Over the Milano Design Week, the city upgrades into the beating heart of the design world, with worldwide excellences gathering in any corner spanning from the official trade fair to the FuoriSalone. On the occasion of the upcoming edition, we are going to drop a few national design itineraries, and will start with Netherlands first.
Here follows the complete Dutch design experience on show at the Milano Design Week 2018, including well-established masters of the field and young emerging talents.
Masterly | Palazzo Turati
Masterly – The Dutch in Milano is an annual gathering of Dutch designers, artisan producers and design agencies at the fascinating Palazzo Turati, which provides a one-of-a-kind stage drawing an increasing number of visitors every year.
The Dutch pavilion is ready to arise again with the best design and artisan craftsmanship the Netherlands has to offer, with the special aim of facing worldwide challenges like contemporary social issues, environmental problems and advanced technology, and showcasing cutting-edge projects inspired to Dutch art, cultural traditions and craftsmanship. Curated by Nicole Uniquole, the event has quickly turned into a major platform for cultural exchange and unmissable career chances in less than two years. The proof? Drinker & Dochters book-bracelet spotted by Copper Hewitt during the last edition, which was later featured in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Design Museum in New York.
The new participants include a couple of well-renowned Dutch designers, Frank Tjepkema and Osiris Hertman, along with the Rademakers Gallery in Amsterdam that will represent the works of many local artists.
Marcel Wanders
Studio Marcel Wanders blends with Natuzzi Italia’s Southern Italian DNA by unveiling two fresh new collections at the Milan Design Week: ’Agronomist’ and ‘Oceanographer’ – the former being contemporary, the latter boasting a vaguely rustic feel – succeed in incorporating hues of Apulian lifestyle, cultural and natural beauty into rounded furniture with vintage leather upholstery, large clay vases, and linear wooden furnishings.
Bar Anne | Museo Diocesano
Show, bar, creative hub all-in-one: here’s the newest concept by Anne van der Zwaag, the unconventional Dutch creative who gave shape to an innovative habitat with and for designers. A project by Space Encounters – the multi-awarded Amsterdam design firm –, Bar Anne is going to host a spectacular installation by Children of the Light.
Interiors are jointly penned by prestigious names such as Rick Tegelaar, VanTot, Mae Engelgeer, Klaas Kuiken, Dirk van der Kooij, and Jolan van der Wiel, just to name a few. All showcased items are available for use and testing, and visitors are welcome to enjoy food, aperitifs, and late night dancing sessions anytime.
In partnership with Frame Magazine, an extensive agenda of design talks and meetings is going to be scheduled, while Amsterdam brand Lensvelt, first founded in 1962 and specialising in manufacturing creative furniture, is expected to set up the exhibition Nothing New.
Ventura Centrale
On the occasion of the Milano Design Week 2017, Ventura Projects managed to reuse the formerly abandoned industrial warehouses in Milan’s Central Railway Station for the pleasure of both local and international visitors. This year, Ventura Centrale is going to blow our minds with equally spectacular design solutions.
For ‘Transitions III: Experimental Inventiveness‘, six major Dutch design studios have been invited to work with the company’s extensive collection of materials.
Bart Joachim van Uden, Christian Heikoop, Floris Wubben, Job van der Berg, Mae Engelgeer and Studio Truly Truly will show the public amazing techniques, applications and combinations. The director of the exhibition will be Harm Rensink, known for his spatial design experience.
Ventura Future
Ventura Future aims at showcasing a huge array of projects in several locations – like Loft and FutureDome, the latter being a historic Liberty-style Milanese townhouse where representatives of Futurism once used to gather, and now offering a pilot housing museum aimed at enhancing contemporary art and design under the coordination of Ginevra Bria and Atto Belloli Ardessi. The most buzzed-about highlights include: Editions Milano with Patricia Urquiola and Federico Peri, Mason and Mingardo with creations by Federica Biasi, Denis Guidone, Mae Engelgeer, and Valerio Sommella.
Dutch designer Nick Boers is going to join up the play: his creation “Random press tool” creates unique vases out of cast wax with the use of randomly generated codes, and is going to be combined with his newest invention called “Random acts of violence”, aimed at investigating the possibilities of using destruction as a form of creation.
Smart technologies, great results: that’s what the Amsterdam-based innovator Aectual is seeking after. On the occasion of Ventura Future 2018, they will unveil Aectual Floors, a 3D-printed flooring system that asks designers to expand the boundaries of floor making. The software indeed allows for complete design customising, the bio plant-base material is sustainable and the parting technique provides a wide range of colours and motifs to craft massive seamless floors.
Visitors will see a variety of configurations and styles, alongside patterns designed by DUS Architects for the public areas at Schiphol Airport.
Satellite & Isola
Concurrently with Salone Satellite, the group show Dutch Design is going to involve 6 local studios; Spazio O’ in the ’Isola neighbourhood will be home to Crafts Council – a workshop featuring both Italian and Dutch craftsmen – and Dutch Invertuals, whose avant-garde group show MUTANT MATTER is curated by Wendy Plomp and includes artists of the likes of Fleur Hulleman, Fransje Gimbrère, Marlou Rutten and Mirjam de Bruijn.
