DESIGN

Add These Installations To Your Milan Design Week Itinerary

For one week in April, all eyes are on Milan as the city undergoes an overnight transformation into the world’s undisputed capital of all things design. Salone del Mobile attendees have much to see across the fair’s endless expanse of halls, but Fuorisalone is replete with hidden treasures. Here are the installations around town you don’t want to miss.

Atelier Biagetti: The King

Obsessions are standard fare for the enigmatic duo and Fuorisalone favorite, who this year delve into Elvis Presley and mankind’s propensity toward the impossible. They recreate the living room of a fantastical house anchored by The King Sofa, a colossal Paulin-esque modular sofa that recasts guitar cases as statuesque tables in exquisite Ravenna mosaics. 

April 17–23 at Piazza Arcole, 4


 

Ross Gardam: Transcendence

Known for fixtures that instill meditative moods, the Australian lighting designer presents a dynamic curation of luminaires that explore the innate allure of illuminated glass. The breadth of Gardam’s talents—and his boundless fascination with glass’s nonpareil ability to explore beyond the physical—will be on full display.

April 18–23 at Via Lovanio, N 6 


 

Giopato & Coombes: 18 Pockets

Six years of research culminate in 18 Pockets, a wondrous glimpse inside the minds of the Treviso lighting masters who have a knack for highlighting the immaterial’s magical qualities. On display is an array of their previous fixtures, which have morphed—both poetically and chaotically—into 18 one-of-a-kind luminaires in charming combinations through an intricate system of weight and balance. 

April 17–23 at Via San Maurilio, 19


 

Galerie Philia: Desacralized

More than 20 talents on the collectible design gallery’s roster explore desacralization in an apt setting: a deconsecrated 11th-century Milanese church that closed for worship 200 years ago. Among the highlights: Studiopepe’s octagonal marble side table inspired by Italian baptistery, Kar Studio’s chair inspired by China’s oldest Shang Dynasty script, and a monumental chandelier by Morghen Studio offering a transformative experience of light.

April 18–23 at Viale Lucania, 18


 

SolidNature: Beyond the Surface

The natural stone brand returns with an OMA-designed wonderland that draws parallels between quarrying stone and dreaming across seven cerebral rooms. Case in point: a lustrous table by Rotterdam’s resident material experimentalist Sabine Marcelis, who envisioned a chromatic ombré glass coffee table anchored by breathtaking stone blocks.

April 17–23 at Via Cernaia, 1


 

Objects of Common Interest: Poikilos 

The earliest references to iridescence date back to ancient Greece. This fact piqued the interest of Eleni Petaloti and Leonidas Trampoukis, the work-and-life partners behind Objects of Common Interest who maintain a studio in Athens. After learning secrets about resin from Romanian artisan Ovidiu Colea, the duo devised a series of ethereal objects and tables whose opalescence and sinuous curves make Nilufar Depot pulse with energy.

April 17–24 at Viale Lancetti, 34 


 

Loewe Chairs

Jonathan Anderson’s unwavering attention to craft now focuses on reimagining chairs into distinctive totems laden with texture and personality, particularly through color and weaving. The chairs on display balance materials close to Loewe’s alphabet—leather, raffia—with unexpected techniques involving the foil of thermal blankets, elevating the humble stick chair into a springboard for unbridled woven decoration.

April 17–23 at Palazzo Isimbardi


 

Suchi Reddy: Shaped by Air

Carbon neutrality is at the core of the Reddymade Architecture and Design founder’s outing with Lexus, whose first iteration was teased during last year’s Miami Art Week. Superstudio visitors wander through a gently swaying forest of Matisse-like forms to discover a to-scale interpretation of the Lexus Electrified Sport that, as the name suggests, is shaped by air.

April 18–23 at Via Tortona, 27


 

Photography by William Jess Laird

In Common With and Sophie Lou Jacobsen: Bar Flora

Sophie Lou Jacobsen has already proven an ideal creative collaborator with In Common With founders Nick Ozemba and Felicia Hung, whose Flora Collection use centuries-old Venetian glassmaking techniques to mimic natural forms. The fruits of their partnership will transform the wood-paneled interior and outdoor garden of Palinurobar into a full-fledged floral oasis and debut two new additions, including a sandblasted amber colorway.

April 17–19 at Via Giovanni Paisiello, 28


 

Byredo: Bal D’Afrique by Dozie Kanu

We’ve praised Byredo’s ability to swerve out of bounds for a typical fragrance house, such as enlisting photographer Gabriel Moses to help reintroduce Bal D’Afrique, one of the perfumer’s most beloved fragrances, through a new lens. That journey continues thanks to founder Ben Gorham teaming with Portugal-based talent Dozie Kanu, who captured the scent’s essence with a showcase that mixes his own nonconforming objects with photographic negatives from photographer Adjoa Armah’s saman archive.

April 18–23 at Via Achille Maocchi, 10

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