DOPO? brings together an eclectic group of designers for 5VIE

Exhibitions across the world, be it art, architecture, design, or anything else, are often curated under the banner of certain similarities. Common themes, materials, or ideas often bring together exhibitors who are driven toward narrating a collective story. DOPO? by Fuori Contexto or Out of Context does exactly the opposite, in their presentation at the 5VIE Design District during Milan Design Week 2023. The exhibition, brought to life in collaboration with 5VIE and Adorno, celebrates the differences instead of imposing a singular overarching theme. It also empowers artisans who create unique products by crafting collectible art by hand using traditional methods and techniques. It refuses to engage with pieces that are products of automated, optimised, and engineered systems that speak to a more industrial aesthetic.

The only tangible thing linking the designers involved in the exhibition is Italy. Fuori Contexto invites designers that were born in Italy but have lived abroad for a long time along with foreign nationals who have made Italy their home. This eclectic bunch of artists presents an equally eclectic array of collectible pieces.

Based in Rome, Millim Studio is known for many things versus just one. It is a multidisciplinary creative studio that understands the importance of thorough research and construction techniques, to create stable expressions of connections between culture, art, design, and communication. Founders Chiara Pellicano and Edoardo Giammarioli tread the line between practice and academia with expertise as they give equal weight to their roles as design teachers while constantly collaborating with galleries, companies, and brands in Italy and abroad.

Founded by award-winning Italian designer Francesco Pace, Tellurico is also a multidisciplinary design studio. The relationship between the crafts and the environment has been the focus of Tellurico’s practice in the Netherlands. The work extends to examine the connection of any space to its historical, geological, and social aspects.

While Francesco Pace explores the connections in our world, Imma Matera and Tommaso Lucarini of TIPSTUDIO explore new universes. Their designs are rooted in experimentation and conceptual analysis. Based in Florence, the duo uses unique combinations to create equally unique pieces. TIPSTUDIO is not limited by discipline and collaborates with a variety of companies and artisans to ensure the consistent development of high-concept products. Carrying forward the multidisciplinary torch is Milan-based Ilaria Bianchi. In 2015 Bianchi founded a practice in her own name and uses it to take on industrial design. She looks at all her design processes from a critical viewpoint and shows an expressed interest in sustainability, which blends artisanal and technical techniques. Her work has been showcased in museums and galleries across the world.

Also based in Milan is Simone Fanciullacci. Fanciullacci is an independent designer working under his own name. His award-winning expertise includes Plastic Product Design and Jewellery Design, and his pieces tread the fine line between functionality and collectability with great finesse.

Appropriately named, Scattered Discs Objects wanders the field of object design, technology, research, and sometimes even architecture. Founders Bahar Pourmoghadam and Marco Cattivelli focus on a non-traditional business model and work on projects that allow them to explore fabrication processes, geometry, traditional crafts, mechanical components, and more.

Operating between Madrid and Eindhoven, Standard404 is a truly experimental studio that addresses the origin of production processes in relation to the human habits of the 21st century. It re-examines the role design plays in our contemporary society and uses non-structured design strategies to develop new ways of seeing and engaging with the act of making.

Milan-based Stefania Ruggiero is a carpet designer that combines poetic expression with functional experimentation. She collaborates with home decor companies and exhibits in Italy and abroad to create bespoke pieces of collectible design. Fuori Contexto is an unconventional territory occupied by an unconventional group of creatives. Together they have put on a show where hustle culture goes to die. It is a space where visitors are expected to pause and ponder instead of wandering by.

STIR’s coverage of Milan Design Week 2023 showcases the best exhibitions, studios, designers, installations, brands, and special projects to look out for. Explore Euroluce 2023 and all the design districts—5Vie Art and Design, Brera Design District, Fuorisalone, Isola Design District, Tortona District, and Milano Design District—with us.