Dior x Phillipe Starck

Philippe Starck weaves an enthralling wonderland in the heart of Dior Maison’s home in Palazzo Citterio in Brera for Milan Design Week 2023. Within the expansive space, he suspends Miss Dior chairs from the first Dior by Starck collection back in 2022 and forms a layered aerial carousel that alludes to the whimsical times of one’s childhood. The magnetic black floor mirrors the fictive performance throughout the space, basking the breadth of the room in a hypnotic and immersive experience.

Bottega X Gaetano Pesce

Taking over the house’s entire Via Montenapoleone boutique, Pesce and his team were given creative carte blanche to construct a huge scaffold structure, under which they draped hand-painted canvas, sprayed it in situ with resin, and back-lit it so it became an immersive grotto.

More of Less – GStar Raw 

Denim brand G-Star RAW and leading artist and designer Maarten Baas have teamed up to create a series of thought-provoking art and design objects made from denim waste. The ‘‘More or Less’’ exhibition explores one of the fundamental predicaments of our time: the tension and duality between the desire for more – and the need for less. 

Hermes

Hermès opted to go minimal in Milan, taking over La Pelota with an iron rod and concrete framework which was engineered to deliberately spurn excess. Its interplay of grids and lines creates, in this radical and powerful structure, an ideal yet very real space for representation. The Hermès creations for the home presented here assert strength through subtraction with effortless presence. This is the very essence of design, drawing inspiration from materials and expressed through skilled know-how.

Nike X ISPA

Known primarily for their active wear and sports equipment, Nike transforms a former bakery into a production line that explores sustainable sneaker designs. Titled ISPAnificio, this project was a collaboration with the ISPA collective, whose name stands for Improvise, Scavenge, Protect, Adapt. 

The collaboration presented three shoes, each made without the use of adhesive materials which allow for the product to be disassembled and repurposed at the end of its lifespan.

OMA x Solid Nature 

Beyond the Surface is an installation designed to explore the journey of natural stones from its geological formations to the finished product.

The exhibition designed by OMA for SolidNature is divided into two sections – an underground sequence of rooms showcasing the transformational process and an open-air collection of stone furniture in the palazzo’s garden provided by invited artists.

Poltronova

An iridescent maze leads visitors through a unique curation of classic objects. Dubbed ‘Ultrafavola: Beyond the Mirror,’ the exhibition takes inspiration from Poltronova’s bestseller — the legendary ‘Ultrafragola’ mirror designed by Ettore Sottsass — inviting visitors to go beyond reflective surfaces and discover the magical dimension of Poltronova’s product catalog.

OBJECTS OF COMMON INTEREST

Objects of Common Interest imagines liquified iridescent resin as solid sets of glossy furniture. The crystalline liquid of resin is poured into molds, and once it hardens, it can mimic natural materials such as iron, marble, or wood. Through this technique, Objects of Common Interest can melt the furniture back to their original liquid state and transfigure these pieces into new forms of being

GUBI

TEN: Beyond the Beetle’, a special exhibition hosted by Danish brand Gubi and curated by Marco Sammicheli pays creative homage to GamFratesi’s ‘Beetle’ chair, an icon created ten years ago. 10 artists were invited to reimagine the ‘Beetle’ chair and the end result was a collection of expressive and playful works, displayed in the atmospheric Sala Mosaico, located on the first floor of the Bagni Misteriosi that overlooks the Piscina Grande, or main pool.

‘MOMENTUM’ by MAD ARCHITECTS 

 As if balancing on one of its tips, ready to fall over, ‘Momentum’ stuns visitors with its ethereal skin, impressive scale, and AR-powered design. During the daytime, the installation’s skin reflects the surrounding environment of the Statale University courtyard, becoming an ever-changing art form of its own. As night falls, and ‘Momentum’ returns to its transparent and ethereal nature, a lighting design by Luce & Light transforms the cube into a striped, glowing lantern — giving it a new character and opening up new ‘dimensions’ of exploration.