Milan Design Week is at the door and we want you to know what is going on at via Tortona (Tortona Design Week) this year. A melting pot of creativity with an international flavour, where design, fashion and culture converge all year round. It’s Tortona, the first district to become a Fuorisalone circuit, paving the way for what is now one of the most important design appointments in the sector.
And fifteen years after the launch, it is now also a new point of reference for the creative industries. A development that has been driven by a strong desire for renewal, experimentation and contaminations between similar worlds, creating a fertile breeding ground for new enterprises and cultural production. With its identity as a district that is capable of attracting and engaging designers and creators of international fame, businesses, incubators, start-ups and emerging talent alike, Tortona has become an authentic and established hub of innovation, cultural production and exchange that is open to both the public and the city, also thanks to the presence of prestigious cultural realities. Among these companies and institutions are Armani/Silos, Mudec (Museum of Culture) and BASE Milano, a new integrated cultural and creative project that has just been launched at the historic ex-Ansaldo space.
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The latter of which were also chosen among the official locations of the international XXI Triennale di Milano exhibition. Tortona Design Week 2016 will be a moment of great creative energy and participation. The district, which attracted 115.000 visitors and 180 events from over 20 countries in 2015, is always a key protagonist in the Fuorisalone event. In fact, as well as the proposals of the realities already active in the district, there will also be the projects of famous and emerging designers from across the globe, including China, France, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Holland, Poland, Czech Republic and Spain.
This year, Tortona Design Week will be hosting a vast array of prestigious international designers, including Maarten Baas, who will be presenting ‘NEW!NOW!HERE’, an innovative artistic project where the confines of design will be pushed to the extremes; Marcel Wanders, who will also be exhibiting with MOOOI, will be showing a world preview of a new design concept for children; top-level architect and industrial designer, Naoto Fukasawa, has curated the Geoluxe event; Mario Cucinella Architects will be presenting ‘SOS – School of Sustainability’, a series of workshops, prototype laboratories and lessons in ‘Creative Empathy’, presented in a multifunctional space.
There will also be the creative duo Formafantasma, who have thought-up the exhibition concept and project for Lexus; Barovier&Toso and Paola Navone, who have joined forces again to work on a visionary project that explores the many colours of glass, in an imaginary journey across different cultures and landscapes; and Karim Rashid will once again be the protagonist of Tortona Design Night with a live DJ performance at ’Hotel Magna Pars Suites Milano, on Thursday, 14 April. But it doesn’t end here. Other important attendees and collaborations will be enriching the district’s events, reinforcing Tortona’s strategic role in the design world. For those interested in Chinese design there is the big Red Star Macalline pavilion and the ‘OO!CHINA’ exhibition, curated by Sarpi Bridge – Oriental Design Week. There will also be Citizen, who will be creating a surreal space filled with dancing lights. Meanwhile, Miele will be debuting in the Tortona district with a multi-sensorial installation called ‘The Invisible Kitchen’, a futuristic gaze on the revolution that is taking over the entire cooking experience. It is also here that Archiproducts will be inaugurating ‘Live, Work, Design’, the first design co-networking space which will remain open even after Milan Design Week is over, and from Holland we have Connecting the Dots, who will be exploring and questioning the concept of ‘Culture versus Commerce’ with two exhibitions entitled ‘Furnishers Market’ and ‘The Alternative’.
Another unmissable event is the Designersblock collective, which will be showcasing the projects of 60 independent, emerging and established designers. Opendot, in collaboration with Claude Marzotto (obelo) and Daniela Lorenzi (A14), will be proposing an exhibition-laboratory called ‘Visual Making’. The Viennese studio Vasku&Klug will be presenting the Preciosa Lighting show, an exhibition of refined crystals and chandeliers. Material Connexion Italia will be organising ‘Materials Village’, uniting different producers of materials, projects and highly innovative technologies all under one roof. Furthermore, there will also be Vauth-Sagel’s interactive communications platform and the artisanal theme explored by OTTO PIÙ. Finally, the Dutch company LINTELOO will be launching a new furniture collection in collaboration with internationally renowned design firm Yabu Pushelberg!
The Tortona Design Week Project
Tortona Design Week is an integrated communications project, sponsored by the Comune di Milano (Metropolitan Milan City Council), with the objective of promoting the events, installations and projects that are taking place in the Tortona district during the Fuorisalone event and during the MILAN DESIGN WEEK 2016,The partners of the initiative – who all come from very different realities and range from organisations that are focused on experimentation and cultural research, consolidated companies in the events sector and producers of design content – are: Associazione Tortona Area Lab, BASE Milano, Magna Pars, Milano Space Makers, Superstudio Group and Tortona Locations. The famous technology brand ASUS, who have been reconfirmed as the main partner of Tortona Design Week 2016, will be re-proposing the international design kermesse in its own, exclusive exhibition space.
SEE ALSO: MILAN DESIGN WEEK 2016: DELIGHTFULL CELEBRATES 7YEARS WITH 7PARTNERSHIPS AT SALONE
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