Milan Design Week: Art and design, the good, the bad & the beautiful

MANILA, Philippines - Now is the time to plan for the big Milan trip in 2015. If you are into art, architecture, design or simply appreciate the beautiful, new and different, Milan may well be the next big destination on your list. What’s not to like in the global capital of fashion, food, art and architecture? Add to that the two compelling events that are happening in succession and you have a formula for a grand holiday. 

The 2015 World Expo called Milan World Fair will be in Milan, Italy from May 1 through Oct. 31, 2015. The World Expo with 130 countries participating is a journey around the world with the theme “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life.”  Preceding this is the biggest furniture and home furnishing fair, the Milan Design Week, which is held annually in April. This is the exposition that the Philippines successfully joined through the Department of Trade and Industry’s Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) last April after a seven-year hiatus from the prestigious show. 

Design overload it is in Milan for the weeklong festivity in the global capital of art, fashion and architecture. Aside from the massive exhibitions inside the Salone Internationale del Mobile in Rho, Milan, the city is awash with installations and exhibits in several districts in Brera, Tortona, Lambrate, Triennale and Navigli. Students and professionals who cannot enter the highly exclusive and expensive Salone invade every available warehouse and spaces in the design districts, which are freed from regular tenants for the Design Week. Even the fashionable Via Montenapoleone and Corso Vittorio Emanuelle are dotted with glass enclosures with chosen furniture and accessories occupying half of the street lanes.

It is impossible to see all due to the vastness and quantity of the exhibits and installations. But wherever you go, it is enough to soak in the experiences and take in as much as you can of the art, the streets, the food, the music and people. It was spring, there was a nip in the air, the trees and grass were green, the buds were blooming in pinks, lavenders and yellows and the sun was shining. In such an atmosphere, the enjoyment of Design Week was heightened. The time couldn’t have been more perfect.

The furniture fair has been an annual exhibition of the latest in high-end home interiors and design since 1961 and features the latest works of the blue-chip designers and architects such as Mario Bellini, Zaha Hadid, Fendi, Shigeru Ban and our very own Kenneth Cobonpue, among others.

Designs, creations, installations from the sublime to the ingenious, delightful, bizarre, functional, cute, indifferent and every conceivable shade in between can be seen everywhere. Milan dresses up, is on show, is the show and invites artists and conjurors from all over the world to bring it on and give their best shots. 

A stroll around the Salone, all 345,000 sqm. is a visual spectacle. The choices of chairs, sofas, tables, desks, colors, textures, patterns, furnishings, accessories please and assault the senses, varying from sweet to aggressive to innovative to irreverent in look and use of combined natural and man-made materials from gossamer fabric, silky smooth textiles, resin, silicon, grained or glossy wood to cold hard steel. The exhibits enchant, charm, surprise at every turn but always the furniture are comfortable, stable while cradling and gentle to the body, giving rest and relaxation. Form follows function, after all. But what incredible forms are executed to marvel at!

A steady stream of visitors touch, sit, lounge, recline on, try, and photograph the displays. At every bedroom or living room showcase I encounter, I feel like giving my place a makeover. What stops me is that the selection is mindboggling and one is hard pressed to choose which particular style or look to adopt.

The Missoni Home stands out with the use of its famous linear graphics and play of textures. Chevron and zigzags against flame or black and white are used for sofas and recliners and exude vibrance and energy. Poppies in pastels temper bold stripes and serpentines. It is the exact opposite of the traditional white and minimal but it works wonderfully. 

It is easy to understand that interior design is largely visual but a certain company has addressed the need to live and work in quiet spaces without the annoying bounce of sounds in a room. I was drawn to the booth of Caimi because of the colorful panels in geometric shapes festooned around the place. A staff quickly took me to the enclosed “Reverberation Room” and continued to talk as her voice bounced against metal and glass walls. The experience was unpleasant and annoting. Then she brought in three panels and amazingly, the room took on an acoustic quality as the panels absorbed the irritating drones and echoes. Snowsound technology is what Caimi calls their product. Lightweight panels of variable densities made from recyclable polyester work like magic to absorb excess sound and create ideal spaces for conference rooms, theatres, recording studios, restaurants, bedrooms and anywhere where acoustic perfection is desired. The panels can be mounted on walls or cabinets, hang from ceilings or on stands for mobility. The brochure shows various applications, many decorative since Caimi employs artists to design panel patterns for multiple uses.

I asked Budji Layug, curator for the Philippine Pavilion and creative director of CITEM if any installation caught his eye and he pointed to Cassina, a premier Italian manufacturer of contemporary furniture and New York’s favorite furniture store. Budji appreciated the garden layout with chairs artfully floating between trees and living room arrangements tucked around bushes and shrubs.  The feel was airy and relaxing while visitors freely tried the sofas and from their looks, found them totally comfortable.

Kenneth Cobonpue, on another hand, favored Dedon, the maker of exclusive indoor/outdoor contemporary furniture that is woven in Cebu. The Dedon pavilion had a whimsical look with handcrafted chairs and a coffee table swinging from the ceiling. Visitors couldn’t resist having a go on the swinging chairs and people waited to have a turn. The rest of the tropical resort furniture fashioned from rattan-like weaves were partitioned off by immaculate white filigree cutout panels reminiscent of the Bulacan pastillas wrappers. Dedon was put up by Robert Dekeyser, a former football professional who maintains a factory in Cebu with over 3,000 workers and has also opened the exclusive resort Dedon Island.

There was a lot more to explore and savor but there were only so many hours in a day and there is next year. If you’re inclined to go, bring your sense of discovery and adventure and a healthy dose of stamina.