Impressions from Milan Design Week 2022

Elementa visited Milan during Milan Design Week earlier this month. More than a hundred different events and venues filled the city from the 6th to12th of June, and below are some of this year’s highlights!

Alcova:

Alcova was launched as a platform for independent design in 2018 by the founders of Space Caviar (Joseph Grima) and Studio Vedét (Valentina Ciuffi). This years edition was housed in an urban park, spread across the outdoors areas and a number of buildings such as an industrial laundry and a nunnery - a welcome break from the busy city center of Milan during the Design Week. The 2022 ehibition included works by renown studios such as Snøhetta, Forma Fantasma and Sabine Marcelis, as well as up-and-coming talents such as Leo Maher, Natlia Triantafylli and Andrew Pierce and Leilei Wu.

Norwegian Presence:

This years edition of the Norwegian Presence exhibition, MATTER, was located within the beautiful Galleria Milano in the Brera district. The Exhibition was produced by DOGA and curated by Kråkvik&D’Orazio, the exhibition showcased a selection of Norwegian designers and producers. This years list of designers and makers consisted of Trond Meyer, Poppy Lawman, Pettersen&Hein, Nebil Zaman, Julia K. Person, Henrik Ødegaard, Hallgeir Homstvedt, Brave New Lines, Edvin Klasso and Anna Maria Øfstedal Eng. The manufacturers were Jotun, FjordFiesta, Vestre, Nedre Foss, Minus, Lundhs, Gudbrandsdalens Uldvarefabrik and Hydro. The exhibition filled both the halls of the Galleria Milano, and its green courtyard.

Isola Design District:

The Isola Design District consisted of a more than 250 international designers and studios spread over 40 locations in the Isola neighbourhood in Milan. This included the Rising Talents exhibition, No Space for Waste at Stecca3, The Social Side of Design and designers with solo exhibitions, such as Niclas Ekwall who showcased his interactive sound installation, “Like the First Time”.

Design Academy Eindhoven INTERGENERATIONAL GRADUATION SHOW:

During the Design Week, 150 graduation projects by alumni from Design Academy Eindhoven where showcased as a celebration of the schools 75th anniversary. The exhibition was located in an UNESCO heritage site, Via Vincenzo Monti, and included works by Lucas Maassen, Vera Van Der Burg, Youngwon Noh, Benedetta Pompili, Maarten Baas, Bruno Baietto, Gabriel Maher, Formafantasma, Flora Lechner and Sho Ota.

Panta Rhei by Hi Kyung Eun
Photo: Hi Kyung Eun

BASE:

At BASE, one could find the exhibition “We Will Design”. The exhibition brought together work from emerging studios, designers, universities and academies, as well as casaBASE, a residence for five young designers; Rebecca Schedler, Joppe Broers, Goliath Dyèvre, Kaajal Modi and Nicholas Rapagnani. Additionally, one could find a range of projects by young designers, such as “The Paradoxical Screen” by Valentine Maurice and “Panta Rhei” by Hi Kyung Eun. BASE also hosted the IKEA Festival, which included both indoor and outdoor events as well as launches of new projects.

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