PENSON’s Pick

PENSON’s Pick | Milan ’19 Round-Up

By Rosie Furlong

Light installation with beams across a dark room

With 2019’s Milan Design Week coming to an end, we’re sifting through all the incredible exhibitions, mind-blowing installations and genius new products to bring you a round-up of our PENSON favourites…

Trust us, these will definitely be ones to watch… PENSONites have a knack at spotting these things!

Installations:

Firstly, we have to raise our hats to the absolutely stunning installations of this year’s design week. Awe-inspiring pieces of art that you can’t help but stand and gape at! From peeling building fronts (I know, we were just as confused!) to carefully curated ‘living’ green areas, the installations are iconic at the design week. We’re always on the lookout for designs that surprise and inspire, and boy did we find some seriously great examples…

First up is British artist, Alex Chinneck’s ‘Zipper’ installation; created for Iqos, the vaping and heated tobacco brand… and yes, we are still trying to work out how this was done! Optical illusion at it’s finest…

Alex Chinneck’s ‘Zipper’ installation
iconAlex Chinneck
Alex Chinneck’s ‘Zipper’ installation
iconAlex Chinneck

Next up, had to be our friends at Humanscale‘s beautiful installation, focusing on human movement – pretty apt don’t you think?! Tiny light sensors mimicked people’s movement, and tracked it onto huge black screens, creating stunning visuals of movement. Bob King, CEO & founder of Humanscale, explained in an interview with Dezeen that ‘Humanscale wanted to exhibit an installation that communicated the core of the brand’s belief system rather than presenting a collection of their products.’

iconHumanscale
Human shaped light beams across a black room with a man simulating the beams
iconHumanscale

Finally, where would we be without admiring the genius of bringing the outside, in!? Australian artist Linda Tegg created a living installation for fashion brand Jil Sander, using plants gathered from around the city. What we love about this is that the plants chosen are just everyday ‘weeds’ from around the city. Plants that are otherwise overlooked, and undervalued, have been carefully brought together to create a thing of beauty. Which is pretty special really!

Linda Tegg created a living installation for fashion brand Jil Sander
iconLinda Tegg / Jil Sander
Linda Tegg created a living installation for fashion brand Jil Sander
iconLinda Tegg / Jil Sander

Products:

Obviously, you can’t go to design week without seeing some really cool designs. You just can’t! The tricky part is that there are just so many great new things – all totally unique being unveiled – it’s almost impossible to pinpoint your favourite…

Adam Nathaniel Furman‘s “Three characters in the second act: The Royal Family” is bold, bright and quirky – no wonder it’s a PENSON fave! In a collaboration with Abet Laminati, it’s seen us re-evaluate everything we thought we new about laminates…

Abet Laminati colourful furniture range
iconAbet Laminati
Abet Laminati multicoloured chair on a pink background
iconAbet Laminati

Louis Poulsen’s collaboration with Danish-Icelandic artist, Olafur Eliasson, had us intrigued from the get-go, with their latest pendant light – OE Quasi. Atom-like sculptures, the multi-layer geometric design is mesmerising! We’re calling it now – double-layered pendant lights are going to be one of 2019’s biggest hits…

A row of Geometric hanging lights
iconOlafur Eliasson

Materials:

To finish our round-up, we had to show off some of the incredible materials making their debut! Recycling has been a big theme this design week, with more than a few brands looking into the ‘evolution’ of pre-existing materials. Environmentally aware, we always advocate giving something another lease of life…

To start with, we fell head over heels in love with Piero Lissoni’s bistro tables, designed for Salvatori. The unique thing about these tables, is that they’re created from marble left over from famous buildings – including the Barcelona Pavilion. Using the Japanese technique of Kintsugi, the broken shards of marble are rejoined, and the cracks highlighted in gold. The history and care embedded into the tables’ material is incredible, and really makes them one of a kind…

Taupe marble with a line of gold running through
iconSalvatori

Having recently been to Tarkett’s studio for an amazing evening of flower arranging (More details to come soon!) we were very excited to see the unveiling of their new material – the IQ Surface, which can be continuously recycled. Their installation was designed by Note Design Studio, and showcases the material in a way that you can’t help but admire – a room filled with 24 towering columns, topped with an assortment of 3D shapes! It was a feast for the Instagrammers…

A close up of Tarkett's geometric 3D installation by Note Design Studio
iconTarkett / Note Design Studio
A close up of Tarkett's geometric 3D installation by Note Design Studio
iconTarkett / Note Design Studio

And so, with our heads crammed full with inspiration, we say goodbye to Milan Design week until next year…