Dezeen Magazine

COS x Sou Fujimoto Forest of Light installation

This week, the design world flocked to Milan

This week on Dezeen: the Dezeen team were in Milan this week to cover product launches, events and installations from the world's biggest and most important design fair.

Visitors flocked to the design exhibitions and installations, particularly Sou Fujimoto's "forest of light" for COS, which proved to be the most popular both on Instagram and with Dezeen readers. Images of the installation dominated our #milanogram2016 highlights tag, which now has almost 9,000 posts and counting.

Nike The Nature of Motion exhibition Milan 2016
Nike's The Nature of Motion exhibition aims to "start a conversation" with the design community

Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs commented on the increased presence of megabrands such as Nike and PepsiCo, who he says are now upstaging traditional design brands in Milan.

Tom Dixon on Brexit
"Brexit" vote could damage London's design status, says Tom Dixon

Greg Lynn warned that furniture brands slow to embrace technology could go out of business, while Tom Dixon told Dezeen that uncertainty over the EU referendum is negatively impacting creative business as customers postpone decisions.

Kids range by Kartell
Children's products are a "huge market" for design brands

Trends to emerge from the event included products for children, as brands and designers moved to capitalise on this corner of the market, and coloured-glass furniture.

Apple keyboard patent
Apple files patent for customisable keyless keyboard

In other news, tech giant Apple was granted a patent for a keyboard that abandons traditional keys in favour of a "force-sensitive" trackpad.

National Library of Israel by Herzog & de Meuron cultural architecture news
Herzog & de Meuron releases new images of National Library of Israel

Herzog & de Meuron released new images of its curving, stone-clad National Library of Israel, which is now under construction and scheduled to complete in 2020.

viking-age-museum-bygdoy-aart-cultural-architecture-news-oslo-norway_dezeen_sq_0
AART to add looping extension to Oslo Viking museum

Nordic firm AART won a competition to extend the Viking Age Museum building in Oslo, and New York architect Daniel Libeskind released plans for a Kurdish museum in Iraq.

Toranomon Hills Station Tower by OMA
OMA reveals design for first skyscraper in Tokyo

1996 Pritzker Prize winner Rafael Moneo was tapped to design his first Miami project and OMA designed its first skyscraper in Tokyo.

Lawrence Public Library Renovation and Expansion; Lawrence, Kansas, by Gould Evans winner of the 2016 AIA library awards
AIA announces seven winners of library design awards

The American Institute of Architects announced seven winning projects in the 2016 Library Building Awards, including a structure that spans a river and a 1970s building wrapped in terracotta panels. Meanwhile, BIG's plan to demolish part of the Smithsonian campus in Washington DC prompted over 1,400 people to sign a petition in opposition.

Yana Peel to succeed Julia Peyton-Jones at the Serpentine Galleries
Yana Peel to succeed Julia Peyton-Jones at the Serpentine Galleries

Philanthropist and entrepreneur Yana Peel was named the new CEO of the Serpentine Galleries in London, following the departure of long-standing director Julia Peyton-Jones.

Sladda bicycle by Ikea
Ikea to launch low-maintenance Sladda bicycle for urban riders

Popular stories this week included a low-maintenance bicycle for urban riders by Ikea and Dezeen's roundup of 10 unmissable Milan exhibitions and installations.

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