This weekend was again filled with traveling! I went to Milan on my final Study Tours trip with school for Design Week 2011. There were events and exhibitions happening city-wide related to design. There were showrooms displaying their new product for the year, and exhibitions of student work and an International Design Fair.
Our first stop was at the International Design Fair called "I saloni" located in the Fiera district.
This is the exterior of the building that houses many expos over the year, the design expo being the largest. The 'fairgrounds' are over 2 kilometers long. It is a series of buildings that are covered by the glass and iron structure. The set up reminded me of an outlet mall. There were different exhbitions going on in each of the buildings. Of the 7 we saw 3: SaloneSatellite (student work), Euroluce (lighting), and Design (furniture).
My favorite was the Salone Satellite.
An overview of the Salone Satellite
One of my favorite pieces was a chair made of a wire frame that uses stress balls for cushion inspired by a tennis hopper.
Face chairs
In one of the lighting Pavillions. Some of the companies' stands had complimentary snacks and beverages! This was one of them... you can tell since it was so crowded.
A lighting pieced called "Wall Piercings"
In the Alessi exhibit. My Interior Design professor designed this watch!
The NH hotel outside of the Saloni... unfortunately not our hotel though.
We had to stay in a town about 45 minutes outside of Milan since everything in the city was booked. Although our hotel claimed to be a 4 star, I must disagree. I'm pretty sure the room we were in used to be an office since the beds were pushed up against a huge built in desk and the stand for the tv was another built in desk. It was an interesting set-up to say the least.
My favorite thing about where we stayed is that there was a huge grocery store (like the ones in the States) across the street. It felt like home being in a grocery store instead of a tiny supermarket. I had a great find in the grocery store: Italian style 'Lunchables!'
Crackers, cheese, and salami made for a great lunch the next day! I can't wait to get home and have huge grocery stores with tons of selection. I've noticed that Italy doesn't have the variety of condiments that are found elsewhere. They have the basic ketchup, mustard, and mayo but it is hard to come by ranch, syurp, bbq, honey mustard, etc. The only dressing for salad is oil and vinegar so returning to all the variety will be very nice!
Saturday morning we went into the Piazza della Duomo of Milan for another design exhibition.
The Duomo of Milan.
This machine takes a picture of a person and then draws a portrait of that person.
After the machine was done drawing it grabs the picture and shows it to the audience. This is a portrait of a little girl.
Spray on fabric.
After the exhibition in the Piazza we went to some showrooms around the city.
A jester hat sofa in Meritalia
Chairs in Meritalia
Cassina - another showroom
A beautiful church we passed while walking around
A fun chair/rug combo that was playing around with color swatches.
A horse made of Swarovski crystals.
That night we went to a different part of Milan that had more design exhibitons the biggest of which was called Superstudio Piu. A lot of companies and designers were showcasing new products here.
A new type of lighting that is paper thin. It was hung fron the ceiling at all different heights.
Baskets made of paper.
We were out until 11:30 that night seeing all the different exhibitions which made for a long day!
On Sunday we went to a Museum that had some more displays of new products. The permanent part of the museum was a series of rooms that highlighted Italian designers and their products. One of our midterm critics's father was featured in the museum for the furniture his factory produced.
After lunch we went to yet another part of Milan that had exhibits. At this point everything was just seeming like more stuff to me. One thing did catch my eye though, a diamond rug.
In black and white
And in color
The by the end of the weekend my brain hit overload with all of the stuff we had seen. I really liked the city of Milan nonetheless. It had more of an urban feeling than Florence. I would have loved to have time to shop some since it is one of the fashion capitals of the world.
Although many of the stores were out of my budget, I still would have liked to dream. I was expecting the people to be more high fashion in Milan. In general people are more fashionable in Europe. No one wears sweats out in public and the men are much more into their appearance than American men.
It's starting to set in how soon I will be returning to the States and it freaks me out because I still have so much school work to get done! I have my first final this week, two next week, and my final Interior Design presentation the following week. Wish me luck!
Ciao ciao,
Hannah
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