Last weekend was the first ever “Design Milk Presents” event, Reinvention; Writing History Through Aluminum, featuring new works by Brad Ascalon and Frederick McSwain (AM) for Neal Feay Studio, an exhibition at Bobby Berk Home (it runs through May 27th so you can still catch it!)
Boy, those girls from Sight Unseen sure know how to put together a fun series of events. We had a great time walking around Noho this year. I made it a point to go this year because unfortunately last year I missed it.
London Underground
London Underground was Tom Dixon’s first satellite show in the US, which took the Bleecker Street Theatre’s basement level space (i.e., “underground”) and turned it into a showcase for his lighting. The geometric shadows thrown onto the walls from his Etch Light Web fixtures were especially mesmerizing. Besides the lighting on display, there was a Fab.com pop-up shop where a selection of his lighting could be purchased. We were a little bummed not to see him on the main floor at the Javits, but this was an entirely different experience. And, once again, I didn’t get one of those safety orange messenger bags! Drats!
Italian designer Diego Grandi does a little bit of everything – surface design, interiors, and even exhibition design. Prove di Stampa is an exhibition he designed for the 15th year celebration of SaloneSatellite 2012 and it’s all about a print laboratory.
Hosted in Milan’s Ventura Lambrate, RCA Paradise challenged students to “contemplate the discovery of something or somewhere more wondrous.” The products they presented are all inspired by a “quest for a better future.”
Public House was Lee Broom’s first solo exhibition and marked the fifth anniversary of the brand. It pulled together an almost complete range of his products – certainly more than even he had seen in one place before.
What more fitting backdrop could there be for an all-British brand than an old British boozer? The materials used for the exhibition: oak paneling, etched glass mirrors and an ornate wooden bar, were all reclaimed from pubs. In fact the atmosphere was so well constructed, on some of the rowdier nights, Lee had to remind people they weren’t actually in a pub!
I grabbed a few minutes with the man himself…
Lambrate is one of the most talked about design districts of Milan Design Week. I headed over there on day two of my trip, having exhausted SaloneSatellite on day one. One of my favorite spots was the Book Light above by Barbara Vos.
Noting that messages are now more often sent digitally, a group of creatives got together to make digital messages become more tangible, yet still somewhat cryptic. The Cryptographer that they created makes a pattern using bleach on fabric that is actually a special, encoded message.
After showing at imm cologne, the Furniture From Greece exhibition travels to Milan for Salone.
Greek brands Candia Strom, De-code, Elite Strom, Lattas and Papadatos will present their works at the fair showing that Greek designers not only create upscale furnishings, but that you need to take note!
