A boat moored in the centre of the city beneath a large moon is not the subject of a fantastical painting, but Azimut's project at the Teatro Franco Parenti’s Bagni Misteriosi for Milan Design Week 2024. The installation by Michele De Lucchi and AMDL CIRCLE aims to inspire an emotional voyage through beauty and sustainable innovation. A journey of installations in four acts – as a tribute to Teatro Franco Parenti’s Bagni Misteriosi’s theatrical vocation - invites visitors to be enchanted by the wonder of the natural world, seen as if for the first time ever from the stern of a boat moored on the water, illuminated by reflections of a large moon. 

The first act welcomes visitors as the sun rises, sets over the water and surrounds them with the sounds, colours and scents of the sea. In the second act - The Sea Rocks - large sculptures made with alternative and recycled materials are the protagonists: disused fishing nets are skilfully recycled to become fabrics; 15,000 plastic bottles constitute the soul of the boat. The third act introduces the concept of ‘conscious’ interior design in architecture, and the final act leads to the new Seadeck 6 yacht moored in the heart of the Bagni Misteriosi.

Free access.

MoscaPartners selects the Darsena docklands for the fourth edition of Design Variations: a little-known place in viale Gorizia 14, a late-1940s garage in the city’s historic district, which preserves the Milanese vocation for change. The installation aims to respond to the question of whether temporary exhibitions and trade fairs can be set up in an ethical and responsible way. 

The proposal is the use of recoverable, reusable and bio-based materials so, with this in mind, Park Associati has designed the modular setup with a scenography of hemp cement bricks. The interior is superbly coloured by Nathalie Du Pasquier, with a site-specific work composed of immense decorative panels with geometric graphics and vibrant colour contrasts. Quality, durability and the circular economy are the essential ingredients for designing and imagining the future of living.

Touching Materials, the title of the Design Variations 2024 edition, means feeling the materials not only with touch, but also with the intellect and the heart, enabling ourselves to be amazed by new concepts and innovative proposals.

Free access.

Canale a Colori returns for the third edition on the Naviglio Grande, in the stretch between the iron bridge and the Via Valenza bridge. Light installations and events enliven the city's ancient waterway with events at the Centro dell’Incisione and the historic BarconeMilano on the Naviglio Grande.

Once again, this year, Tortona Design Week entices designers and devotees to the heart of one of the most popular areas of this mega week. The streets from Via Tortona, Via Savona and Via Bugatti to the Darsena become the stage for a Walk of Design through the local iconic places where installations fluctuate between closed and open spaces, along the streets and within the ancient factories, bringing traces of the past with them which merge with the creativity and innovation of the new exhibitors.

Pause at the Antica Fabbrica 14 with its unmistakable chimney, the Torneria Traviganti, the large Ex Ansaldo complex, the Opificio 31 and the Galvanotecnica Bugatti, to discover the ancient work sites being regenerated.

The key themes of sustainability, technology and craftsmanship act as a lietmotif amongst the spaces.

Free access.

The title of this 2024 edition is Tortona Rocks: Prelude. Introduction to the design of the future

The programme line-up reaffirms itself as fertile terrain for cross-contaminations, a new design medley between analogue and digital, between craftsmanship and new technologies, between art and design, a score to be ‘listened to’ in its composition.  Amongst the highlights, IKEA presents 1st (First) at the Visconti Pavilion, in via Tortona 58: it explores the ‘firsts’ that younger generations experience when they manage to have their ‘first’ place to call home. A universal experience, but unique and different for each of us. During the day, the bistro will serve Hotdiggy Dog, a selection of IKEA hotdogs created ad hoc for the occasion. In the evenings, the space will buzz with an impressive programme of musical events, thanks to talented artists who will perform their latest pieces.

Another highlight is AQUA by Studiopepe for Archiproducts in Via Tortona 31, dedicated to the theme of water: the shapes and colours it can acquire, transparency, reflections, fluidity. This fil rouge is an integral part of the display language of each product presented in the new set-up.

A juxtaposition of colours and transparencies, Aqua is a harmonious blend of form and function, where reflective surfaces and plays of light transform and revamp environments.

The Officina 3 facade at Opificio 31 becomes a large canvas for Hong Chul Wonderland: a chromatic explosion, the result of the collaboration between Noroo Group, the Korean colour industry, and the Spanish street artist Okuda San Miguel. The colours are inspired by the South Korean entertainer and entrepreneur Ro Hong Chul, famous for his optimistic, positive character.

Free access.

During the Milan Design Week, BASE Milano becomes a location where designers, artists and students live, experience and reinvent the space. The Convivial Laboratory, for the fourth edition of We Will Design is a way to imagine new experiences of coexistence, cohabitation and sharing through design. From April 12th to 23rd a campsite will be set up on the terrace, open to a group of 20 participants comprising designers, students, curators and cultural operators, who bring their unique experience and know-how to enhance the experience for everyone.

We Will Design is also a temporary Home, with five rooms that become a household and a place for experimentation, talks and exhibitions. The installations are not to be missed, the first of which, TALAMO, is a performative sculpture by the London-based Italian architect duo Lemonot: an immense, and at the same time lightweight, bed in a restless and dynamic suspension between floor and ceiling which comes to life by involving the public and which somehow becomes a room without delimiting a volume. The second is FLOWAIR, a large site-specific installation in the BASE courtyard that combines organic elements and amorphous textures, designed by Ingo Maurer's team. Made up of elements up to 10 mts high that slowly inflate and contract, FLOWAIR moves in the wind offering a show of lights and colours both by day and night.

In the evenings, it's time to party in pure BASE style: from Tuesday 16th to Saturday 20th April, live sets and special performances are scheduled, and in the late evening on Friday and Saturday international electronic stars Skee Mask + Hiroko Hacci and Dekmantel Soundsystem + Fabio Monesi, take to the stage.

Some events require booking: base.milano.it/series/design-week-2024

11 nations, 3 continents, 40 cutting-edge projects sum up the 2024 Superdesign Show, an iconic Superstudio event that has characterized the Tortona area for many years. Directed by Gisella Borioli, with the artistic direction of Giulio Cappellini, this year the Superdesign Show follows the theme of THINKING DIFFERENT - everything, everywhere, everyone: a journey that sets off from the East and guides us across the bridge that unites digital and real, to then arrive within the home. 

An invitation to reflect on the modern home, a symbol of contemporary nomadism that seeks a sense of ‘diversity’ in everyday living. Here it is possible to create new solutions in which aesthetics and elegance meet originality by integrating technology and embracing extremely current themes such as sustainability and inclusiveness. Indeed, one of the central themes is Diversity&Inclusion: a common feeling opens the hearts and minds of people who, for one reason or another, we define as ‘different’ only because they have different needs.

As in the case of autism: NOOK, the small collection of children's furniture by designer Mara Bragagnolo, addresses the silence and tranquillity that autistic children need, and invites the designers of the future to deal more conscientiously with the requisites of functionality and beauty of all ‘diversities. Materially NOW also returns to Superstudiopiù with an exhibition, a forum, an active laboratory and a networking hub. With this hybrid and multifaceted format, it opens up to the public interested in discovering new materials or learning about little-known aspects of widely-used materials. A packed calendar of presentations and panel talks offers the opportunity to delve deeper into all aspects related to this topic, and discover more about the three orientations towards which all operators in the field are moving: Aim Net Zero, Nature in Lab, Impact by Industry.

Access with registration required.

Vanity Fair inaugurates Il Giardino delle Idee, the first exhibition/workshop on new responsible design, in the cloister of the Diocesan Museum of Milano. A public event during which visitors can try hands-on experiences, participate in creative workshops, observe cutting-edge installations and encounter lots more concepts. To build the future together and to discover that the most interesting innovations for tomorrow already exist.

Access upon registration: eventi.vanityfair.it/giardinodelleidee24

A Casa Ovunque is an event that mixes physical and digital experiences to reflect on the new concept of hybrid spaces designed for hospitality. The theme of Human Technology is at the service of people in public and private spaces; it aims to create technological solutions focused on satisfying human needs and on facilitating their daily activities, improving their experience and creating more comfortable and functional environments.

The project is divided into five environments - Charme Hotel, Open Square, Cultural Business Lounge, Kids Space, On the Road - dedicated to hospitality, work, travel, tourism, children, entertainment and, above all, the culture of living and feeling good. A new way of living everyday life with attention to sustainability and technology but, above all, people.

Access to the event is free, subject to online or in loco pre-registration.

The life, thoughts and sentiments of young persons is the subject of Cosmo I Am, the exhibition of artworks that students, aged 19 to 25, from 15 academic institutions, have entrusted to Cosmopolitan magazine. Their vision of the world is represented in the form of stories, comics, photographs, videos, illustrations, works and installations, answering the questions How do you imagine the future? How do you want to build it?

Daily meetings will be held with the Cosmopolitan editorial team and the young talents.

Free access.

Gogol'Ostello opens its spaces to exhibit a collection of works that illustrate buildings and places which mix with design objects and elements inspired by the imagination of iconic designer Piero Fornasetti.

The canvases, created with mixed media and collage, depict a surreal and fantastical Milan, which invites the observer to travel with the realm of their imagination, as Piero Fornasetti himself does with his creations.

Free access.