As fate would have it, LOCAL MILAN another exhibition that stood out, was also housed in a former goldsmith’s workshop, albeit a more upscale atelier at 5 Vie district. Curated by Emma Elizabeth and LOCAL DESIGN, the exhibition, now in its 4th edition, brought together 44 Australian and New Zealand designers in a formidable showcase of playful sophistication and effortless innovation. Taking advantage of the light-filled, two-storey palazzo, Emma curated the exhibition as the home of an eccentric collector, emboldened by splashes of yellow on the walls and a spectacular floral installation by Australian-born, Berlin-based florist Ruby Barber cascading down from the central skylight.

One of MDW’s attractions that combined a truly enchanting venue with a trove of head-turning exhibits (a magical combination not as common as you’d expect) was Alcova’s abandoned panettone factory in NoLo. Developed by Space Caviar and Studio Vedèt, Alcova is a platform for designers, institutions and galleries steeped in the spirit of the avant-garde whose goal is to activate forgotten locations and the people who inhabit them. Just some of the things that caught our eye amid the poetic abonnement of Alcova’s repurposed industrial facility were the “Non-Objective tables”, a series of tables by Morgane Roux of  Atelier Avéus* inspired by Suprematist paintings, the Hacker collection of marble objects by Manuel Coltri and DWA Design Studio (aka Frederik De Wachter and Alberto Artesani), whose colourful checkerboard and stripped geometric patterns belie the use of audacious artisan techniques, and a series of objects by ODDNESS whose innovative manufacturing techniques are matched by their elegant quirkiness. But perhaps what best encapsulated Alcova’s drive to revitalize the venue was “Caffè Populaire”, a six- day concept restaurant by Lambert & Fils and DWA Design Studio that offered visitors a chance not only to take a break and have a hearty meal but also to talk to each other. At the end of the day, “design cannot exist without dialogue”.

We were also impressed by the uncanny furniture collection by Design Academy Eindhoven graduates Schimmel & Schweikle, whose colourful playfulness was juxtaposed with the factory’s discarded machinery at ALFA.brussels’ exhibition space, and the unsettling sexuality of the anthropomorphic chairs of fellow graduate Anna Aagaard Jensen, part of the same installation, as well as the enticing weirdness of “DISSOLVING VIEWS”, an installation by morph collective, at Alcova Sassetti (the platform’s second Milan venue located in a former 1930s cashmere mill in Isola) which tiptoed between the oneiric and the nightmarish.

For every run-down industrial venue that opened its doors to the design-savvy public during MDW19 there was a baroque palazzo or stately mansion awaiting to dazzle its guests with its ornate splendour. Examples abound: Louis Vuitton presented its latest Objets Nomades Collection in Palazzo Serbelloni, interior designer Katrin Herden introduced 6 contemporary designers against the backdrop of the Neo-Renaissance setting of the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum at Palazzo delle Meraviglie, Dutch designers took over Palazzo Francesco Turati as part of the "Masterly- the Dutch in Milano" exhibition, Belgian decorateur Jean-Philippe Demeyer reflected his brand’ whimsical flamboyance in Palazzo Clerici, while Chilean architecture duo Pezo von Ellrichshausen installed their Echo Pavilion at Palazzo Litta’s courtyard. As spectacular was the setting for the “Formations” exhibition at the historic building of Circolo Filologico Milanese whose imposing atrium was populated by 24 geometric totems by Note Design Studio showcasing Tarkett’s new iQ Surface vinyl flooring collection.

Produced using recycled materials, Tarkett’s new product range joins a growing list of eco-friendly projects at “Fuorisalone” confirming the emergence of sustainable design as a major trend in the design world – with last year’s MDW manifesto calling for innovation and sustainability providing further impetus. We were particularly impressed by the eye-popping blue colour of the latest version of Christophe Machet’s Pipeline project at Alcova Sassetti, the primordial finesse of JOIN by Norwegian Presence in the Tortona district, and the ambitious boldness of Swiss backpack brand QWSTION whose installation at Alcova introduced the world’s first ever waterproof fabric made from Banana plants. Developed in collaboration with a Taiwanese yarn specialist, the fully biodegradable fabric aims to replace the plastic fibres that dominate the market, which is certainly good news for our planet – after all, the textile industry is the second largest polluting industry – as is pineapple wool, a vegan alternative to wool by Nathalie Spencer which we spotted as part of “Material Futures”, a show by Central Saint Martins graduates, and part of Ventura Future at Base Milano.

Once again this year, the exquisitely curated shows mounted by household names like Six Gallery, Galleria Rossana Orlandi, Wallpaper*, Nilufar and Dimoregallery did not disappoint. Wallpaper* Handmade’s 10th anniversary at Salone dei Tessuti swept us off our feet with its love theme (including love for gay erotica, courtesy of Tom of Finland wallpaper by Michael Reynolds and Hoffman Creative in collaboration with Flavor Paper, based on archival illustrations by Tom of Finland), as did the Mauritius-based brand Cypraea and New York-based designer Anna Karlin, who both presented their inaugural furniture collections at Galleria Rossana Orlandi. Speaking of things we fell in love with, the new “Feathers” collection of rugs by Maarten De Ceulaer for CC-Tapis was an absolute delight to both look at and touch. Hand-knotted in Himalayan wool and silk, each carpet is an abstract composition of vivid colours and graphical shapes that draws from the illustrations of John James Audubon’s Birds of America and John Gould’s Birds of Australia.

Over at Six Gallery, we got a chance to preview The Sister Hotel, the new venture by Mauro Orlandelli, which will be opening this autumn. Curated by architects Quincoces-Dragò & Partners (David Lopez Quincoces and Fanny Bauer Grung - the creative duo behind Six Gallery), the new boutique hotel shares not just the gallery’s 16th century monastic complex but also its affinity for mixing periods and styles, a talent which we also encountered at Nilufar Depot where curator Valentina Ciuffio of Studio Vedét seamlessly married vintage pieces with contemporary furniture designs for “FUR”, an exhibition languorously spread over the venue’s three-storey atrium among (and inside) a series of inflatable bubbles by Space World Air®.

Equally adept at combining the new with the old, Dimoregallery’s exhibition at Brera was a visionary elegy to iconic Milanese artist-designer Gabriella Crespi, showcasing a special edition of iconic Gabriella Crespi pieces from the 1970s, made exclusively for Dimoregallery in collaboration with Gabriella’s daughter Elisabetta Crespi. Introduced one by one in an immersive sequence of rooms that ranged from intimate domestic scenes to dreamlike settings full of sand dunes and mirrors, the pieces were not so much exhibited but rather exalted.

Two apartment installations at the same Brera location at Via Solferino offered different but equally enchanting interpretations of urban living. For “Perfect Darkness”, creative directors and founders of H+O, Josephine Akvama Hoffmeyer and Elisa Ossino, designed an apartment full of subtle geometric patterns, nuanced colours and an eclectic selection of curated and bespoke furniture, with each room featuring a different kind of tile by Danish company File Under Pop (whose creative director is Hoffmeyer), while next door, Constance Gennari, founder of The Socialite Family, created her own personal Parisian apartment.

Last but in no way least, three immersive installations blurring the line between art and design made a lasting impact. “Human Code” by Italian artist and designer Roberto Sironi at SIAM poetically abridged the most important stages of human evolution through ten autobiographical artefacts, “I Think Therefore I Was” at Venture Centrale by Dutch designer Maarten Baas conjured a sonic maelstrom by blasting the words “I think” from hundreds of TV screens, courtesy of random YouTube videos, while “The Accursed Hour” by Mexican artist Carlos Amorales at Fondazione Adolfo Pini managed to inundate the Fondazione’s majestic interiors with a flock of 15,000 life-size black butterflies made out of paper. Gracefully uncanny and unexpectedly menacing at the same time, Amorales’ visceral installation exemplifies more than anything the power of artists and designers to elicit both emotional and cerebral responses, a realization that reliably also sums up MDW19’s wondrous effect on visitors. Don’t take our word for it, scroll down to find out for yourselves.

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