This Year, Milan Design Week Shone Brightest Through the City’s Own Design Institutions

Nature also fused with design—from a Japanese forest rumination in Calico wallpaper to wilderness projection mapping on Kvadrat textiles. Amid this impressive array of international designers releasing work this Milan Design Week, nothing compared to the presence of Milan’s own design institutions. And for most tenured attendees, these were not only the week’s first few stops but they will be the lasting memories.

Alcova

With experimental design set in the abandoned buildings of Centro Ospedaliero Militare di Baggio, a former military compound now overrun with plant life, Alcova offered jarring visual collisions and meditative reclamations of space. Founded by Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima, the independent design fair has always presented thought-provoking projects with an inherent artistry. This year’s fourth edition was no different. From “Spoken Lines,” a thick and sculptural textile collaboration between Beni Rugs and Colin King that tunneled through an airy room, to a stained-glass corner and insectile furniture by industrial designer Kickie Chudikova, installations everywhere inspired.

Nilufar Gallery

Founded by Nina Yashar in 1979, Nilufar has long been one of the most acclaimed design destinations around the world. Yashar maintains two permanent Nilufar outposts—the vast Depot Gallery on Milan’s outskirts and the centrally located Nilufar Via della Spiga, which tucks items into several slender interconnected levels. For Milan Design Week, the Depot space assembled an astounding curation of high design, both contemporary and historic, unified by vibrant rugs from Martino Gamper. Toward one side, an entirely pink room enveloped geometric brass table lamps from Andrés Reisinger. Meanwhile, in the Via della Spiga location, Khaled El Mays unified maximalist modular seating into one serpentine display. These are but a few standouts from the two group shows.

Dimore Milano

Hosted in the haze of a shuttered second-floor apartment, Dimore Milano’s dreamlike Oublié exhibition aimed to emulate the experience of returning to a forgotten home. Inside, hidden smoke machines filled the air with fog and petals fell from dying flowers. Beneath this mysterious texture, each room was punctuated by the design gallery’s opulent lights and furnishings. Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci founded the architecture and design firm Dimore Studio in Milan in 2003. From this practice, Dimore Milano and its highly anticipated exhibitions were born.

Rossana Orlandi

Milan art and design icon Rossana Orlandi’s eponymous gallery, founded in 2002, is a meandering wonderland of craft, collectible design and mind-bending furniture. Down hallways, up stairwells and around corners, visitors attended three exhibitions entitled The Danish House, RO Collectible and Les Ami de RO’s Reveal. From future-heirloom-oriented Sé Collection’s disco-themed room, dubbed SÉ CHIC, to designer Shaikha Al-Sulaiti’s stool assembled from a deconstructed Birkin bag, the conceptual experience was second to none.

Triennale Design Museum

Populating the historic Palazzo dell’Arte, the Triennale Design Museum has had a permanent presence in Milan since 2007, where it continues to honor Italy’s immense design contributions along with those of influential international creators. During Milan Design Week, the Triennale Milano hosted four installations by Mathieu Lehanneur. The French designer utilized scientific data and satellite imagery to help visualize forms of environmental crisis. Japan design studio KOYORI presented five revelatory chairs and Italian furniture manufacturer Gufram celebrated 50 years of its twee Cactus collection. The centerpiece this year, complete with a DJ soundtrack, was a partnership with Memphis Milano that displayed more than 200 items from the colorful post-modern Memphis movement founded by Italy’s own Ettore Sottsass.