Review of Salone del Mobile.Milano 2014, Milan Design Week, Italy

Salone del Mobile Milano, the most expected international event for the furnishing and design sectors, last from 8 to 13 of April, 2014, at Fiera Milano, Rho. The 53rd edition of Salone del Mobile Milano along with the side events EuroCucina (International Kitchen Furniture Exhibition), International Bathroom Exhibition and SaloneSatellite, bring in Milan all the innovations on furniture with about 2’400 Italian and international exhibitors. With more than 350.000 visitors, designers, architects, critics, intellectuals and trendhunters for a week full of emotions, innovation, design, technology and attractions to make from this event, one of the best global experiences for professionals.

Milan Design Week, one of the most important events related to the world of design and architecture at international level. More than a design event, Salone del Mobile is a cultural statement, where the state of the art of design is presented every year, and where professionals can get new information about the novelties. The salone del mobile is the place where new products are launched annually, and is the must-see sectoral appointment every year, continuously reaffirming milan’s role as the capital of design.

As the world’s largest and most important furniture fair, Salone del Mobile is the key event of Milan design week 2014. The week-long program brings forth special events, exhibitions and product presentations, where everyone who’s anyone on the international furniture and manufacturing scene comes together to observe and get-in-tune with the latest industry developments.

Salone del Mobile Milano showcasing design excellence, quality and innovation, celebratiing the latest design trends and innovations, Salone del Mobile Milano offer the platform explore cutting-edge innovations and intricate Italian craftsmanship exhibited, exchange ideas and indulge in the most recent furniture, product, and interior design technologies. Quality and innovation, along with major collateral events and a comprehensive, wide range of goods are the ingredients that make the Salone such an unmissable event.

Salone del Mobile animated the Milan Design Week, enhancing, once again, the central role of the city on topics such as the culture of design and the importance of the Made in Italy worldwide. The Salone Internazionale del Mobile Salone Internazionale del Mobile Salone Internazionale del Mobile, split into three style categories: Classic, Modern andDesign, the International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition and hibition SaloneSatellite,was flanked by the biennial Euroluce / International Lighting Exhibition in Pavilions 9 ilions 9-11 and 13-15 and Workplace3.0/SaloneUfficio, dedicated to the workspace, in Pavilions 22- 24.

The Salone del Mobile is proud to be seen as the capital of design and keen to retain its pre-eminence, demonstrating again this year that it is the ideal context for an event of such importance. Because Milan, together with the Salone, has the power to highlight and throw into great relief the entire sector, from the talented young designers to the great international names, to the innovative startups to the historic companies.

The Salone del Mobile Milano calling for the city and the design industry to promote innovation and sustainability at this year’s event, intent geared to channelling the forces in Milan to work together to preserve the leadership role of both the city and the trade fair. It calls for architects, designers and brands to pay attention to the circular economy, respect Milan’s architectural development, encourage sharing of ideas, and champion the work of young designers.

The strength of the Salone del Mobile.Milano is strictly connected to the uniqueness of the furniture supply chain, a widespread ecosystem of industrial and cultural values. ​​It is an extraordinary plot that links creativity, ingenuity and industry, and that makes Italian design a strength of strategic importance for the whole Italian system. It is one of the best business cards that the city of Milan, which has always been able to interpret its time with an international spirit, can show the world.

This year the Salone once again turns the spotlight, on the one hand, on the centrality of Milan, which continues to gather international acclaim and recognition, and on the other, on the creative ability and generosity of spirit of the industrial network at its base that works to offer the world excellence. The Salone del Mobile.Milano proposes an emotional and intellectual involvement of all its actors in order to go beyond what has been achieved so far, to consolidate that leadership role that the Exhibition and the city have conquered over the years, and attract, more and more, new projects and talents.

The trends of Milan Design Week 2014, many brands have shown new products in gold finish. Many brands have gone for gold for this Milan Salone del Mobile. Jungle mood has invaded Milan. Plants and green are protagonist of the many sets. Sharp corners have been replaced by rounded shapes, as well has bright hues and neon finally have been replaced by soft hues, most of them natural shades, like greens, light blues, browns and greys.

Highlights
Milan Design Week with innovative products and solutions for contemporary living come together, presenting outstanding products and solutions for contemporary living with an informed eye to the future and which combine design, technology, flexibility and sustainability. The vast array of exhibits give glimpses into the future of home design and outdoor space. Underneath the larger Fair are also various smaller events, including the International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition, EuroCucina, the International Bathroom Exhibition.

Top-notch brands with tantalizing new features such as Hastens, Kvadrat, Iittala and Tom Dixon, while for the fashion industry world-renowned exhibitors arrive in force, such as Ferré, Ungaro and Pierre Cardin that make the already wide range of goods even richer. They return to exhibit also significant names like Flötotto, Gebr. Thonet, SCP, Treca and Wittmann.

As every year, the Salone del Mobile 2014 was supported by the event FuoriSalone, or Design Week, the most important exhibition in the world related to the topic of design, with events of great charm and originality, that animate the entire city of Milan, and in particular the areas of Brera and Via Tortona.

During the week of the Salone del Mobile and FuoriSalone, there was a range of discounts and special offers for visitors to both exhibitions, which among other things can enter for free in major museums such as the Museo del Novecento in Milan, the Archaeological Museum, the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of the Castello Sforzesco and many others.

The 2014 salone del mobile presents the biennial Eurocucina exhibition, EuroCucina present innovative high quality kitchen products, responding to the steady rise in demand for functionality from increasingly savvy consumers. Stainless steel and natural stone seem to have the edge in this edition. Technological innovation, energy efficiency, ease of use and aesthetic considerations characterise the goods on show.

Workplace3.0 is an exhibition with an innovative concept, devoted to design and technology for planning the workspace in the round. The exhibition underpinned by an innovative concept, devoted to design and technology in workplace planning, bring together the different components of the workplace in a single space, showcasing proposals and design solutions for living the workplace in its many different contemporary interpretations.

Workplace3.0 bring togetherthe top proposals from the furnishing world for office, top proposals from the furnishing world banks, insurance offices, post offices and other public spaces, seating for offices and public spaces, acoustics, flooring and coverings, lighting and office accessories as well as audio-video technologies and communication.

SaloneSatellite, the unrivalled opportunity for interaction between young designers, businessmen, architects, interior designers and the press, was back in Pavilions 22 and 24, alongside Workplace3.0. The event allows emerging young designers to showcase their products and also gives them a chance of being selected to take part in the next edition of the SaloneSatellite Award competition, for the 3 best prototypes on exhibit, relating to the goods categories on show.

Design Districts of Milan Design Week 2014
The events of Milan Design Week are spread all over Milan, but are concentrated in some main areas. A series of main districts, namely Porta Venezia, San Babila, Tortona, The 5 Vie, Sant’Ambrogio or San Gregorio. During the Fuorisalone, these districts take center stage with an abundance of events including DJ sets, exhibitions and performances hosted at various locations across the city, comprising former industrial spaces, ateliers, artisanal workshops, ‘botteghe’ and the showrooms of big-name brands.

Milan Design Week drawn on the illustrious past of Milan, with it rich history in architecture, art, and design, old palazzi and churches as backdrops for the most interesting exhibits, and reissues of classic designs stealing the spotlight from new product introductions. For one week, Milan was transformed into an open gallery, with historical palazzos and museums, public places and little hidden gems welcoming design aficionados from the world over. It has established a necessary bridge between artists and attendees, creating a vibe of memorable networking. The city is full of design and events, inside palaces, courtyards, buildings, piazzas, museums, abandoned factories, galleries, showrooms and other locations, organized in zones or districts.

Brera Design District
Brera is a place full of charm and culture, a world accustomed to anticipating trends, where art, fashion and design intertwine. The design district par excellence on the occasion of the days of the Fuorisalone, opens the doors of its shops, the most prestigious showrooms and temporary spaces in private places of suggestive beauty, to citizens and tourists curious to discover this hidden corner of a Milan outside from time.

Discover the new Brera Experience. The best way to discover and get to know the district’s places and secrets. Brera Design District also features a selection of the best commercial activities, i.e. those that best represent the identity of this historic district of Milan between design, lifestyle, food, art and culture. The Brera Design District offers, as always, a large number of events that animate the neighborhood and which alternate with the many design showrooms hosted here.

Brera Design District attracts the largest number of events and is the most visited and most representative district of the Fuorisalone. Born with the 2010 edition, the Brera Design Week has been able to increase over the years the number and quality of the events it hosts, for many, Fuorisalone means Brera and Brera Design Week is the reference platform, open to collaboration with companies and designers thanks to dedicated project formats.

Brera has the charm of the Milan art district and has a somewhat Parisian, bohemian personality. When you stroll through its streets, especially in April during the Fuorisalone, you can breathe an extravagant, young and international atmosphere. Brera is an iconic place. It has always been the bohemian place in Milan par excellence, where you can breathe that artsy atmosphere, thanks also to the Academy and the studios of photographers and painters. Now Brera is increasingly linked to design and this passage has respected the creative and special soul of the neighborhood, indeed it has brought new life.

Brera Design District aims to communicate Brera as a reference point for Milanese design, a territorial marketing operation which, through a communication system dedicated to the promotion of excellence and strengths active in the area, intends to enrich the proposal. cultural appeal and the district’s appeal capable of combining tradition and innovation in the widespread field of design.

Brera Design District was born in the historic Milanese district of Brera, a place that for centuries has provided a fundamental contribution to the cultural, artistic and commercial life of the city. The boundaries of BDD range from the Bastioni di Porta Nuova to via Broletto, from via Legnano to via Montenapoleone, including historic buildings of great cultural importance such as the Academy of Fine Arts, the Piccolo Teatro and the Basilica San Simpliciano.

In the 5th edition of Brera Design District, the most important international brands meet in the historic district of Milan with a busy calendar of activities open to the public. Lessons of Design is a reflection that aims to promote the culture of design, where the history of design and experiences in the field are the key to interpreting the contemporary that goes hand in hand with innovation.

“Be District: creating connections, communicating innovation”: being a district means first of all creating connections. The time lag between creating new products, adding value to existing ones, and launching them on the market is shrinking around the world. Where there is a high technological quotient this process is faster. Brand and product are no longer enough, online reputation and communication develop according to different principles and new markets require different and innovative development models.

From this edition, Brera Design District also establishes the Design Lessons Award, a symbolic recognition dedicated to those who stand out in the international field thanks to their design lessons, an excellent case history in generating innovation and high-value content.

The prize for this edition was awarded to Ambra Medda, co-founder of Design Miami – with whom she revolutionized the art fair format – and co / founder and Creative Director of L’Arcobaleno, magazine and online shop dedicated to design collectible, a creative forge that brings together designers, gallery owners, curators and creatives in a single format.

Ambra Medda is a perfect interpreter of the proposed theme, her work with L ‘Arcobaleno defines a new format for the promotion and communication of design, a reference point for professionals. You have promoted a new way of communicating design online, in a mix of design, art, fashion and music, where author pieces, new faces and limited edition e-commerce meet.

Also valuable was the contribution on the theme offered by AIS / Design, the Italian Association of Design Historians, founded in 2009 to promote and disseminate historical knowledge of design, even outside the academic world. The Italian Association of Design Historians (AIS / Design), together with Brera Design District, aims to activate a debate and a schedule of activities to discover the history of design through an innovative interpretation, functional to the reading of contemporary and definition of new marketing strategies for related companies.

Open discussion also with Aldo Cibic and Giulio Iacchetti, two extremely active figures on the Italian scene who exhibit in the Brera Design District, to whom we asked for a contribution and a discussion on the subject.

Porta Venezia Design District
Porta Venezia In Design, the fuorisalone circuit that combines design and art with the architectural and decorative heritage of the Liberty style. A Milan itinerary for the Design Week to combine design & art, food & wine with Liberty Architectu re herit age. PORTA VENEZIA IN DESIGN is an itinerary divided into ‘three’: showrooms, stores and companies featuring new design and art, the food & wine itinerary, which finds space in some selected bars and restaurants, guided tours of the Liberty facades, organized in collaboration with FAI – Italian Environment Fund.

The area of Porta Venezia. The idea of this circuit, is to highlight points include design and furnishing, hospitality and leisure, with good food and wine, architectural firms, workshops that highlight the artisan aspect, sometimes ‘hidden’ in courtyards, others on the road. Also the cultural aspect, which highlights the architectural angle, revealing the attraction has not been accessible for years. Visitors could enter to admire this secret location, magnificent and rich of art deco.

Interesting news in the area, which is undergoing a major transformation in recent years, with entrances to realities linked to the world of architecture and 3D design – such as Principioattiva, in Via Melzo and the collective exhibition in Via Spontini – linked to jewelery design – Anthozoa, in via Malpighi and Isabelle Cochrane in Via Maiocchi – or Vittorio Bonacina and Marco Beretta Photographs in via Melzo and the Popular Bookshop in Via Tadino. And, in the food world: the wine shop Vino al Vino in via Spontini enters the circuit with the Glocal Menu for the occasion and the setting up “Città im-mobile” by the young Milanese artist Alessandro Torri, Tony’s Tuscany in Piazza Lavater for less than a year, Mantra, the first raw vegan restaurant in Italy and Casa Mia.

“Creativity” applied to all sectors. The collaboration between various realities – commercial, cultural – that live in the area and have favorably welcomed the project. Porta Venezia Design District, in a historic district, dense due to the strong architectural trace left by the liberty style (the belle époque), a central area, which boasts important points related to design, art, architecture and culture.

An area that has been offering, for some years now, individual exhibition projects that attract the attention of the public and sector employees. It hosts important companies in the design / furniture sector, locations, professional studios, period buildings and historical monuments, art galleries and cultural centers. The design / art events come communicated together with the Liberty route, which includes the main buildings of this period.

Porta Venezia in Design still benefits from the patronage of the Municipality of Milan, strengthening the communication of the circuit, as a relevant event for the city of Milan, during the design week. For the 2014 edition, we are part of the general map that highlights the main districts and events outside salon – conceived by the Municipality of Milan (by Brand Milano) and distributed in the respective info-points events / districts, as well as in some strategic points of the city.

Tortona Design District
Tortona Around Design is the new fuorisalone in the Tortona-Savona area, a project that aims to qualify the territory and the dense network of fuorisalone events and initiatives taking place in Milan, in the area around via Savona and via Tortona, highlighting its strengths and the most interesting exhibits. Tortona Around Design is aimed at an international audience of professionals and design enthusiasts, attentive to quality and the constant search for new stimuli.

Tortona Around Design is an itinerary rich in contents, a wide and multifaceted exhibition offer, a privileged point of view on the world of design that ranges from furniture design to technologies, from interactive installations to artistic performances, from large collective exhibitions for the promotion of young talents to the most established international brands of industrial design.

Tortona Design Week gathered the most important Italian and international design brands, together with renowned designers around the fascinating former industrial spaces that populate the area., young talents, incubators that have always made it a destination awaited and visited by thousands of people.

Tortona Around Design was born from the collaboration between Tortona Locations and Studiolabo. Tortona Design Week is an extraordinary window on the world: in fact, also for this edition of the Fuorisalone, international collectives are present in the spaces of the creative circuit launched over ten years ago in the Tortona district.

Over 200 events planned in the locations in the area from 8 to 13 April 2014. Tortona around Design is a peaceful revolution that arrives like a wave and brings the Tortona area to the center of the world for a week.

Ventura Lambrate District
Ventura Lambrate, an industrial district in the northeast of Milan transforms into a temporary curated design hub. Within this area Organisation in Design – the initiator and producer of Ventura Lambrate – provides a stage for the most promising designers, studios, labels, galleries, institutions, academies and students from over the world. Visitors can move through the big industrial factory halls and intimate galleries to encounter the newest developments in design, though-provoking installations and the growing capacity of designers to expand their boundaries to design research. If overwhelmed with all these expressions of design, one can cool off and relax at one of the multiple pop-up creative restaurants and cafes.

Ventura Lambrate, a new and completely curated exhibition district. The project started in 2010 and quickly grew to become a cutting-edge design district with internationally acclaimed creatives, never-before-seen niche projects and extraordinary pop-up restaurants. Since 5 years, a selection of international debuting and established designers, academies, institutions, companies and labels have the opportunity to present their creations here, in a coherent design circuit to the large, influential and professional audience of the Milan Design Week.

With every edition Ventura Lambrate is shaped by its continuous focus on the essence of design and on designers’ growing capacity to expand their boundaries to research, self-production, performances and other fields such as health-care and science. Exhibitions coming from all around the globe run through each other at the individual spaces and the clustered theme-furnished locations in and around the streets of ‘Lambrate’, a vibrant transitional area between urban and industrial in the northeast of Milan.

The Ventura Projects are curated exhibition areas dedicated to present international designers, design studios, design labels and brands, design institutions and galleries. Each Ventura Project presents a coherency of carefully selected exhibitions, temporary initiatives, as well as special projects, creative restaurants, etc. The Ventura Projects attract a large professional and influential audience consisting of journalist, photographers, bloggers, cultural institutions, curators and representatives from the corporate world.

The first Ventura Project originated in 2009, when – after 10 years of experience in scouting design talents and organising exhibitions in Milan – Organisation in Design met the architect and cultural entrepreneur Mariano Pichler, who was working on a major requalification project to regenerate the post-industrial borough “Lambrate” in Milan. Starting from the charming atmosphere of the Lambrate district and the desire to create a never-before-seen area during Milan’s prestigious Design Week, Organisation in Design launched the Ventura Lambrate show.

After Ventura Lambrate’s successful first and second edition, the Ventura Projects have expanded into established exhibitory circuits: the annual editions of Ventura Lambrate, the biennial Ventura Interieur and the special edition of Ventura Berlin. Every edition is committed to present the most interesting expressions of contemporary design.

San Gregorio Docet District
San Gregorio Docet is the new district of the Milanese Fuorisalone strongly desired and created by Claudio Loria, founder of Leclettico, with the great support of Tony Chambers, director of the international style and design magazine Wallpaper. Wallpaper * Handmade, which celebrates its fifth edition this year, returns as a guest at Leclettico, which takes care of the set-up and which, for the occasion, temporarily moves in front of San Gregorio 32.

The use of the Latin term “Docet” is intended to be a strong reference to the quality of the exhibitors and consequently to the type of public that the area attract, as the define this new international reality, develops around Via San Gregorio, between Porta Venezia and the Central Station. The use of the Latin term “Docet” is intended to be a strong reference to the quality of the exhibitors and consequently to the type of public that the area attract.

5VIE in Historic center of Milan
5VIE was born as a territorial marketing project linked to an area of ​​the historic center of Milan, the Cinque Vie: an area rich in history and culture, where among the remains of imperial Rome, early Christian basilicas and Renaissance courtyards you can still find artisan workshops of the highest level, as well as refined boutiques and art and design galleries. Thanks to the uniqueness of the curatorial program and the continually expanding success of previous editions, 5VIE art+design is now recognized internationally as an important new hub of cutting-edge design.

The name “5VIE Art+Design” gathers the three main concepts of the project: history, culture and innovation. With a strong brand identity and new communication strategies, the area hosts a series of cultural initiatives in occasion of the most important creative events of Milan, in collaboration with PS and Nascent Design agency, as for visual identity.

5VIE, are Via Santa Marta, Via Santa Maria Podone, Via Santa Maria Fulcorina, Via Bocchetto and Via del Bollo. This district has become wider but compact at the same time, it is characterized by Roman roots and Milanese features, archaeological remains, beautiful cloisters, modern architecture and new areas that are being renovated.

Thanks to the work of the past few years for building a strong brand identity and new communication strategies, a bunch of streets is now a urban project of international interest. This year, with a special focus on one-of-a-kind pieces, art design, and the cross- contamination among the various arts, aims to build on this growing success and embrace experimentation more openly than ever and to cultivate an even more international presence. This year’s goal: consolidate our reputation as a cultural reference point,bringing together plurality of thought and international heterogeneity.

Working as always in close contact with curators and designers and concentrating on clusters of creativity, 5VIE is increasingly establishing itself as a meeting place for generating connections between different areas, investing in research, in the selection of projects, and in their final implementation. As such, our identity as a true “integrated design district” becomes crystal clear.

During the Milan Design Week 2014, 5 VIE collaborates with the Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte Foundation for the rediscovery of artisan workshops. 5 VIE collaborates with SIAM, the Society for the Encouragement of Arts and Crafts. 5 VIE co-produces “Baas is in town”, the ste specific by Maarten Baas. 5 VIE collaborates with Gnam Box – Food design for Via Spadari and “Gnam box cafè”. 5 VIE promotes Seletti “SOUVENIR DI MILANO” in Piazza Affari. 5 VIE presents: MISIAD_Milano Self-produced DesignOFFsite, the launch of the manifesto of the E il Topo movement in via Bagnera, GREEN ISLAND 2014: LANDSCAPING. Dutch Design for a new city Garden Giardino del Terraggio, Urban Stories by Mosca Partners at Palazzo Litta

Themed itineraries
Itineraries that include the events of Design Week related to the most important themes of this edition.

The Milan Triennale
The Milan Triennale is an international cultural institution that produces exhibitions, conferences and events on art, design, architecture, fashion, cinema, communication and society. It organizes exhibitions dedicated to contemporary art, to nationally and internationally renowned architects and designers, to great stylists who have changed tastes and customs, to social issues.

It is also a museum that researches, studies, represents Italian design from always different points of view; Triennale Design Museum is the first museum of Italian design, located in the historic headquarters of the Milan Triennale offering the visitor the opportunity to discover the excellence of Italian design through new points of view.

It is a laboratory of ideas that is aimed not only at enthusiasts, students, professionals, but also at the public of the future, children and teenagers, with experimental and interactive activities dedicated to the culture of design. It is also the Teatro dell’Arte, one of the most significant on the Milanese scene, a new point of reference for cultural projects and performing arts.

The Milan Triennale is the Italian institution for architecture, decorative and visual arts, design, fashion and audiovisual production; is a center of cultural production that organizes conferences, film reviews, itinerant exhibitions and exhibitions. Born as an overview of modern decorative and industrial arts, with the aim of stimulating the relationship between industry, production sectors, applied arts, the Milan Triennale soon revealed itself to be the mirror of artistic and architectural culture in Italy and one of the major venues of comparison of emerging trends.

The Milan Triennale, established in Monza in 1923 as the 1st Biennale of decorative arts, has been based in Milan in the Palazzo dell’Arte since 1933, designed by Giovanni Muzio and built between the autumn of 1931 and the spring of 1933. Conceived by the designer as an extremely flexible container, it represents an innovative multifunctional organism for the time it was designed.

It is also the Palazzo dell’Arte in the center of Milan inside the Sempione Park, one of the city’s historic parks, which since its origins was born as a building designed to be flexible and adaptable to every performance and exhibition need.

Public Design Festival
The sixth edition of the Public Design Festival revolutionizes the spaces of Piazza XXV Aprile, which from a place of only passage is transformed into a space for meeting, aggregation and socialization thanks to design and food. Public design projects develop solutions that facilitate and reinterpret the practices of street cooking and conviviality: mobile units for preparing and serving food, prét â porter tables, vegetable gardens with wild herbs, multiple and multifunctional seats.

Sarpi Bridge – Oriental Design Week
Sarpi Bridge is a project that aims to create a bridge between East and West, between city and city, between fuorisalone and fuorisalone by proposing design, research and creativity. The neighborhood that gave life to the “bridge” is Sarpi, a historic district of Milan of great charm but Oriental Design Week is dynamic, always on the move in search of new places to create other bridges with the East. It does not last only the 6 days of Milan Design Week but all year round in order to create cultural and economic opportunities.

Sarpi Bridge – Oriental Design Week offer design, research, experimentation, innovation and creativity of young and talented students / designers from China, India, Korea and Cambodia. “Make a bridge moving in the cities” is the key to interpreting this edition, which aims to consolidate the bridge, in continuity with the previous edition, between East and West and create new ones between some Western cities – starting with the relay race between Milan and Turin for the 2014 edition. A rich calendar of projects and cultural events that represent an important element of communication and sharing of productive and cultural opportunities in the metropolitan areas of the two cities where the Made in Italy manufacturing outsourced has been able to project Italian companies into international markets.

The Sarpi district, the area that host the Milanese event again this year, is a historic district of Milan and an area of ​​great charm, with a strategic geographical position, not far from Porta Garibaldi Station, the center and the famous area of ​​Corso Como; the main street is pedestrianized and leads into fascinating ancient buildings that open onto particular and well-kept courtyards, sometimes small gardens. Sarpi, retracing its history of Chinese immigration, precisely because of its identity, diversity and internationality, also has the winning elements for Italian design, which tends to be the pivot of global design.

On the occasion of Sarpi Bridge – Oriental Design Week in Milan, the Confucius Institute of the University of Milan promote a contest on behalf of Hanban, a public non-profit organization that depends on the Chinese Ministry of Education. Through the various Confucius Institutes around the world, Hanban aims to make resources and services related to the teaching of the Chinese language and culture available on a global scale and to contribute to the formation of a world of cultural diversity and harmony.

Young designers was invited to participate in the contest to propose, based on a specific brief, the logo that Hanban use on all its merchindising on the occasion of Expo2014. Sarpi Bridge collaborate with the Confucius Institute of the University of Milan for the organization of the contest, from its launch to the selection and awarding of the proposal.

Elita Design Week Festival
Elita Design Week Festival contributed to the thematic expansion of Milan Design Week through constant research in the contemporary music scene and a selection of innovative cultural entertainment content and models. Elita Design Week Festival preside over places without embodying a precise form, adapt to contexts, explore places, sounds, disguise themselves to change through them. A modern nomadism that is expressed through itinerant events within more or less known spaces in the city, thanks to the typical transversality of Elita who manages to create different situations each time for an ever wider community.

After eight editions in continuous growth in attendance and content, the Design Week Festival, curated by Elita, returns and perfectly inserted in the increasingly broad and articulated program of the Fuorisalone. The leitmotif of the 2014 edition of the festival is #SPACEMAKERS, that is the relationship between space and creative expression: borrowing from the international movement of Makers the imperative to build on one’s own what satisfies our daily needs, Elita tries to outline a new map of possible places of artistic expression, proposing a program that has an official development in the places traditionally occupied by the event, but also invading anomalous and unusual spaces with a proposal of contents revised in the light of “Do It Yourself”.

The heart of the festival, once again this year was the Franco Parenti Theater, the multifunctional space of Porta Romana, with a history and a present full of innovation, exploration and contemporary stimuli. Headquarter of the Festival, the Theater host an international review of musical groups, DJs, performers and an extensive cultural program including exhibitions, book presentations, conferences, the exclusive project dedicated to Madam’s Black MIDI Music with the interactive installation # 1 in Sala A, and the special Sunday appointment with the Fuorisalone closing party, dedicated to the world of design.

The Grand Opening #Spacemakers Opening of the festival was held on Tuesday 8 April extraordinarily in the prestigious art spaces of the PAC and GAM in via Palestro in Milan, enhanced by a light design project conceived specifically for the evening, which offer the public a unique and zero impact experience. The protagonists are the afrobeat sounds of Tony Allen, who present his “Master drummer of Afrobeat” in an exciting masterclass. After an acoustic session we move to the gardens of Villa Reale with the DJ set of one of the greatest exponents of world black sound, Moodymann. On this occasion, the public also be able to visit the “Estoy Viva” exhibition, the first solo show in Italy of Regina José Galindo, Golden Lion at the 51st Venice Biennale as best young artist.

The Festival also develop into a series of events between music and culture, in numerous other locations, first of all the ELITABAR, already a daily meeting place for the elite public on the Navigli. The ELITABAR host an inaugural happening, with the urban flavor of a street party, an exhibition for the duration of the Design Week and offer the opportunity to meet the artists and protagonists of the Festival every day.

Also confirmed is the network of the best clubs and venues for live music involved in the night programming that make up the Festival’s “City Network”: MAGAZZINI GENERALI, TUNNEL, MAGNOLIA, ROCKET.

Superstudio / Temporary Museum For New Design
Anticipating needs, changes, market and society evolutions, keeping up with trends has always been, since 1983, the year of opening of the first Superstudio, and then since 2000, the year of opening of the large Superstudio Più exhibition center, the line guide of choices and projects of these two extraordinary places in the Tortona area, which have given way to the change of the whole district, transforming it into the district of fashion, design, creativity. The sixth edition of Superstudio’s Temporary Museum for New Design was born on these new foundations, extended to the two locations.

The idea of ​​a “museum” format, in a contemporary and emotional sense, which would enhance content and culture, avant-garde and roots, thanks also to the commitment of major international brands, was a great success, imitated by many and also requested by the abroad.

Today, faced with the fragmentation of production and self-production, the imposition of bio-architecture, the multiplication of producing countries, the increasingly young age of designers, of increasingly varied origins, the new unstoppable market created by e-commerce, strong is the demand for renewal, which moves without a priori snobberies on the path of the search for good design all over the world and in every area.

Milan Design Award
The Milano Design Award is back, an event that since 2011 has been selecting the best exhibition projects of the Fuori Salone prizing the most innovative ones and those able to promote a creative dialogue between product and setup, brand and designer. Milan Design Award, produced by elita, realized in partnership with Fuorisalone, is the competition that rewards the events of the Milan Design Week. The goal of the Milan Design Award is to reward the most unique experiences offered to the visitors, identify the aesthetic expressions that characterize contemporary design trends and highlight, through the selection of the projects, the new socio-cultural phenomena.

The purpose of the Milano Design Award is to select, through an international jury, the best exhibition project of the Fuori Salone. Many are the criteria leading to the choice of the winner, among which are concept, technology, storytelling and engagement, which represent some of the awarded categories.

Create and organised by elita, realized in partnership with Fuorisalone, Istituto Europeo di Design and Valverde and sponsored by Comune di Milano, since last year the initiative is also promoted by the biggest companies linked to the Fuorisalone: 5VIE art+design, Brera Design District, elita – enjoy living italy, Milano Space Makers, Porta Venezia in Design, Tortona Design Week, Triennale di Milano, Ventura Projects and Zona SantAmbrogio.