ONE WEEK ABOUT Milano Design Week 2025
Day 3 – report by David Heldt
I have been coming to Milano Design Week every year since 2006, usually to organize an exhibition, this year as a visitor. I had been suffering from FOMO for a few days because I only arrived Wednesday morning, but where to start? On the way still at Schiphol I met Jeroen Glas of Interieurcariere, also not knowing what to go see, though with a few invites for cocktails. That’s probably where I’m going to run into him tonight.
There is no escaping big brand shows, nor the events where the Dutch scene meets. The trick is not to let yourself be led too much by the big PR agencies that don’t always take you to the most inspiring presentations. And also I like to see what Italian designers make, their dna is what salone once started with. Sense of style, material and craft is still visible. A surprising first expo I saw was Doppia Firma, a dialogue between design and artisanal excellence, an Italian organization that brings together an international group of designers every year, including this year’s Giulio Lacchetti, In Yeonghye, Studio Swine, CARA \ DAVIDE, Studio Job and Lex Pott at Villa Mozart, a surprisingly beautiful place to start the Salone.
Then I wasted 45 minutes in line at Louis Vuitton – Objets Nomades, it didn’t advance and it would have taken me at least another hour to get in. Why did I want to go there? Maybe the same ordinary curiosity that all those other row-mates shared, knowing what’s going on, being able to make a judgment, hoping to be surprised. Unfortunately, I can’t say anything about it, other than to say that I find the focus on these big brands disproportionate. It distracts from what this fair is all about for me, celebrating design and continually updating the view of our world each year.
But the brands and the designers also need each other, Studio DRIFT collaborating with the car brand Audi and sharing the courtyard of the Portrait Milano Hotel. A group of synchronously waving onion-shaped sprites, designed by design duo Lonneke Gordijn and Ralph Nauta of Studio DRIFT, represent the flexibility and mobility of the car brand. There was no line and I found Ralph Nauta talking on a bench in the sun, whether I was coming for a cocktail tonight? Yes please.
Now to see the future that Google portrays to us with the exhibit Making the Invisible Visible. Also a long line, but I am curious. Especially in these times where we no longer know who we can trust, what all Google knows about us, and whether we like the fact that Google keeps that information in America.
Then a few drinks. More tomorrow.
Photography: Davidt Heldt
