Milan on the couch: jellyfishes, flowers and insects at Milan Design Week

From 4 to 9 April Milan became the capital of the design world. It will be held the most important worldwide exhibition for designers and architects – Milan Design Week 2017.

Insects and the collection ‘A Life Extraordinary’ by Moooi

1,700-square-meter exhibition hall with 160 lamps alight is not the only thing Moooi will astonish you with. The brand exhibits new items created by Marcel Wanders, Maarten Baas, Joost van Bleiswijk, Luca Nichetto, and Bertjan Pot surrounded by images of insects.

Pictures of the insects under the microscope are the project of Levon Biss. Ultra-close-up images of beetles have been used to tart up exhibition space. Do we think the result is cool? Yes, we do!

• ‘THE IMAGES USE A DELICATE AND ODD LANGUAGE THAT REFLECTS A LIFE EXTRAORDINARY,’ SAYS MARCEL WANDERS, MOOOI’S CHIEF HEAD DESIGNER. ‘THE IMAGES USE A DELICATE AND ODD LANGUAGE THAT REFLECTS A LIFE EXTRAORDINARY,’ SAYS MARCEL WANDERS, MOOOI’S CHIEF DESIGNER.

Jellyfish by the Japanese studio Nendo

Jellyfish is almost water. It lives in the water and its body contains 98% water. The designers took this concept as a basis and created unusual Jellyfish vases.

In the Invisible outlines the project, Nendo’s studio explores how the contours of objects affect our perception. What is a clear and what is a blurred outline? How do we divide inside and outside spaces?

Weightless jellyfish vases made from ultrathin transparent silicon will live in the water. Designers want to submerge 30 objects into a huge aquarium with multidirectional water currents so that the vases gently move around like real jellyfish.

• “THE DESIGN WAS TO REDEFINE THE CONVENTIONAL ROLES OF FLOWER, WATER AND VASE BY MAKING THE WATER INCONSPICUOUS, WITH AN ENSEMBLE OF BOTH FLOWERS AND VASES FLOATING INSIDE THE FILLED WATER, AS OPPOSED TO SIMPLY SHOWING OFF FLOWERS IN A WATER-FILLED VASE,” SAID NENDO.

Mist-filled flowers by COS and StudioSwine

The Swedish clothing brand COS and the British studio Swine will bring to Milan their spring. It’s a blossoming installation titled New Spring.

A tree-like sculpture with mist-filled flowers is in the centre of the exhibition. The blooms burst when they touch skin but temporarily live on clothing.

The designers have been inspired by nature and the change of the seasons. “2016 was a year full of changes and crisis and so we wanted to create an installation that could offer a moment of contemplation,” said Azusa Murakami and Alexander Groves from Swine.

A multisensory installation will be shown on the premises of decommissioned cinema – Cinema Arti. If you won’t have a chance to visit Milan, bring spring to your home by watching a teaser movie.

Clowns in the Stone Age Folk project by Jaime Hayon and Caesarstone

Striking works of Jaime Hayon are on everyone’s lips. A new project of Spanish designer and Israeli manufacturer Caesarstone is about to make a stir too. In Palazzo Serbelloni, a place where Napoleon and Josephine once lived, they are going to show forty-eight shades of quartz stone.

The giant installation ‘Stone Age Folk’ represents traditional marquetry technique. The designers wanted to show that quartz is easier to work with compared to granite or marble. They thinned a stone to the thickness of glass and curved sophisticated shapes out of it.

Alongside clowns, Jaime Hayon has used images of birds, flowers, and other characters taken from folklore of different cultures.

• “PEOPLE TEND TO SEE CAESARSTONE AS A MATERIAL THAT IS ONLY USED IN KITCHENS, BUT I LOOKED AT IT FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF AN ARTIST AND DESIGNER. I WANTED TO CREATE MY IMAGINATIVE COSMOS, USING THE BRAND’S QUARTZ MATERIAL ALONGSIDE OTHER NOBLE MATERIALS LIKE GLASS AND METAL.” SAYS – JAIME HAYON

Time Machine by Lee Broom

The Time Machine installation is dedicated to his studio’s 10th anniversary. British designer recreated pieces he had designed over the past years in a single colour palette and with new and different finishes which would give cohesion to the presentation.

The exposition was placed on a carousel which symbolizes the flow of time. The carousel is in constant motion, representing the brand’s life cycle and the changes it had.

The central element of the exposition is a grandfather’s clock with a copper pendulum. The designer modernized a traditional item with a modern silhouette. He increased angularity and sharpen the lines, similar to that of brutalist architecture.