London designer Max Lamb presented ‘Exercises in Seating’ during Milan Design Week in our favourite zone, 5VIE. The retrospective exhibition showcased 42 of Max’s seat designs all arranged in a circular configuration, like a group council meeting, around the edges of Spazio Sanremo. The pieces were ordered roughly chronologically starting from his first piece he created while studying at London’s Royal College of Art through to his most recent, that he designed specifically for the Milan show. Through the assistance of curator Federica Sala , Max’s wife and Max’s Australian partner in designer crime Nic Gardner they created one of the most powerful and refreshing moments of the week.

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The urban district of 5VIE just by the side of Duomo was our stand out area this year during Milan design week. In it’s second year 5VIE art+design is a project promoted by the no-profit association Networking Milano Giovani, which brings together different sectors in this particular area of the city in agreement with retailers, schools, social foundations, public and cultural bodies, the church, residents and many others. Everything is supported by the Milan council and supported by Fondazione Cariplo. This year the area dedicated the week to Italian architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni,

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DIMORESTUDIO celebrated their ten year anniversary in the presence of this years Salone in Milan. The two designers Emiliano Salci and Britt Mortan were the talk of the town presenting their new collection PALMADOR2015  within the Brera Design District in their usual appartamento setting. Simplicity in suggestions. Purity of colour. Mistakes in colour. Reminiscences of decor. Softness of step. Magic of sound. Glow of the lights. Transparency of the shelves. Vertical reflection. Uncontaminated green.

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One major highlight at Ventura Lambrate this year was definitely the adaptation of the exhibition ‘Kneeling’ by the Dutch group WE MAKE CARPETS. It took them 7 long days to install their incredibly visual carpART’s ( as we like to call them ) on the floor of the industrial setting within Ventura.

The original Kneeling was a big solo exhibition by WE MAKE CARPETS that displayed their clever temporary contemporary carpets, held last year commemorating their five year anniversary at MU Eindhoven in the Netherlands. That year they  also launched  a beautiful book: Kneeling Five years of WE MAKE CARPETS which is a must BUY.

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During Milan Design Week the iconic Italian fashion brand MARNI housed a colourful fruit market inspired by the homonymous market of Bogota’, Colombia. Exaggerating the elements of the market place, MARNI used the bold colours and the exotic fruits to re work limited edition interior interpretations and forms, that were all available for purchase. MARNI Mercado de Paloquemao is linked to the theme of Milan’s up and coming EXPO this year which is predominantly food focused. The rich banquet style fruit trays that housed pineapples, guanabana, zapote and curuba were available to be whizzed up into a juice during their workshops held over the design week weekend,

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Returning to Spazio Rossana Orlandi this year, Sé unveiled eight new pieces for Collection III by Nika Zupanc. The collaboration between Slovenian designer Zupanc and the international furniture brand, founded by Pavlo Schtakleff, has expanded to include a sofa, armchair, dining chair, sideboard version of the Loyalty Cabinet, and a range of mirrors. We have followed the progression and journey of Se’ over the years having bumped into Pavlo around the globe, Milan, New York, Sweden and London where years ago he kindly gave us a tour of his studio. He has endeavored to work with amazing craftsman and artisans over the years to create the designer visions of Nika and other Sé designers like Jaime Hayon and Langlois-Meurinne.

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Spazio Rossana Orlandi is always one of our favourite locations to visit during Milan Design Week, you enter through those iconic RO gates through to the courtyard and wined your way down the industrial staircase in order to find break through designers in the basement. The duo YOY, a Tokyo based design studio composed by Naoki Ono, a spatial designer, and Yuki Yamamoto, a product designer were the exact breakthrough we were looking for. Founded in 2011, their design theme is to create a new story between space and objects.. . .