2017 Milan Design Week and Furniture Fair

Inexhibit presents here the program of events and our articles of the 2017 edition of Milan Design Week, taking place in various locations across Milan from April 4 through 9, 2017. This page is a work-in-progress which will be constantly updated during the festival; so, stay tuned!

2017 Milan Furniture Fair – Salone del Mobile (Fieramilano – Rho-Pero)
Along with thousands of products by over 2,000 manufacturers from all over the world, the 56th edition of the Milan Furniture Fair features also special events, talks, and exhibitions, including DeLightFuL a “warehouse”, curated by Simone Ciarmoli and Miguel Queda, presenting the relationship between classic pieces of furniture and new concepts of domestic space.

Design Districts 2017

Brera Design District
For the 2017 edition of Milan Design Week, the Brera District features over 150 events pivoting around this year’s theme “Designing is a game, playing is a project”. Events on schedule include exhibitions, talks, and meetings. Lezioni di Design (Design Lessons) is a series of meetings, special projects, and initiatives. Aldo Rossi and Milan 1955-1995 is an exhibition focused on the work of celebrated Italian architect and designer Aldo Rossi (at the Architects Institute PPC of the Province of Milan, via Solferino, 19). Fragments / Majesty Betrayed is a large sculpture by the renowned Italian artist and designer Gaetano Pesce installed between via Brera and via Fiori Chiari. Curated by Migliore+Servetto Architects, the exhibition Space & Interiors showcases interior surfaces, floors, doors, and finishes (at The Mall – Porta Nuova, Piazza Lina Bo Bardi)

Tortona Design Week
The district presents a vast program of exhibitions and events in various locations around via Tortona. Base Milano, the largest venue in Tortona, hosts two main events; Design Nomade is a large exhibition focused on the concept of temporary housing, Manifattura 4.0, the challenge for the future of the Italian companies will feature the special projects “Green Smart Living”, and “rOBOTRIP. Also in Tortona,  Superdesign Show by Superstudio focuses on colors, with works and installations by Tokujin Yoshioka, Jin Kuramoto, Raw-Edges, Karim Rashid, and Patricia Urquiola, among others.

Ventura Lambrate & Ventura Centrale
As usual, also this year, the Ventura Design District pays special attention to young international designers and design schools worldwide. For the first time, the Ventura District has also a new venue in the heart of Milan. Entitled Ventura Centrale, the new space is located in a former warehouse inside the famous Centrale rail station.

Porta Venezia in Design
Among the events at Porta Venezia, the exhibition Double Signature – taking place at the GAM and organized by Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte, Living Corriere della Sera and Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship – presents 15 unique co-signed objects, created by European designers together with skilled Italian artisans. Featured designers comprise Pierre Marie, Sebastian Herkner, Uros Mihic, Cristina Celestino, Nika Zupanc, Emmanuel Babled, Lex Pott, Federico Pepe, Raw-Edges, Elisa Strozyk, Dimitri Bähler, Sara Ricciardi, Oskar Zieta, Felix Muhrhofer, Jan Plecháč & Henry Wielgus.

Isola Design District
Inaugurating this year, the new Isola design district features the exhibition of Kensaku Oshiro (in his own studio); Harvest, an exhibition of 10 young Dutch designers (at the space O’); and Milan Design Market, with works by 30 international designers, and a 6-axis manufacturing robot (on view in the Gianni Rizzotti gallery), among other events.

Zona Sant’Ambrogio
Events at Zona Santambrogio also include the event Inhabits-Milano Design Village presenting 5 designs for mobile houses (at Parco Sempione), and DOUTDESdesign, featuring projects focused on sustainability by under-35 designers. Part of the program is also EAT URBAN Street Food Festival, with food trucks from all over Italy.

Other venues

Triennale di Milano (Viale Alemagna, 6)
On April 1, 2017, the Milan Triennale inaugurates the 10th edition of its Design Museum. Entitled Giro Giro Tondo, the yearly semi-permanent exhibition focuses on design for children. The exhibition presents furniture, books, toys, and games, dating from the late 19th century to the present, including designs by Gio Ponti, Giuseppe Pagano, Bruno Munari, Gaetano Pesce, Marco Zanuso, Richard Sapper, Eero Aarnio, Naoto Fukasawa, Stefano Giovannoni, and Nendo, among others.
Other events at the Triennale for the Design Week 2017 include Takumi Exhibition focused on craft and art from Japan; House of Birds, presenting birdhouses by 24 Italian and international designers; Aisin, showcasing 3 installations focused on innovative mobility by Japan’s Satoshi Yoshiizumi, Hideki Yoshimoto, and Shingo Abe + Yutaka Endo; Entangled features 80 selected works by 40 designers and artists from the Design Workshops 2016 program of Design Foundation Istanbul; Lexus International Lexus Yet presents a research and interactive installation by Neri Oxman of the MIT Media Lab and her research and design team, The Mediated Matter Group, as well as 12 Lexus Design Award finalists’ works; Presented by the Hong Kong Design Centre, Confluence • 20+ features 20 projects, by 22 Hong Kong’s designers, focused on creative ecosystems.

Università degli Studi di Milano
Entitled Material Immaterial, the 2017 edition of the exhibition-event of the Interni magazine at the Milan University investigates the dualistic relationship between the “material” plane of construction of a project – starting with materials and the technological and digital modes of its making – and the “immaterial”  conceptual and visionary dimension from which a project originates. The exhibition features micro-architectures, macro-objects, and experimental installations, designed by international architects and designers with special attention to sustainability and innovative manufacturing processes. Along with Milan University, other venues which are part of the exhibition include the Orto Botanico in Brera and the former Seminario Arcivescovile.

Fabbrica del Vapore (Via Giulio Procaccini, 4)
Curated by Beppe Finessi, the exhibition Salonesatellite. 20 Years of New Creativity is an anthology of pieces presented during the twenty editions of SaloneSatellite as prototypes, which then went into production