out and about :: ventura lambrate 2013

Ventura Lambrate was my favourite design district at Milan Design Week again this year – in fact there was so much inspiring design, I’ve found it really hard to whittle it down to just the pieces included in this post.

I wasn’t even out of the press room before I spotted this gorgeously geeky stationery collection by Archivia – part of the Curators’ Choice exhibition. Having done some research that confirmed that people still use paper notebooks to jot down inspirations, they developed this collection which they describe as “architecture on your desk and through the architects’ eyes.”

I published an interview with Liene Jākobsone one half of Sampling on Tuesday, so it was really exciting to see their work in Milan. I love ‘Farming’; a series of handmade furniture in crocheted hemp twine and with oak feet. Liene says: “The concept of this collection is a mutation of volumes that evolve from a traditional piece of furniture. The creations assume forms that relate to nature, landscape elements and the animal world.” They definitely remind me of farm animals – perhaps grazing sheep?

I loved this ‘reflective’ signage which was part of the Admit One Gentleman exhibition by Dante. Dante was founded in 2012 by artist Aylin Langreuter and industrial designer Christophe de la Fontaine, and I think this combination of skills gives them a really interesting perspective.

I’m a fan of a juxtaposition, and this contrast of natural branches and slick mirror and stainless steel really caught my eye – but I still can’t quite work out if I love it or hate it! It’s a limited edition of six numbered pieces by Andrea Branzi and was part of the Design Gallery Milano exhibition.

There was a lot of concrete about at Milan this year, and it was very exciting to see it put to use in new and exciting ways – I particularly liked these vases by Stefano Pugliese, the form of which has been created by linking two 2D horizontal shapes – a circle top and bottom and a hexagon at the widest part.

Part of the TIVD Exhibition “My Grandmother,” Botica is a series of vessels for collecting and drying herbs, inspired by the haphazard collection of recycled containers Adrian Froufe’s grandmother used to collect camomile and other herbs. He says: “Botica want to be the proper containers she never had.”

I loved Charlotte Kingsnorth‘s Hybreed project – she rescues old chairs and then upholsters them with the personalities she sees in them. She says: “I see chairs as alive, so I collect furniture frames and take them back to my studio. I sketch the character I see, and then start building and sculpting the upholstery around them…

…I found these two [above] together and see them very much as an old married couple – they’re called Mr & Mrs.”

These benches popped up all over Ventura Lambrate, inspired by Milan Verstraete‘s original guerrilla furniture concept. He designed them to be flexible enough to appear almost anywhere, to offer respite to exhausted show visitors such as yours truly, and to create intrigue with one tightly secured end and one free floating end.

Just a little further along I was rather taken with these little pots by Bogan Kosak Ceramic Workshop, which are raised off the surface with anything from twigs to pencils. They are charmingly entitled ‘Stick Insect.’ (A rather sneaky little photos of numbers spot too!)

If you’ve been following along on Facebook, you will have already seen the swinging chair from Bert Loenschner, but I couldn’t resist sharing the full set. Monobloc is Bert’s investigation into the ubiquitous garden chair, its role in design culture and the relationship between furniture and those that use it. It made me smile.

The Rhode Island School of Design stand was very interesting. Curated by President John Maeda, Risk and Certainty in Uncertain Times showcased work from 21 RISD alumni. Objects on view were either batch- or mass-produced by established manufacturers or made by each designer as a one-of-a-kind work of art. “This work epitomises what critical making – concurrent thinking and making – can achieve for design,” says Maeda. “It re-energises the importance of making and thinking.”

Future Primitives by Muller Van Severen was included in the Design Museum’s Designs of the Year exhibition, so it was fantastic to see the whole collection, exhibited here by Valerie Traan Gallery.

The Design Academy Eindhoven showed Linking Processes, curated by Miriam Van Der Lubbe, which sought to reveal the creative process rather than just its end product. I loved these prototype teapots for people with arthritis by Inge Kuipers.

A common route to a good idea to flush out every possible idea – Mats Horbach has let his imagination run completely free with every iteration of a simple cabinet he could think of, from including diving boards to stairways and windmills to secret hideaways… I love the freedom of expression exhibited is this piece – and who knows, maybe one of them will end up revolutionising cabinet design!

Part of 010 – 020, I loved Mae Engelgeer‘s Mexican-inspired, neon-infused textile designs. Mae is based in Amsterdam and produces all of her work at the Textile Museum in Tilburg.

I love seeing the behind the scenes to get a better understanding of how products are designed and made, so I was very excited to see The Institute of Industrial Design at the University of Art and Design in Basel FHNW‘s “performing workshop” where they were making their paper lamps live.

And last but by no means least, a chandelier made from 7000 Lego windows! As part of an exhibition in shipping containers called the Tube by Kolding School of Design, each designer was paired with a manufacturer – Tobias Tostesen must have been chuffed to bits when he got The Lego Group!

Further reading for the especially geeky:

• out and about :: milan design week preview
• out and about :: milan 2013
• out and about :: salonesatellite
• out and about :: ventura lambrate (2012)