Highlights From Milan Design Week 2019.

#HTE

I mean, seriously. How do I effectively sum up the magnitude of Milan’s annual Design Week and its ginormous furniture fair, Salone del Mobile? Although this has been our annual task for more years I care to admit (2019 marks our 6th consecutive MILANTRACE project –faaark!, and my 10th visit to Milan in the last 12 years), I still feel like words fail me.

Although I feel like we’ve seen A LOT this year, and certainly more than most over the last decade, the scale and enormity of Milan design week is impossible to sum up in a paragraph. It’s something that truly needs to be experienced first-hand to be fully appreciated. Case in point is one of our dear colleagues, Bec, who came along to Milan for the first time this year. She’s been working with us for close to 6 years, having been a part of MILANTRACE from the very beginning. You’d think that someone like her would be best prepared for what this week entails – she’s heard me wax lyrical about our experience each year in intimate detail in addition to singlehandedly wrestling with thousands of press kits, and tens of thousands of Milan images and photos. So how did she go? Well, best you ask her that directly, but let’s just say her response was along the lines of – “I don’t think I was quite prepared for how crazy this week really gets”. Word.

Despite our meticulously planned itinerary which leaves very little to chance, our small but seriously dedicated team of four has seen so very much in six and a half VERY BIG DAYS, but I still feel like much of it hasn’t been possible due to the sheer enormity and the geographical spread of the events. How much more can Milan Design Week grow, I hear you ask? I don’t know, but after a while, the whole thing starts to get a bit silly. And how about all the crazy long queues everywhere? I’m sorry, but waiting for hours to see just one installation is not normal, you guys. And while I can’t say we need to do the queues these days, the pace of our itinerary is so intense, that after a while, I personally struggle to take in and process another installation, another product, another collaboration, which is awful as someone’s gone to a lot of effort to produce whatever might be in front of me. Because each year I feel an increased sense of responsibility to see more, do more, meet more designers, respond to more emails/ Instagram messages etc. I guess you could say that, in some way, I felt beaten by the system this year, coupled by the sheer fact a crazy amount of you reached out to us, and me personally, and we simply couldn’t do anything about it because our small team was massively outnumbered.

Alas, the show must go on, and we kept our eyes on the prize the entire week in order to ensure another brilliant MILANTRACE could be produced via our live talks and digital reports. To that end, there were so many incredible moments I cherish from this year, like our visit to Fondazione Prada where we finally got to spend a good part of the day outside of the craziness of Salone (yes man, highly recommended!); the sensational Broken Nature exhibition at Triennale, which was so moving and powerful even though I was completely flatlining from a severe case of jetlag that almost left me in tears; Studiopepe’s manifesto project ‘Les Arcanistes ‘ – can these girls do anything wrong; the most sublime experience at Draga & Aurel’s first solo show Transparency, which was one of my personal highlights; the gorgeous SIX Gallery and Fanny Bauer Grung and David Lopez Quincoces’ preview of their new establishment The Sister Hotel (plus, their baby girl is due literally any day now – congrats guys!); Raf Simon’s uber-cool installation for Kvadrat dubbed ‘No Man’s Land’ which made me feel like I really needed to up my Spotify playlist game; a couple of incredible new discoveries at Salone del Mobile and the biannual Euroluce (more about that later); Note’s brilliant installation for Tarkett which elevated the humble vinyl to new heights, and so on and so forth!

I mean, I really could keep going on and on, until the break of dawn… I guess you’ll just have to stay tuned for more of #MILANTRACE2019, and come along to one of the talks, presented in partnership with Living Edge, to hear the rest. Something tells me you won’t be disappointed.

Baci, Mama Yellowtrace xx

COME TO OUR ROCKING TALKS!

Brisbane: Wednesday, 15 May 2019 (Evening Session)
Perth: Thursday, 16 May 2019 (Evening Session)
Sydney: Thursday, 23 May 2019 (Lunchtime Session)
Sydney: Thursday, 23 May 2019 (Evening Session)
Melbourne: Tuesday, 28 May 2019 (Lunchtime Session)
Melbourne: Tuesday, 28 May 2019 (Evening Session)
Adelaide: Thursday, 13 June 2019 (Evening Session) – More Details Soon

Gucci’s temporary ‘apartment’ pop-up on via Sant’Andrea was a thrilling manifestation of the fashion brand in a more-is-more home environment. Squeal! A riot of colours, pattern on pattern, was the name of the game here, showcasing the latest additions to the luxury brand’s homeware collection of furniture, dinnerware, crockery, porcelain, textiles and wallpaper. Photography © Dana Tomic Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

More details from the Gucci apartment pop-up. How great is that wallpaper in the middle? Can’t deal! Photography © Dana Tomic Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

The design rock stars of Milan, Emiliano Salci and Britt Moran of DimoreStudio, staged multiple shows during the week. This was their Interstellar installation showcasing the brand’s latest evolution, furniture brand DimoreMilano, set within the former Cinema Arti building, which absolutely captured the duo’s rock star status within a very dramatic, dark and moody setting accompanied with signature loud punk music. As many of you would know, I’ve been very critical of Dimore’s output in Milan over the last few years, but this year I was presently surprised, and at times even delighted. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Next door, Dimoremilano’s textile collection was displayed in a sequence of semi-abandoned rooms. On the walls were photos by Andrea Ferrari shot in various Milanese locations, forming part of the new Progetto Tessuti catalogue. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

At Spazio Maiocchi, iconic luggage brand RIMOWA and contemporary art magazine KALEIDOSCOPE presented Guillermo Santomá’s Gas. The young Spanish designer’s progressive outlook unfolded as a short film, a printed publication and an installation, which was inspired by the idea of a conceptual gas station, centred around a fully functioning car transformed with RIMOWA aluminium into a light and sound sculpture. So freaking cool, and you know it! Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

The main reason we visited Spazio Maiocchi was for Google’s installation “A space for wellbeing”, created with International Arts + Mind Lab at John Hopkins University and Suchi Reddy of Reddymade, entirely furnished by Muuto furniture. We didn’t take any photos during our visit, allowing instead to immerse ourselves in the quiet experience devised to understand how the brain responds to our aesthetic experiences, thereby exploring design’s impact on our biology. I’ll obviously share more in the coming talks and our Milan digital report, so stay tuned! Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

The entrance to Studiopepe’s manifesto project Les Arcanistes. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Les Arcanistes was largely considered a universal highlight from the week, and it’s not difficult to see why. Studiopepe are masters of capturing sublime beauty while keeping things fresh and unexpected. Ten points from me! Goes without saying we will dive into this installation in more detail soon. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Louis Vuitton’s Object Nomades took place inside Palazzo Serbelloni this year. And although these images look pretty damn spectacular, I have to admit the overall experience left me somewhat underwhelmed as I didn’t feel LV hit their usually extremely high presentation standards. (for example, I do not wish to see bare scaffolding rigging up the lights inside a palazzo where Napoleon once used to hang out with Josephine, if ya know what I’m sayin’, etc, etc.) Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Two of my favourites from the latest Objet Nomades release – Anemona tables by Atelier Biagetti, and super fun new chair collection by Raw Edges. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Stellar Works’ new collection was unveiled at Galleria Manzoni, presented as a series of theatrical installations titled ‘The Montage’, conceived by the brand’s creative directors Neri&Hu. Available in Australia from Living Edge. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Stellar Works also launched The Crawford Collection by Australian designer Tom Fereday (yay!) and Lane Crawford, shown in the image on the left. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Vogue Italia hosted the second edition of Life in Vogue, created by eight internationally acclaimed designers, which was probably even better than last year’s presentation. Shown here was my personal favourite – News Room designed by Storage Milano. Bliiiinnnnggggg! Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

A couple more from Life in Vogue – Talent Room by Pierre Marie, and Meeting Room by Massimiliano Locatelli. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

There were many moments I cherish from Milan this year, but as an Australian, perhaps the most remarkable one of all was Local Design’s 4th outing in Milan, curated by the tireless dynamo Emma Elizabeth, who assembled the largest ever group of Australian and New Zealand designers under one roof – 44 in total. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Local Milan was housed in a beautifully presented space accompanied by a bespoke soundscape by Australian DJ Mason Mulholland, arresting floral installation by Berlin-based, Australian floral stylist Ruby Barber, while the Milan-based, Australian graphic designer and creative director Bradley Seymour put his spin on the visual identity of the show. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Local Milan represents an extraordinary effort by the young designer, stylist and curator who highlights just how much home-grown talent we have in this country while placing Australian Design on the global map, having doubled the participants and raised the bar of the show’s presentation year on year. Kudos! Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

The Symbolic Room by Atelier Aveus transforms Martina Gamboni PR agency’s meeting room for another year. On the right is the spectacular view from the office terrace back towards the Duomo, with Masquespacio’s Land for Poggi Ugo terracotta planters in the foreground. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Masquespacio’s site-specific installation celebrated 100 years of one of Italy’s most important ancient furnaces – Poggi Ugo, used to produce terracotta. Curated by Valentina Guidi Ottobri, the project explored new aesthetics visions for Terracotta and its natural essence, as a lush and peaceful oasis. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Palazzo Litta hosted the sensational ECHO courtyard installation by respected Chilean architects Pezo von Ellrichshausen, which was entirely mirrored on the outside, while the inside offered a different point of view. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Chatting to the charming French designer Emmanuel Babled, who’s Prime Matter Photobooth installation took place at the landing of Palazzo Litta’s main staircase. On the right is Lithea’s Bisanzio collection of small furniture and decorative marble wall tiles. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

LA-based cool kids from Atelier de Troupe launched their latest collection Neo Noir at Palazzo Litta. Extreme love! Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Kawashima Selkon Textiles is a Japanese company founded more than 170 years ago, specializing in kimono sashes, curtains, and screens. This year, the traditional silk textures are recreated in synthetic fibres with truly incredible results – the colours of the panels change in response to light and the viewing position. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Over on Via Solferino, Salvatori staged a series of installations ‘Hidden Rooms’, designed by the brand’s long term collaborator Elisa Ossino – who’s a total design rockstar and needs to be, mega-famous if you ask me. (She kind of already is, but I’m talking CRAZY FAMOUS so even your mum knows who you’re talking about, type thing.) Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

More scenes from Salvatori’s ‘Hidden Rooms’, overlooking the famous and super beautiful Via Solferino 11 shared courtyard. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

Up on level 3, Dimore Gallery hosted Visioni, a poetic installation of furniture and lights by the late Italian artist-designer legend Gabriella Crespi. Photography © Nick Hughes/ Yellowtrace.

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