This article is part of a special design report previewing Milan Design Week.
A designer is, by definition, a manipulator of materials, sensations and expectations. There's nothing they love more than making people stop in their tracks when they see their creations. At Salone del Mobile, a show geared toward emerging designers through Sunday, visitors might be captivated by cushions that resemble large colorful softballs and sit like eggs in nests of polished wooden sticks. What is that? Of course it's an ottoman. A few other eye-catchers and head-scratchers are listed below.
Another approach to seating
After studying industrial design at the University of Notre Dame, Ryan Twardzik ventured into footwear, accessories, and graphic design. But “all I wanted to do was furniture,” he recalled. Moving to Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania in 2021 gave him access to local manufacturers, including metal fabricators who primarily build roller coasters. This led to his furniture company, Unform Studio, and his debut collection, Drip, a series of fluoro-colored chairs formed from curved metal sheets. “I want to create things that are fun not only to look at, but also to touch and interact with,” he said.
Ms. Twardzik is showing pieces from two new collections at SaloneSatellite, a presentation by young designers that runs concurrently with Salone del Mobile. The first, Spherae, is a ball-shaped cushion supported by three polished wooden dowels that slide through brass discs to hold them in place.
“I’ve been calling it passive joinery,” Mr. Twardzik said, because the structure, inspired by folding camping chairs, requires no tools for assembly. The stool or ottoman comes with four interchangeable cushions that resemble giant fruit-colored softballs. “From there, you just pick the color you want. The other three are around the piece,” he said.
The designer also presented armchairs from the pop-up collection. Consisting of 20 metal columns wrapped in upholstered foam cylinders, it functions loosely like a soft-touch nail plate. “They appear at different heights. “Some are tailored to arm and back height, while others have a lower seat height,” he said of the components. He added that the experiment is far from over. “There are so many ways to explore how to make a chair.”
It can be viewed Tuesday through Sunday at Salone del Mobile, Pavilion 5, Booth C17. unformstudio.com. — Laura May Todd
Exploring the sounds of color
At peak times last year, visitors to Google's Milan Design Week event 'Shaped by Water' queued for up to two and a half hours to get in.
At the exhibition, we experienced light and sound waves traveling through water in a buzzing, resonating bowl (some visitors began hugging the bowl), as well as a planetarium-style music and light show. “Some people came back three or four times,” said Ivy Ross, Google’s vice president of hardware design, who oversaw the project.
Now, Google is collaborating with Chromasonic, a California art and research institute, to create the 'Making Sense of Color' installation, turning elements into a celebration of color.
Thanks to Chromasonic's technology, which converts light waves into sound and sound waves into light, visitors passing through the “sensory fields” – 21 spaces separated by translucent scrims at the beginning of the installation – can “hear” the visible spectrum. A form of changing the melody tone.
Johannes Girardoni, founder of Chromasonic, said the experience creates “an atmosphere where physical space seems infinite and at times besieged.”
Elsewhere in the exhibition, the design team revealed what the colors feel like and what they taste and smell like. The last space displays Google products in various colors, including the Google Pixel Watch 2 and Pixel phones.
“This is the kind of reveal that brings everything together,” Mr. Ross said.
She added that she hopes visitors will gain a new appreciation for the different dimensions of color. “Once you experience what it sounds like, feels like, tastes like and looks like, you will never look at color the same way,” she said.
It can be seen from Tuesday to Sunday at Garage 21, Via Archimede, 26. — Megan McCree
let there be light
Lighting designer Volker Haug and his team collaborated with architects at Flack Studio to create Me and You, a series of 13 decorative light fixtures that have nothing to do with a dog named Boo.
The collaboration between the studios in Melbourne, Australia began as a result of an accident. Last year, the glass broke while installing a vintage wall hanging in a private home designed by Flack Studio. Replacing the lamp would require refinishing the wall behind it, which we didn't have time to do. So, David Flack, the founder of the company, met his old acquaintance Mr. We asked Haug to create new sconces for the square metal wall plates that were already installed.
The success of the temporary solution “made us think, 'Oh, what else can we do?'” Mr. Haug recalled in a phone call from Melbourne.
The men began coming up with different ideas for lamps based on metal squares, but soon their designs “started becoming longer and thinner or smaller or rounder,” Mr. Haug said.
The lamp named Bruce is closer to the original concept. Originally designed by Flack Studio for Sydney's Ace Hotel, the building was modified by its collaborators with a box-shaped cast brass grid resting on textured, luminous glass. This provides a bit of opacity, “like a bathroom window,” Haug said. . A linear version, a single row of squares, has been added to the collection.
Me and you from Tuesday to Sunday Via San Maurilio, 18; volkerhaug.com and flack.studio. — Julie Lasky
Leveraging old space for new talent
Belgian designer and architect Lionel Jadot is involved in renovating old manufacturing buildings. His company, Zaventem Ateliers, occupies a 6,000-square-metre (64,583-square-foot) 19th-century paper mill near Brussels. During Milan Design Week, he is transforming outdated industrial sites into exhibition halls for young talent.
He organized exhibitions of furniture, lighting, textiles and sculptures by over 30 designers, studios and artists. Most are from Belgium, but a few are from other countries. All of these pieces make their second appearance at Design Week, presented under the name Baranzat Ateliers in a new location this year: a 7,300 square meter (78,577 square foot) 1950s industrial building near Milan Linate Airport.
“I have been part of a family of makers for six generations,” Mr. Jadot said. “We know how difficult it is to participate in workshops, produce products, connect with people, and create collaboration.”
Many works cross the border between furniture and sculpture. Lisbon designer Mircea Anghel creates tables and chairs from rough stone and polished wood. Studio Élémentaires in Belgium combines urban fabrics (aluminium, motors, reflective filters) with LEDs to create kinetic lighting. Belgian KRJST studio “weaves a tapestry with the monsters that haunt our dreams, not as external threats, but rather as mirrors reflecting our own dark side,” said Justine de Moriamé, Erika Schillebeeckx founder of the studio. Such works, including a hanging called Kappa.
Tapestries are inspired by the phenomenon of Pareidolia, or the tendency to see or draw shapes at random. Mr. Schillebeeckx added, “It is these harmonious or chaotic illusions that form the basis of our imagination and personal mythology.”
Baranzat Ateliers can be seen from Monday to Sunday at Via Gaudenzio Fantoli 16/3. baranzaateeliers.com. — Stephen Treppinger