo, in front of the Milan Cathedral.

Photos of "Maestà Soffrente" by Matteo Piazza

BEAUTY: Installation--Charles Pétillon

Charles Pétillon, previously here, installs giant balloons in unlikely spaces and photographs the resulting juxtaposition. Now he has partnered with outdoor fabric manufacturer Sunbrella to make Connexions, a cluster of balloons which he photographed in various indoor and outdoor locations, then presented those photos with the cluster at Milan Design Week from April 4-9, 2017.

http://www.charlespetillon.com/
https://www.sunbrella.com

BEAUTY: Design--Mathieu Lehanneur

Designer Mathieu Lehanneur's imagination and vision are amazing. He has created objects, furniture, installations, products, stores, but it was this light that first caught my attention. Entitled "Les Cordes," the idea of a chandelier or ceiling light is stripped down into something entirely minimalistic, functional, futuristic, but breathtakingly lovely. The organic-looking cords of LED lights seem to drip from and return to the ceiling plane on their own. And I just love the contrast between this spartan, futuristic sensibility and the Beaux-Arts style of the building, Château Borely, in Marseille. Stunning work.

For Milan Design Week 2013, Lehanneur, in collaboration with Turkish Stones, created a piece called "Liquid Marble," a small shed of a space made of marble with an interior churning "pool" also made from marble. Of the disorienting piece, Lehanneur says, "I hope that, when entering this room, the visitor will experience something that comes closes to what happened to the many characters who opened a magic portal to a forbidden place in so many fairytales. Everything is liquid in this space, evanescent, and yet it is executed in a material that is the most solid imaginable."

And perhaps the most spectacular piece in Lehanneur's portfoilio is the Choir at the Romanesque St. Hilaire Church in Melle, Deux-Sèvres, France. He layered slices of white marble to resemble isobars, put the baptistry in one of the depressions, and used natural onyx for the altar and ambo. Again, the contrast of the ancient architecture with this sleek, modern addition brings a beautiful tension and makes the space vital and current.

http://www.mathieulehanneur.fr/