Future teleports to the present at Brera Design Week 2023

Practices of the present construct a foundation for the future, accentuating this narrative of ‘The future is now’, Brera Design Week 2023 makes its return with its 14th edition in the Brera district, Italy from April 17 to April 23, 2023. With over 240 scheduled events, this edition emphasises the theory that – the present gives shape to the future making the future a form of the present thoughtful actions today are a priority for tomorrow. Officially returning to a live in-person event, the design fair commemorates Fuorisalone’s theme touted as the “Future Lab”, stimulating thought on the challenges of contemporaneity, and rendering space for projects and practices capable of triggering a positive change. The theme of the design event narrates design as a valuable tool in order to meet tomorrow’s challenges since the future is not something intangible and abstract but rather built with the quality of the present.

“The events and installations of the Brera Design District contribute to enriching the schedule of the Milan Design Week, which takes place from April 17th to April 23rd. This is an important appointment for professionals, but also for simple design lovers: an initiative that introduces the world of design to the whole city, bringing citizens closer to the beauty, the genius, and the culture of design. Design is not only a pillar of our Made in Italy, but it is a fundamental sector thanks to which our city is recognised all over the world, capable of generating new ideas, employment and development of the territory. With the initiatives of the Brera Design District, one of the most important districts of the Milan Design Week, we enhance Italian know-how and creativity, sustainability and circular economy," shares Alessia Cappello, Councillor for Labour and Economic Development also responsible for the fashion and design sector. From material innovation to circular economy, Brera Design Week will act as a lens on topical issues that interest the design industry, with a focus on fresh ways that involve and capture the interest of new generations.

Italian brand Valcucine known for its innovative kitchen design is the helms the main partnership title for Brera Design Week and the design event will be curated by Studiolabo a Milan-based creative studio with a team of multidisciplinary designers from communication to graphic design that adorn the city with events, exhibitions and installations. This year, Grand Seiko is the official timekeeper for the design fair with an ambitious aim to enter the European market through this partnership.

From interactive installations to thought-provoking designs that teleport the viewer into a universe of thoughts about their role as human beings in the ecosystem and how present-day activities mould the future. STIR enlists a preview of some special projects from a plethora of riveting projects showcased at the Brera Design Week 2023.

TRAME: Installation design in the spaces of Acquario Civico di Milano

TRAME is an interactive perceptual exercise that Stark, a leading company in producing multimedia installations and interactive experiences dedicated to the Future Lab theme. It follows the concept of co-authorship, where the human being rediscovers himself as a performer among actors, forming an integral part of the biological community whose intertwined and shared motion allows living beings to inhabit. Hands guide the effects in space, a space that is also transformed by the actions of other “performers” who intervene to alter their surroundings too, making us reflect on how our actions are intertwined with those of others, weaving the creative narrative that materialises at each encounter. In the evocative aura of the Acquario Civico di Milano, the collaboration with architects Alice Buroni and Gloria Lisi together with Alexc Buroni led Stark to experiment with this experience in a shared workshop, proposing a plunge into the marvellous metamorphoses that relations and choral gestures can originate.

Ingo Maurer Porta Nuova’s Light - Floating reflection

Ingo Maurer chooses the Caselli di Porta Nuova located in the Brera district for the event showcasing imposing light installations with an impactful scenographic set-up made with a carpet 30 meters long painted in fluorescent colours crossing the arch, on top of which reflecting material will be laid supported by a structure of ropes hovering in the air casting an explosion of colours to be experienced throughout the day and night.

Agostino Lacurci - “Dry days, Tropical nights” presented by glo™

Together with glo™, Italian artist Agostino Lacurci presents “Dry days, Tropical nights”, an elaborate installation in largo Treves that engulfs the bystander to notice how our planet could become in the future and suggesting to build a better tomorrow. “Dry Days, Tropical Nights” marks one of the stages of the itinerant art projects of glo™ for art, created to support art and spread culture, favouring the democratisation of the artistic experience.

Design Variations 2023 by Mosca Partners

An event curated by Italian brand, Mosca Partners – Design Variations 2023 will present ‘Breath’ characterised by an extreme formal purity, created using a special silicone membrane on the facade of the Circolo Filologico Milanese, designed by Italian design studio – Zaven. These graphic figures are intended as an opportunity to ponder how design has evolved from solely aesthetic research of products into a tool for a multidisciplinary approach, making it a backbone of the economic and social system along with being the bearer of innovation.

Casa Mutina

Italian ceramics brand, Mutina in collaboration with Patricia Urquiola and Michael Anastassiades will present a project of intriguing experimentation on the ceramic surface. The elements of the new collections will be exhibited inside Casa Mutina Milan with an immersive installation through which the surfaces narrate a dialogue with the room in a continuous exchange of suggestions.

Loro Piana Interiors presents ‘Apacheta’ di Cristián Mohaded

Presenting a new project by Argentinian designer and artist Cristián Mohaded, Italian interior design brand, Loro Piana Interiors introduces ‘Apacheta’ through an installation inside the Cortile della Seta, at Loro Piana’s Milanese headquarter. The contrasting landscapes of Argentina inspired the dream-like world created by Mohaded, where twelve towers made in Loro Piana Interiors fabrics rise from the ground and embrace the furnishings projected by the designer.

Visionnaire presents – L’impero dei Sensi

Visionnaire is set to present a synesthetic story born from Milan-based design studio, Studiopepe’s vision that will showcase a mini capsule of three pieces – a Shibari armchair, a Parade lighting system and a pair of Blanche mirrors. The collection and installation will be showcased at the Wunderkammer– at the Visionnaire Design Gallery, a space dedicated to the senses as instruments to experience the world. With tactile coverings and a colour palette with shades of the skin, the visual experience of the installation will be accompanied by a dance performance and visual contributions dedicated to the five senses.

Barber & Osgerby x Marsotto Edizioni

Italian furniture design brand, Marsotto Edizioni presents a collection of marble furniture designed by London-based industrial design studio, Barber and Osgerby at the showroom in Largo Claudio Treves 2. A solo exhibition will be set up dedicated to the new family of products with an essential and timeless style, satiating the studio’s vision.

Projects showcased at the Brera Design Week are a step towards using art and design as a medium to elaborate that ‘The future is now’ and sustainable design approaches must be incorporated so that the present imprints a valuable impression on the future.

Brera Design Week 2023 will be open to the public from April 17 to April 23, 2023, in the Brera District, Italy.

Text by Ria Jha