Milan mid April, the entire ‘posse’ of design is present that week to check out the latest trends and commercial hits to be at the Salone. We hardly visit the fair itself as there is so much to discover at the different ‘area’s in the city center.
We first hit the Zona Tortona, less inspiring than it used to be, but because of a few strong players still a must visit. (Imagine to have missed the Moooi exhibit with Erwin Olaf!!!-see previous post)
These carpets are based on organically grown fungus and mold, something that most people disgusts.
But look at the beauty of the patterns, the colors and the bizarre shapes. Great nature based inspiration, one of the big trends happening together with a growing interest and collaboration between artists and scientist.
More about Lizan:
http://www.lizanfreijsen.com/site/
http://www.38cc.nl/Lizan01.htm
Slow Seating, the second year this Beijing design group presents in Milan. A great logo, I know.
But the nicest thing about this exhibit is the fact that these Chinese based designers do not try to copy or join European designers in their design roots, but find strength in their own heritage, rituals and spiritual history.
This results in elegant, surprising but most of all beautiful objects and furniture with a clear Chinese, contemporary design statement.
Next storytelling design concept was an installation on ‘Temporary spaces for entrepreneurship’ by Vacant.nl.
White Whales present an ideal strategy for colonizing vacant buildings with minimal effort and materials.
Large container bags, primarily used for transporting raw materials in shipping containers, can be used to create temporary spaces in any location imaginable. These new flexible spaces can serve a wide variety of purposes, superimposing a new world over an existing one.
The Sandberg Institute has developed Vacant.nl, a two-year Master’s degree, to encourage designers, creatives and scientists to develop fresh, innovative and realistic design strategies for the temporary use of vacant buildings and spaces. The program challenges students to take a hands-on approach to researching and exploring the potential of unused properties in the Netherlands.
See for yourself.
www.vacant.nl
In the same exhibition of Dutch designers I met Aliki Van Der Kruijs. She didn’t bring a large installation or expensive design statements. She just hung two series of silk scarves on a wire and started telling her story about the rain.
Aliki creates prints on textiles developed through a technique called hydrography: the mapping of a body of water. This allows her to capture and visualize the depths and tides of water movement.
Aliki let’s the rain make designs on her fresh painted tissues, mostly silk, and let this natural process do it’s work.
One-of-scarves with beautiful colors-the ones where pantone color blocks were run trough by rain- and others-blue ones where you literally see raindrops on the tissue form patterns- pure poetry meets science (again) to create new nature inspired objects. Aliki is planing to develop curtains and other homestuff based on her experiments.
Silk scarves are for sale.
Hydrography by Aliki Van Der Kruijs: +31(0)6 141 801 10.
www.alikivanderkruijs.com
http://happywiththerain.tumblr.com
Lichterblauw is a project during the NIJVER|heden exhibition in ZuiderZeeMuseum, Enkhuizen, NL 26 may 2011 <> 31 oct 2011
Aliki presented an overview of the weather conditions during the 158 days of the artist in residency in the museum.
http://www.lichterblauw.alikivanderkruijs.com/#home
More posts on my Salone di Mobile impressions, not only when I feel like it, but when I find time….
Sorry guys, so busy with trend and strategic work, but I’ll be back soon. Who needs sleep in this exiting times?
Kate