Milan is regarded as a pre-eminent capital for fashion and design. It is fitting that the scenic streets and picturesque architecture of the city hosts Milan Design Week, the largest annual design event in the world, attracting ideas and trends from across the world.
The Milan Design
Week swells the city population by almost a third, welcoming around 400,000
visitors to a week of business, networking and brand events. Millions more are
engaged on digital and social media platforms.
Viewed from afar,
Milan Design Week is made up of two main events. The trade fair or ‘Salone del
Mobile’ focuses on business visitors, while the ‘Furiosalone’ is a separate but
symbiotic event that welcomes visitors to curated exhibitions, talks and brand
experiences happening around the city at the same time.
Fuorisalone
spontaneously started in the 1980’s and has organically grown in popularity for
companies and brands, regardless of size, to impress visitors with their latest
creations, brand promise, and design journey.
DESIGN TRENDS
Sustainability is
the main theme at this year’s Milan Design Week. Consumers are increasingly
responding beyond words to thoughtful brands that are embedding sustainability
into their products and processes.
It is apt that the
Furiosalone theme of ‘Materia Natura’ or ‘Matter Nature’ highlights
sustainability as a guiding principle and fundamental virtue in the creative
and design process. This influences how companies and brands can harness nature
as a source of inspiration, design material and guide for a sustainable future
in their installations.
The theme also
uplifts the design dialogue on how projects and ideas can integrate
sustainability and wellness into our homes, workplaces, and travel. Brands are
able to display how progressive design, together with advancing digital and
manufacturing technologies are creating products with new functionalities with
low-carbon emissions.
There is also an
exciting development in creating transformative experiences through
personalization. The use of different materials, customized user settings,
colors, and finishes, are empowering discerning consumers to create multiple
looks and experiences, whether indoors or outdoors.
LIXIL AND GROHE SPA
Antoine Besseyre
des Horts, an award-winning designer and Leader for LIXIL Global Design in
Asia, shared that Milan Design Week represents an important global platform for
elevating brands with architects, designers and discerning consumers.
It’s a perfect
platform for brands to meaningfully engage visitors through the language of
design, themes and exhibits. For designers like Antoine, it’s a rare
opportunity to convey deeper design influences and the thinking behind GROHE
SPA, the premium sub-brand of GROHE and part of LIXIL.
The LIXIL team drew
inspiration from the former courtyard garden of the Palazzo Reale and the
Fuorisalone theme of ‘Materia Natura’ to create GROHE SPA ‘Aquatecture’. The
vision was to elevate the significance and importance of water in architecture;
accentuating the health and well-being benefits of the spa experience. The
result is an immersive installation and experience that blurs the boundaries
between indoor and outdoor spaces, offering private water-infused luxury and
open lush greenery.
Antoine views the
event and installation as an opportunity to elevate the conversation with
architects, designers, and discerning consumers to new ideas and possibilities
for personalized luxury. Each ‘Aquatecture’ space represents one of four tiers
that bring GROHE SPA to life, including ultimate customization through 3D
printing of one of one statement pieces.
He observes that in
Asia, water also plays an important role to purify and refresh the body, mind
and spirit. Flexible customization, through curated private collections and
tailored shower or spray settings, elevates the showering experience to suit
personal needs and preferences.
Public dialogues
with prominent designers affirmed that collaboration and experimentation are
key to advancing solutions around regenerative architecture and how built
environments can serve as catalysts for well-being. Advancements in AI, design
tools and materials technologies are also helping to create new ways to craft
products and customizations.
Ultimately his greatest satisfaction at Milan is in seeing thousands of visitors experiencing and connecting with products and experiences that deliver pure enjoyment of water. Their response inspires him and his global design colleagues and ensures their return to Milan Design Week.
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