Milan Design Week

Beam Me Up

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Beam Me Up. Milan, Italy. April 2016.

Beam Me Up. Milan, Italy. April 2016.

Similiar to my prior post about the Citizen Watch Fuori Salone installation, Sou Fujimoto's design for COS during Salone del Mobile was a favorite of mine well. Fujimoto designed a "Forest of Light" for the brand using spotlights and mirrors. The space they used for the collaboration was an old theatre, so it was very fitting that we were surrounded in darkness and spotlights were  the only light sources. Fujimoto's lights formed cone beams that pierced through the darkness and they turned on and off in response to the movements of visitors, a very new age forest. I particularly enjoyed this installation because Fujimoto's minimalist approach of only using light also reflected the clean lines and simplicity of COS itself. 

Like Diamonds in the Sky

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Like Diamonds in the Sky. Milan, Italy. April 2016.

Like Diamonds in the Sky. Milan, Italy. April 2016.

My favorite time of the year in Milan is during Milan Design Week commonly referred to as "Salone del Mobile." It is the largest international design/furniture fair and draws and an incredible amount of attention and talent to the city. It happens every April, perfectly timed for when the weather finally turns. While there is plenty to see at the actual fairground where Salone del Mobile is held, the best part is that exhibitions permeate throughout the entire city. Designers and brands show outside of the fairground and those installations are known as Fuorisalone (outside Salone).

For Fuori Salone 2016, Citizen created this amazing installation, "time is TIME," in Superstudio Più. Under the creative direction of Tsuyoshi Tane, Citizen created a galaxy where the silver stars are 120,000 main plates suspended in the air with wire. It was 800 square feet of breathtaking bling. The idea behind this design was that visitors would witness time standing still where. This was one of my favorite installations, it was inspired and beautiful both when inspected closely or taken in in its entirety. The experience stuck with me long after we visited and obviously still does.