Milano Design Week Amore

We at j’adorais love love fashion… and Milan has always meant the most extravagant and beautiful of fashion… but in April every year Milan is home to another world of design – furniture and product design from all around the world, known to all as the Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano. It is the biggest design week in the world and attracts all the top designers from all around the world to showcase the latest and best in design.

This year I decided to see what the world of design was about and finally checked out the wonderful Milano.

First up on the itinerary was Gaussian Blur, an event conceived by designers Moritz Waldemeyer and Florian Dussopt and sponsored by gin masters Bombay Sapphire. I felt a little out-of-place as the place was spilling with the top designers of the world, lucky for me there were some pretty tunes spinning and cocktails to enjoy whilst gazing at the installation created by the designers. The installation, the Bombay Twist, was huge chandelier of floating bottles in a tornado like spiral with beautiful imagery projected on the silk screens that created an ethereal atmosphere at the event.

It was nice to see what the fashion being displayed by the designers as well.

With Milan Design Week lasting a week, and me only being there for 2 days, I was only able to see a handful of the exhibitions – last year there were over 1200 exhibitors! Unlike Fashion Week that is only open to the lucky people working in fashion, Design Week is open to the public on the Saturday and Sunday of the week.

The first exhibition that was truly spectacular was the Triennale di Milano, Milan’s design museum that was jam packed with stunning pieces over 2 levels. This museum is set in the beautiful Parco Sempione,  a beautiful park to visit right in the centre of the city and also the home of the stunning Castello Sforza.

Apologies, but as there were so many beautiful designs, I failed to get the name of all the designers.

On the other side of the park is an area called Brera is an area with lots of smaller exhibitions, including one by ingo maurer.

The next piece is a chandelier by Moritz Waldemeyer made of LED candles.

On the other corner of Milan was an exhibition by London’s Tom Dixon.

(I was lucky enough to pick up some of these beautiful light fixtures last year at Tom Dixon’s sample sale…)

This exhibition was one of the highlights of the week, with many up and coming designers showcasing their favourite pieces in the atrium of Milan’s Science Museum.

One word of warning, there are over 300,000 visitors to Milan Design Week, so if you want to book any accommodation or restaurants around design week, make sure to book WAY in advance. Whereas usually my photos from trips consist of only food, this trip they were only of beautiful designs, as my quest for the perfect pasta has yet to be fulfilled.