Points of reflection from Salone del Mobile, Alcova, Rossana Orlandi, Nilufar Lancetti, Loewe, Dimoremilano and beyond
Milan Design Week 2024: Eight Meditative Highlights
Points of reflection from Salone del Mobile, Alcova, Rossana Orlandi, Nilufar Lancetti, Loewe, Dimoremilano and beyond
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The word inspiration is frequently offered as the reason why people attend Milan Design Week. And while interior designers, gallery owners, product developers, artists, journalists and others trek the city and its installations for inspiring moments, another anchoring force is the opportunity for reflection. Many immersive installations and product debuts this year asked attendees to slow down, pause and consider the magnitude or subtlety laying before them—including those we’ve already documented by Flos, Marimekko and Google. From the fairs Salone del Mobile and Alcova, to Milan-based galleries Nilufar Lancetti and Rossana Orlandi, and even the brands Loewe and Lasvit, the following eight highlights enveloped viewers with a meditative presence.
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“Monument” by Colin King for Calico Wallpaper at Alcova
Invoking the spirit of patina, New York-based wallcovering designer Calico Wallpaper presented two new releases, Nuance and Perception, within the walls of the historic Villa Bagatti Valsecchi this year. For their presentation, as part of Alcova, the brand looked to their collaborator for the collection, interior stylist Colin King, who erected a monolithic four-walled work, apt entitled “Monument.” Much like the villa itself, the installation—and the wallpaper—appeared to be unattached to time or place, and created space for the fair guests to meditate on Calico and King’s work.
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Lauren Rottet’s Living Room within Artemest’s L’Appartamento
To demonstrate the capabilities of design within a home, Artemest—a premiere online destination for Italian furniture and decor pieces—invited six renowned international designers to imagine rooms within Residenza Vignale, a stunning Milanese mansion built in the early 1900s, for an exquisite exhibition named L’Apparamento. Architect and designer Lauren Rottet, founder of Rottet Studio, transformed the gilded, golden glow of The Living Room into a timeless vision with delightful flourishes, incorporating hand-selected classic pieces as well as contemporary designs from her own Rottet Collection—including our favorite, the Dichroic Table, and a clever new Cake Lamp.
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David Lynch’s “A Thinking Room” at Salone del Mobile
On the grounds of the Rho Fiera, home to Salone del Mobile, acclaimed filmmaker and designer David Lynch invited fair attendees into “Interiors by David Lynch, A Thinking Room.” Lynch, the interior designer behind Silencio in Paris, has spent years as a carpentry hobbyist—and the two twin rooms of his installation each centered one geometric wooden chair (with skyward-rising brass tubes) of his own creation (surrounded by waves of blue velvet). Lynch designed the chairs as relaxing yet active places—for thinking or writing—and fair attendees were allowed to settle in.
Moon Seop Seo’s “Passage to the Lake” at Rossana Orlandi
A blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment within the maze-like wonderland of Milan’s Rossana Orlandi gallery, Eindhoven, the Netherlands-based designer Moon Seop Seo‘s “Passage to the Lake” spatial water sculpture softly jettisons one droplet at a time toward a sleek metal arch, which projects it into the sky before it lands in a small, shallow pool. The whimsical invention captured the attention—and affection—of attendees as its rhythmic nature channeled what we all love about the balance between still and moving water.
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Dimoremilano’s “Attracted to Light” Exhibition
Set beneath a blanket of stars suspended inside their via Solferino space, wonder-driven design studio Dimoremilano’s “Attracted to Light” exhibition was another transportive occasion for attendees—who now expect to be (and consistently are) awed by the imagination of founders Emiliano Salci and Britt Moran. Amidst the ambiance, Dimoremilano positions their original lighting and furniture pieces to craft a narrative in conjunction with the spectacular setting.
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Analogia Projects’ “Pentimenti” at Nilufar Lancetti
Visitors to Nina Yashar’s ever-astonishing Nilufar Lancetti location may have been greeted by Andrés Reisinger breathtaking “12 Chairs for Meditation,” but those who ventured behind the back curtains on the gallery’s second floor found something equally ruminative: the “Pentimenti” furniture collection by creative director Andrea Mancuso’s Analogia Projects. Some of the limited edition pieces within paired disparate slices of green marble together in a style reminiscent of marquetry; other rounded slabs of Carrara were embellished with mesmerizing hand-carved etchings filled with black paint. The solo exhibition, cast in low light, asked attendees to pause and consider every detail.
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Lasvit’s “Re/Creation” at Palazzo Isimbardi
Winner of one of Milan Design Week’s highest honors, the Fuorisalone Award (which anoints the most memorable pop-up exhibition), acclaimed Czech lighting design brand Lasvit‘s “Re/Creation” multi-part installation at Palazzo Isimbardi tapped into its historic space to debut a new fused glass for architectural use. The exhibit—an expressive sanctuary of glass—balanced serenity with a sense of the spectacular. Within, Lasvit art director Maxim Velcovsky unveiled “Porta,” a colossal work crafted in Europe’s largest glass kiln.
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LOEWE Lamps at Palazzo Citterio
Featuring newly commissioned designs by 24 international artists, the LOEWE Lamps presentation illuminated the subterranean level of the historic Palazzo Citterio with eccentric, experimental and enchanting floor, table and suspended lights that each asked for moments of individual consideration. Taking time to uncover the essence of each design revealed thoughtful material explorations—which ranged from bamboo and birch twigs to leather, paper and lacquer.