Milan Design Week – Design’s sustainable solutions
During this year’s Milan Design Week over 386,000 visitors packed into the Salone del Mobile. In the city, there were more. Creatives and design aficionados from around the globe filled the streets during the world’s biggest annual design event.
The subject that has dominated Milan Design Week in recent years is undoubtedly sustainability. Environmental impact was the overriding feature among designers and brands from around the globe, but the highlight of the week was the fantastic Broken Nature exhibition at the Triennale di Milano, curated by MoMA’s Paola Antonelli. It highlighted the concept of restorative design in an effort to fix some of the destruction of the natural world caused by humans. From the Capsula Mundi, a beautifully poetic approach to death, to insect architecture and marine cleansing solutions created from wool destined for landfill, it presented just innovative and rediscovered solutions that could literally, make a world of difference.
Elsewhere, organic new materials and plastic recycling initiatives were just some of the ways that the design world is trying to reduce our impact.
Estrima, in collaboration with Mandalaki Studio, presented Birò 02, “the first electric concept car made with 80% recycled plastics.”
As part of the Broken Nature exhibition, Aki Inomata recreated the shell of the prehistoric ammonite out of resin using 3D scanning and printing techniques, and placed it in an aquarium with a small octopus to explore the evolutionary knowledge of the species.
Capsula Mundi is an egg-shaped pod made of biodegradable material, containing the bodies or ashes of the dead. A tree, planted on top, serves as a memorial, while the egg is buried as a seed, in the earth. This cultural and broad-based project addresses death and burial in a poetic way and aims to convert graveyards into forests.
The Newsroom Office by StorageMilano. Four design studios converted rooms within the offices of Vogue Italia. The Newsroom highlighted the continued trend for soft pink, rose gold and gold tones, as well as a resurgence in the Art Deco style.
Art deco style meets 80s aesthetics at Armani Casa.