Last April during Milan Design Week, Italian brand Marni presented a line of bags, furniture and design objects in their signature show space.
This week the brand has finally put these objects on sale via what they dub their online Pop Folk Market. With a series of colour combinations featuring their Crochet bags (in cotton & wool) , Hammock Bags, iconic striped bag and an introduction of their Fish Bag in a fluorescent shade, the house has created a visual story as they embark on a road trip filled with the characteristics of colour, humour and personality. Each of the pieces included in the collection is said to be a unique creation handcrafted by their long term Columbian artisans using the meticulous artisanal process of the local traditions. All the pieces from Marni Pop Folk Market are currently available at Marni.com
Salone del Mobile is the one time of year in Milan where one can discover the most interesting, jolting exhibitions and installations around the city. One of the most essential installations to see was that of Dutch designer Maarten Baas. Although not considered as design, the designer staged an exhibition in collaboration with Ventura Centrale entitled “I Think Therefore I Was.” Set in one of Ventura’s exhibition spaces in Centrale, the installation featured hundreds of monitors, playing fragments of videos in which the words ‘I think’ were cut from hundreds of random Youtube videos. This compilation of information is one that creates a great cacophony of words and moving images that hits you upon entrance. Leaving one in awe with an overflow of feeling. There is no single screen to focus on, or single audio to listen to, there are hundreds being played simultaneously and what all that information does to the brain subconsciously is quite exciting.
Images by Claudio Grassi
“Having an opinion is once claim to existence. By placing the installation in reference to a catwalk set-up, the first impression is rather intimidating. The screens are like an audience, proclaiming opinions about you, as a visitor. Yet the other way around, it shows a colourful variety of people who have thoughts and therefore therefore are individuals,” comments Baas. The artist has been know for blurring boundaries between art and design using the element of surprise. The exhibition, which has already closed it’s doors, marked the artist’s 10th year in collaboration with the Ventura Projects in Milan.
For Milan’s annual international design week, Italian luxury house Fendi has teamed up with renown Italian architect, designer Cristina Celestino for their latest project entitled “Back Home.” Fendi first tapped Celestino back in 2016 for their first successful collaboration, the “Happy Room” at Design Miami. The duo worked well enough that it was indeed deserving of a second collab, which presents as the FENDI Casa’s “Back Home” line. The collection, on exhibition at the house’s showroom in Milan, is a celebration of the Maison’s iconic Pequin striped motif first produced back in 1987.
Throughout the exhibit Celestino produces a reinterpretation of the motif while using the house’s iconic patterns to create a wide creative range of furniture pieces in elegant marbles, onyxes and fascinating metallic surfaces. She creates a story centred around the iconic Pequin stripes using geometric armchairs and sofas with masculine designs to counterbalance the femininity of their shapes. A rose-like version of Fendi’s classic geometric motif also appears on coffee tables and carpets along with the FF logo. Influences of fashion are evident throughout the exhibit, a few mirrors and lamps were inspired by the silhouettes of cufflinks, cabinets echo a few of the houses stylistic codes with strong vertical lines, geometric shapes and bold curves.
On site, the installation is divided into five parts, the Terrace, Entrance, Waiting Room, Dressing Room and Living Room. Each room evokes a different feeling with a general recollection of 70’s Roman house revised with bourgeois qualities. The FENDI Casa “Back Home” has its Milan doors open to the public until the 12th of April.
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