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Day five from Milan design week 2024

The Dezeen team have been reporting live from Milan design week (15-19 April). Read on for all the coverage from the fifth day (Friday 19 April).


 

6:00pm Each year we try to capture the Dezeen team out in Milan in a group shot but with 24 of us here this year – at any given point somewhere across the city exploring Milan design week – that has proved impossible!

Below is the best we could do, featuring – left to right – Dezeen design editor Jennifer Hahn, deputy editor Cajsa Carlson, design and interiors reporter Jane Englefield and editorial director Max Fraser enjoying more ice cream in front of Alcova's Villa Bagatti Valsecchi.

The red protuberances from the first floor windows behind them are part of the WAKE installation by UMPRUM students (The Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague).

Other red things... are our feet! Dezeen digital editor Rupert Bickersteth has been tracking the team's step count, and the editorial contributors to this live coverage alone have clocked up more than 628,000 steps combined (according to their phones, and Bickersteth's maths).

It's been our pleasure to bring you Dezeen's biggest live coverage ever, across 5 days, publishing more than 30 dedicated articles about projects and exhibitions (and more yet to come in the following days), and with 79 entries here in the Dezeen LIVE – all with the goal of celebrating the global design community with you. Grazie!

dezeen team
Arrivederci from Dezeen in Milan!

Catch up on everything that happened this week:

Day one from Milan design week 2024

Day two from Milan design week 2024

Day three from Milan design week 2024

Day four from Milan design week 2024


 

5:30pm Designer Yves Salomon has unveiled its collaboration with Chapo Creations, a collection of five furniture pieces created by interior designer Pierre Chapo, each upholstered in upcycled intarsia shearling.

chair
No glues or permanent fastenings were used in the collections

With sustainability in mind, the designs use no glues or permanent fastenings and the shearling pieces were recycled off-cuts. – Jennifer Hahn

chair
The chairs are upholstered in recycled shearling offcuts
chair
Images by Jennifer Hahn

 

5:15pm Bentley Home has unveiled six new pieces of furniture at Milan design week, Dezeen co-ceo Ben Hobson reports, including the Wilton desk, which is one of the first Bentley Home pieces designed for home offices.

Bentley desk
The Bentley Home Wilton desk is available in a range of woods with degradé finishes.

The desk is presented at Bentley Home Atelier at Corso Venezia in a desert-themed setting that draws from the Italian region of Salento.

 

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The desk is shown alongside a new modular sofa called Loftus, which features integrated side tables in marble or leather.

The desk and modular sofa were presented in a desert-like installation
The desk and modular sofa were presented in a desert-like installation. Images by Ben Hobson

The desk was designed by Francesco Forcellini, while the sofa is by Federico Peri, both of whom worked closely with the Bentley Motors design team in Crewe, UK.


 

5:00pm A hybrid between a fair and a collective exhibition, Capsule Plaza has returned to Milan design week at Spazio Maiocchi to bring together designers and companies spanning interiors and architecture, beauty and technology, innovation and craft.

Italian design brand Poltronova collaborated with Crosby Studios founder Harry Nuriev to reimagine the Saratoga sofa, 60 years after Lella and Massimo Vignelli designed it.

Harry Nuriev sofa by Poltronova
Nuriev presented sofas and stools upholstered in taped up bin bags

Nuriev took inspiration "from the mundane and unpoetic" and presented a version wrapped in taped-up bin bags.

Bin bag sofa
Imagery by Mirko Musmeci, via Dezeen's Ben Dreith

The 1978 Lancia Sibilo show car designed by Marcello Gandini for Bertone, is also on display at Capsule Plaza, as part of the Lopresto collection.

Marcello Gandini car
Vintage design classic, like this Marcello Gandini-design car, are on show. Image by Ben Dreith

Elsewhere an installation by Alaska Alaska— a London-based design and creative studio founded by Virgil Abloh and now directed by Tawanda Chiweshe and Francisco Gaspar — provides the scenography for Nike's Alphafly 3 presentation.

Nike at Capsule Plaza
Nike presented their AlphaFly 3 collection at Capsule Plaza in Milan. Image by Ben Dreith

Capsule also presented a collaboration with K67 Berlin, who recover and restore version of a 1966 kiosk design – called K67 – by Slovenian architect and designer Saša J. Mächtig.

K67 at Capsule Plaza
Modular K67 kiosks serve multiple functions at Capsule Plaza. Image by Jennifer Hahn

Based on polyfibre-reinforced modules, the flexible design of the units enables them to serve numerous functions, and at Capsule Plaza several kiosks are being used as a magazine kiosk, matcha bar, information desk, DJ booth and – in collaboration with luxury skincare La Prairie – as a flower stand.

Hyrdo at Capsule Plaza
Hydro exhibit at Capsule Plaza. Image by Ben Dreith

Hydro is exhibiting objects made entirely from aluminium scrap.

Titled 100R, the exhibit features objects by seven designers made from Hydro's recycled aluminium product, which was designed to have a record-low carbon footprint – Rupert Bickersteth

Watch the Instagram Reel that Dezeen Studio made for Hydro now › 


 

4:00pm Milan-based architecture studio ADML Circle showcased Leaveitbe during Milan design week, an installation by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto.

"The architect's role is the shepherd of space"

Installed in ADML Circle's space on Via Varese in Milan, it was made up of pieces of leftover wood from construction in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, which have been suspended and appear to float within a wooden frame.

sou fujimoto
Sou fujimoto and Michele de Lucchi present their installation Leaveitbe

The sculptural piece was created in response to an earlier work by ADML Circle founder Michele de Lucchi, which is showcased alongside it.

Stools and wood
ADML also presented their earlier work

"Leave it be was designed as a barrier, to create a secret space that treats emptiness as a valuable resource," ADML Circle's Pico de Lucchi told Dezeen deputy editor Cajsa Carlson.

"It looks at the architect's role as the shepherd of space and aims to create a positive emptiness."

Wooden block read LETIBE
Arranged in cicrular, domino formation, blocks read LEAVEITBE. Images by Dezeen's Chater Paul Jordan

 

3:30pm There have been increasing grumblings about the length of queues towards the tail end of this year's Milan design week.

The queue at Alcova this morning
The queue at Alcova this morning was hours long, but thankfully in bright sun

At the world's biggest design fair you always expect to queue, and especially when the weather is fine, but even so waiting over two hours in line seems beyond the limit for many and has become a topic of conversation as press and the general public navigate getting into all the exhibitions and presentations.

Plinths at Villa Borsani
Bright red plinths displaying exhibitor's work at Villa Bagatti Valsecchi reward those who have waited out the queue. Images by Cajsa Carlson

 

3:00pm Following Dezeen social editor Clara Finnigan's preview of Artemest's second edition of L'Apartamento (see 10:15 entry from day three), you can now skip the queue and see more from inside in our recently published Instagram Reel.

 

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2:45pm There is always time for ice cream! No points for guessing that one of the flavours Dezeen's Cajsa Carlson chose is chocolate, but what about the other one? Entries on the back of a postcard to Dezeen HQ.

chocolate icecream
For those of you impatient to know, the other flavour is... lǝɯou ɐup qɐsᴉl

 

2:30pm Dezeen design editor Jennifer Hahn reports that the social media "coquette bow" trend has made it to Milan in the form of candlesticks, chairs and cutlery by Worn Studio.

coquette bow candle sticks
The coquette bow trends asks "what can't be improved by adding a cute little bow?"
coquette bow candle sticks
Worn Studio, one of the exhibitors at Alcova this year, have presented chairs and candlesticks featuring bows
coquette bow candle sticks
Images by Jennifer Hahn

 

2:15pm Also at Alcova's Villa Bagatti Valsecchi with Dezeen's Jennifer Hahn and Jane Englefield is Dezeen deputy editor Cajsa Carlson.

Squishy house
Cajsa Carlson tested out Objects of Common Interest's garden pavilion at Alcova

The three dove into design studio Objects of Common Interest's squishy garden pavilion.

alcova queue
The long queue to get into the villas at Alcova snakes round the installation

Alcova has become one of the most widely followed projects in the Fuorisalone of Milan design week, regularly attracting over 90,000 visitors.

Jen and Jane
Jen and Jane take a load off, after a busy Milan design week...

Made from PVC and metal, the Objects of Common Interest pavilion provided a fun distraction for visitors from the queue snaking into the exhibition space's main building.

jen and jane
...before sliding in a heap to the bottom of the squishy domed pavilion. We know how you feel!

Athens and New York-based studio Objects of Common Interest are also showing squishy and rubbery furniture, illuminated by colourful lights, at Alcova's second location at the Villa Borsani.

colourfully lit furniture
Objects of Common Interest are also exhibiting inside the Villa Borsani at Alcova

 

1.30pm The sun has returned at Alcova! Everyone is frolicking in the sun outside Villa Bagatti Valsecchi.

sunshine park
Image by Jennifer Hahn

 

1:00pm From Alcova, Dezeen's Jane Englefield reports that knobbly bowls and translucent cutlery come together at La Cocina – an installation of functional but decorative kitchen pieces by Colombian designer Natalia Criado.

cutlery
Natalia Criado has designed translucent cutlery

Criado is another designer showing at Alcova's Villa Borsani, in a kitchen-style room.

knobbly bowls
The Colombian designer is also showing bowls with knobs
Tea set
Images by Jane Englefield

 

12:30pm House of Switzerland is a collective exhibition at the Casa degli Artisti on Corso Garibaldi which brings together emerging designers, studios, universities, brands, and galleries from across Switzerland.

house of switzerland
The exhibition has been curated around the theme of joy

Dezeen's US editor Ben Dreith reports that the 2024 edition has been curated around the theme of joy – perhaps not something often associated with the stereotypically rigid and serious aesthetic of Swiss design and architecture.

The exhibition aims to "revoke the singular perception of Swiss design, encouraging us to become captivated by its playfulness with a pure and open naivety, embracing the spirit of the playground".

The exhibition takes place at Casa degli Artisti

As a result, the show features lot of interactive exhibits involving ropes, swings, ladders, and seesaws but unfortunately someone went too hard on the seesaw and broke it!

house of switzerland
An overly-joyful visitor broke the seesaw exhibit. Images Ben Dreith

Many exhibitors collaborated with Swiss brands, such as an exhibit using tarpaulin from recycled bag manufacturer Frietag.


 

11:45am Following Englefield's trip to the Patrick Caroll exhibition of knitted "paintings" at Milan's JW Anderson store (see 10:45am entry from day three), you can now read the full write up below:


 

11:15am Photographed by Dezeen's Jane Englefield, who writes: Jennifer Hahn has hit Alcova's Villa Borsani with the entirety of her Milan design week luggage as the team prepares to leave the city.

She's donning the dad-at-an-art-gallery front backpack look, after reports of a visitor smashing a handful of one of the exhibitor's glass flowers here yesterday.

Alcova is at Villa Borsani and Villa Bagatti Valsecchi
Alcova is taking place this year across two new venues: Villa Borsani and Villa Bagatti Valsecchi.

*update* Here is a picture of the bathtub full of glass flowers, of which a few were damaged earlier by a less careful backpack wearer.

glass flowers at alcova
Image by Jennifer Hahn

Find out more about Alcova on Dezeen Events Guide › 


 

11:00am Dezeen's Jennifer Hahn reports: the design world congregated at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana last night to pay tribute to Italian design icon Gaetano Pesce, who died earlier this month aged 84.

Gaetano pesce
The exhibition shows Pesce's most recent works. Image by Clara Finnigan

The occasion was the newly opened "Nice to See You" exhibition, conceived before his death, which is showing Pesce's most recent works from 2023-2024, some completed just weeks before the exhibition was originally due to open.

Image by Jennifer Hahn
"Nice To See You" by Gaetano Pesce is on show at the Ambrosiana in Milan until 23 April. Image by Cajsa Carslon

Outside the historic library, there is a new monumental installation of a man crouching on all fours that was designed to reflect the "tiredness of the so-called stronger sex".

A new monumental installation of a man crouching on all fours has been installed outside. Image by Cajsa Carlson

There were speeches and standing ovations in honour of the "maestro", with attendees including Pesce's children Milena and Jacopo Pesce alongside designers including Fabio Novembre.

Image by Chater Paul Jordan
Pesce is, among other things, known for his playful chair design. Image by Chater Paul Jordan
Chairs cuffed hands
A pair of giant chained hands make for unusual chairs. Image Cajsa Carlson
nose shelf
Italian designer Gaetano Pesce's career spanned six decades. Image by Cajsa Carlson

 

10:30am Carlo Ratti returns to Brera Botanical Garden with sunRICE, an installation of sculpture made of rice husk that demonstrate the potential of the material.

carlo ratti sunrice instalaltion
Carlo Ratti sunRICE installation is made from rice husks

The biodegradable objects can be used as fertiliser after the exhibition concludes. Chef Niko Romito has also baked rice "cookies" for the occasion, available to try at the site – Jane Englefield

carlo ratti sunrice installation
The exhibition includes a specially planted bed of rice. Images by Jane Englefield

 

10:00am Those in need of some rest and recuperation from the frenzy of Milan design week, writes Dezeen's Max Fraser, have been enjoying the calm space of the Bocci apartment, a permanent showcase for the Canadian brand's lighting collections.

bocci showroom
Bocci's permanent Milan home is on Via Giuseppe Rovani

The space underwent a makeover for this year's event with walls hand painted by skilled artisans Pictalab to evoke velvet and parchment.

Bocci 4p
Bocci have launched their new portable light, called 14p

As well as impressive clusters of their pendants hanging in the various rooms, Bocci was also launching 14p, their first portable table light made from sepia-toned cast-glass.

bocci bathroom
Clusters of Bocci's signature pendant lights hang in rooms throughout the apartment

Fans of the beautiful Bocci tote bag (launched last year as part of the company's rebrand by Studio Frith) could pick up a new red and blue colourway for 2024. The Dezeen team, already heavy users of the 2023 bag, are thrilled!

Dog looking at tote
The new Bocci tote comes in blue and red. Images by Bocci, via Max Fraser

 

9:30am Morning! Welcome to the fifth and final day of Dezeen's reporting from Milan design week.

This week more than 20 of the Dezeen team have been out and about in Milan, soaking up all that Salone del Mobile and the wider Fuorisalone have to offer.

Hydro
Hydro unveils objects made from recycled aluminium at Spazio Maiocchi

Among them, Dezeen's editorial director Max Fraser, editor-at-large Amy Frearson, digitial editor Rupert Bickersteth, deputy editor Cajsa Carlson, US editor Ben Dreith, design editor Jennifer Hahn, social editor Clara Finnigan, design and interiors reporter Jane Englefield and editorial assistant Starr Charles have been reporting from the 62nd edition of the world's biggest design fair.

Patrick Carroll presents knitted "paintings" at JW Anderson store

Our live coverage from Milan wouldn't have been possible without all the work also going on from the dozens of Dezeeners in our London HQ, and in Shanghai and the US where we also have teams.

Andlight Alcova
A-N-D places standing chandeliers in 17th-century Milanese villa

This week we have partnered with brands on exclusive video content, co-hosted parties, thrown a Dezeen Awards dinner at Villa Necchi, moderated panel discussions, interviewed designers and architects, attended exhibitions, installations, previews and product launches – and we've drunk a few negronis at Milan's legendary Bar Basso too!

 

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There would be nothing to report if it weren't for the wonderful designers, artists, architects and multi-disciplinary practitioners who bring their creativity and their creations to Milan every year  – so here's to them, and our final day covering all the goings-on across the city. Let's go!


 

Catch up on everything that has happened so far this week:

Day one from Milan design week 2024

Day two from Milan design week 2024

Day three from Milan design week 2024

Day four from Milan design week 2024

To keep you up to date, Dezeen Events Guide has created a Milan design week digital guide highlighting the key events at the festival.

See Dezeen Events Guide for all the latest information you need to know to attend the event, as well as a list of other architecture and design events taking place around the world.

All times are London time.

The lead image is by Jennifer Hahn.