DESIGN WEEK

In a former hat factory in Via Savona 33, the Playful Home – The House of PresentFuture was staged, a real home with furnishing solutions designed for contemporary families. A place to live animated by talks on new domestic environments, round tables and workshops open to the public, for professionals and non-professionals, adults and children. The project presents a vision of living that is both flexible and concrete, with furnishings, accessories and services that bring to light and encourage those virtuous relationships that favour correct development: sustainability, wellbeing, biophilia, creativity and an aptitude for irony. Together with products from companies in the world of design, toys & games and greenery, the space will be enlivened by a calendar of appointments on a variety of topics related to families and the evolution of their living spaces. Talks, round tables and other events, organised in collaboration with experts and opinion leaders, open to the public and aimed at design professionals and others. For children, on the other hand, numerous creative workshops have been planned throughout the six days of Milan Design Week.

The project The Playful Home – La Casa del PresenteFuturo (The Playful Home – The House of the Present-Future), is realised in collaboration with the International Master’s Degree Course Design for Kids & Toys of POLI.design and the research laboratory CILAB (Creative Industries Lab) of Politecnico di Milano and the magazine Style Piccoli.

Hotel Regeneration – the exhibition/agora dedicated to contract design returned to Lambrate in 2021. In the Ventura Milano district, from 5 to 10 September, FuoriSalone wanted to give a signal of restart of the design exhibition world with the 2021 edition. Hybridization, contamination, alteration are the key words that guide the content and formal happening signed by architect Simone Micheli for FuoriSalone 2021, creating a space dedicated to hospitality in which functions contaminate and environments blend osmotically, thanks to an intelligent use of technology and materials connected to the world of innovation.

For the occasion, a talk was held to explore the latest trends in Interior Design for spaces dedicated to hospitality, promoted by the Master MID in Interior Design of Politecnico di Milano, managed by POLI.design in collaboration with SPD Scuola Politecnica Design.

The HOMI, The Lifestyle Salon, dedicated to furnishing accessories, objects and fragrances that characterise contemporary living spaces and new living scenarios, has included a talk by Anna Barbara, Professor of the Advanced Training Course in Olfactive Design, in the HOMI LAB event area. The talk, entitled “Olfactive design. The invisible qualities to design”, made tangible the importance of the new discipline Olfactive Design. Able to deal with aesthetic, but also physiological, neurological, behavioural, spatial, material and emotional aspects connected with interior design, but also with the outdoors of the spaces we design and inhabit, this new and complex discipline is fundamental and unavoidable in the design of environments and experiences.

During the week was held the study tour for a delegation of Colombian enrepreneurs on a trade mission organised by the Italian Chamber of Commerce for Colombia.

The lecturer Elisa Astori spoke about the Italian model related to the theme Furniture Design – The Italian Way, the reasons and the success of Made in Italy in the world, presenting some case studies of Italian companies and completing this introductory part with a guided visit to the Italian companies present at the Fuorisalone. The study tour is part of the strategic relationship that POLI.design is holding with the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Colombia for the transfer and exchange of competences in the field of Design.

Starting from his book “The age of excellence. Innovation and creativity to build a better world’, the internationally renowned designer and manager Mauro Porcini, together with the Rector of the Milan Polytechnic, Ferruccio Resta, tooked us on a practical and theoretical immersion into this new and exciting Renaissance: an era in which man has once again become the subject and object of all innovation, and in which the creation of a better world is only a prototype away. A journey to discover the age of excellence, the extraordinary moment we are living in, in which the possibilities provided by technology, globalisation and rapid communication allow any creative person to create products that can compete with and surpass those of the giants in the sector.

Among the central events of the Design Week, thanks to the collaboration between BASE and Design System of Politecnico di Milano, there has been the Public Program ‘Progettare la prossimità’, a fixed appointment of the Fuorisalone for five evenings, which has been held at BASE in the shadow of GAIA, the installation of the artist Luke Jerram dedicated to the planet Earth. Every day two debates have seen experts in the field, accompanied in dialogue by the professors of the Department and the School of Design of the Politecnico di Milano, to investigate different points of view on as many issues related to the city of proximity, from Neighborhood Services to Public Space in transformation, to platforms and economies of proximity.

This collaboration also led to the exhibition ‘Designing the proximity’, dedicated to 30 projects by students of the School of Design and POLI.design that have offered different interpretations of the term “proximity”, which will be presented from 5 to 11 September in the spaces of the former Ansaldo during the Fuorisalone week, as part of ‘We Will Design’.

Project developed during the course of Temporary Spaces 2 “Ephemeral”, Master’s Degree Course in Interior and Spatial Design, School of Design, Politecnico di Milano, Academic Year 2020/2021
Project title: Block 2: connected warehouses
Lecturers: Anna Meroni, Davide Fassi
Tutors: Martina Mazzarello, Francesco Vergani

Project developed during the course of Anthropology of Communication, Master’s Degree Course in Communication Design, School of Design, Politecnico di Milano, A.Y. 2020/2021
Project title: O_city. A city that follows the rhythm of humans. When space meets time.
Lecturer: Derrick De Kerckhove
Tutors: Katarina Radovic, Federico Alberto Brunetti.

Project developed during the course of Temporary Spaces 2 “Ephemeral”, Master’s Degree Course in Interior and Spatial Design, School of Design, Politecnico di Milano, Academic Year 2020/2021
Project title: Merano
Lecturers: Anna Meroni, Davide Fassi
Tutors: Martina Mazzarello, Francesco Vergani

Project developed during the New Interiors 2 course “Voliere Aperte. Building, dwelling, thinking Milan.” Master’s Degree Course in Interior and Spatial Design, School of Design, Politecnico di Milano, Academic Year 2020/2021
Project title: Core. Point of contact.

Project developed during the Product Service System Design Studio course “CityMatters_tangible & intangible products, services, systems & spaces”. Master’s Degree Course in Product Service System Design, School of Design, Politecnico di Milano, Academic Year 2020/2021
Project title: Mudha. Forget stuff and get wet.
Lecturers: Peter Di Sabatino, Luisa Collina, Laura Galluzzo
Tutors: Ilaria Bollati, Claudia Mastrantoni, Martina Mazzarello, Maddalena Mazzocchi

“The term VODY was coined from two words: “”void”” referring to the empty space, and “”body”” referring to the human body.” “Humans enters the void, giving new life to the car. We created the VODY to express the integration of human and car.”

The focus of Toyota Boshoku Design is always human-centered design. “What does a car look like if the seats and interior are human-centered? One answer is a car with seats that adjust to the human body. This is expressed in the VODY.” “Seats tailored to users, Seats that feel as if custom-made. As you know, people are tall, small, fat, or thin. The human body shape varies person to person.” “So, each person is patiently seated. Because the seat is adjusted based on data, no one needs to be patient with the seat.” “The VODY idea can apply not just to car seats but office chairs too. The VODY can be universal.”

The VODY uses biological information, especially breathing. “Sensing the breathing synchronizes the human with the car’s interior much like how a person and horse synchronize in horse riding.” “For example, when the engine is first started, it starts when the person’s breath syncs with the car’s interior. In meditation mode, the car guides the person in how to breathe.” “This is embodied in the display and the interior. Not just adapting to the person’s condition, but also interacting with the person.

This is the kind of interior we are pursuing. We want to rebuild the human-car relationship. “The car always senses, predicts, and adapts to the person’s condition, and thus has a positive effect on the person.” We developed the VODY with the aim of harmonizing and synchronizing people and cars.

To find out more click HERE!

A colourful African House hosted design works from different European countries thanks to the SEE ME IN project, financed by Interreg Central Europe funds and coordinated by Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, which aims to promote the business activities of artisans and artists born outside the European Community but regularly resident in one of its countries.
The project transformed a carpentry shop in La Stecca 3.0 into an open space where different cultures could talk and compare, in the name of art and design, generating creative mixes and artistic synergies thanks to the participation of the Milanese social tailor Kechic, the Croatian designer PURO AMOR, the Hungarian furniture makers of MULTIPRAKTIK, the Italian musicians of DJELISO and the German social furniture maker [p3]-Werkstatt.

To find out more about the project click HERE!

Florim, with an innate passion for beauty and design, has been producing ceramic surfaces for all building, architecture and interior design needs for 60 years. Headed by Claudio Lucchese, son of the founder Giovanni Lucchese, the company has a past rooted in the ceramic district of Sassuolo (MO) and a present as an international trendsetter in the sector.

Today the Group has around 1,400 employees worldwide and a turnover of over 400 million euros. Synonymous with quality, expertise, technical and aesthetic research, it is known to the market with several high-end Italian brands and a brand aimed at the North American market. With state-of-the-art production units, trading companies, partnerships in Europe, America, Asia and Flagship Stores or single-brand spaces, the company is well positioned in the most important design districts worldwide.

The strategy oriented towards quality, innovation and sustainability combines with the creative drive and commitment of its employees to transform the value known as “Made in Italy” into MADE IN FLORIM.

The company, after changing its statute and becoming a Benefit Society, obtained in 2020 the B Corp certification, the most important recognition for transparent, sustainable and regenerative companies.

To find out more click HERE!

An innovative space, more than 600 square metres of exhibition space on two floors, housing all the Porcelanosa Group’s brands, showcased an extraordinary selection of the latest trends in ceramics for floors and walls, natural materials, kitchens, bathrooms and construction solutions. Advice on product selection and design, quality and personalised assistance are just some of the features that make the Milan showroom – Piazza Castello, 19 – a unique reality of its kind available to both private individuals and professionals in the architecture and interior design sector.

To find out more about the project click HERE!