Created by the designer Daniel Germani for Cosentino and Riva 1920, ‘Madera Meets Dekton’ presents an architectural structure made of Dekton (in its ultrabright XGloss Spectra color) attached to two pieces of solid walnut wood.
Conceived in a timeless style, ‘Madera Meets Dekton’ is a unique sideboard or credenza more than 2.5 meters long, 0.7 high, and 0.46 wide. The furniture piece presents a Dekton structure (in the ultrabright black Spectra tone) attached to two solid pieces of walnut wood. The walnut wood worked by Riva 1920 comes from American reforestation zones, and its curvature is obtained through the use of cutting-edge machinery. Natural-based oils and waxes are applied to the wood as a finish. The result is testimony to all the research, innovation, and experimentation that is part of the DNA of Riva 1920. The assemblage of drawers integrated into the credenza is executed through the typical fitting method called dovetailing, whereby two complementary parts of pieces are joined by pressure.
Daniel Germani es el director creativo y fundador de Daniel Germani Designs. Nació y creció en Buenos Aires, Argentina. Tras completar sus estudios como arquitecto, Daniel pasó ocho años viviendo y trabajando en Europa en diversos proyectos creativos y empresariales. Reside en Phoenix, Arizona, donde su trabajo está enfocado en el diseño de muebles personalizados y la renovación arquitectónica. La estética de Daniel está influenciada por Bauhaus, Oscar Neimeyer, Le Corbusier, Mies y Frank Lloyd Wright, y su filosofía es simple: el buen diseño siempre debe ser honesto e inspirador.
Nigel Peake (Ireland, 1982) resorts to drawing as a tool to analyze in detail the internal structure of the elements surrounding him, be they animals, objects, buildings, or cities.
Nigel Peake’s drawings crossed the frontiers of his native Ireland thanks to his graduation project at the University of Edinburgh, where he studied architecture. In this project, instead of embracing the widespread digital methodology of our times his detailed hand-drawn plans reclaim artisan processes. This thesis earned him the Silver Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Shortly after he published In the Wilds and In the City, two books that are fascinating for their imaginative capacity and the technical virtue of their author. Hermès, The New York Times and Phaidon are among his clients today.
In his Six Cities project, Peake uses drawing to record and document his trips, creating subjective urban maps that represent the different itineraries and milestones discovered during his travels.
Another virtue reflected in Peake’s drawings is his analytical capacity. As much in the rural studies as in the case of cities he manages to extract just the minimum elements needed to later classify them.
We visit the best designs of this last edition of Milan Design Week 2017. More than 15 projects of the most famous designers and architects.
Of the hundreds of installations put up at Fuori Salone during Milan Design Week, we mention the most prominent, among them the Nendo exhibition, SO-IL’s pavilion for MINI, Studio Swine’s bubbles for COS, the LAUFEN exhibition: Milestones, Dektonclay, Apparatu’s project for Cosentino, the white cubes by Chipperfield, Zaha Hadid, Aires Mateus, and others for OIKOS, Zaha Hadid’s installation for Samsung, Daniel Germani’s cabinet made of DEKTON, Formafantasma’s delicate lamps for FLOS.
Milan Design Week collects the best designs over the world in hundreds of installations scattered around the city. Magaceen's team selects those which, in their opinion, are the most relevant.
The Nendo exhibition, featuring over 16 projects, deserves first place on our list. A succession f brilliant, inspiring projects, each different and original, thrills the viewer. COS stands out anew – if last year with the architect Sujimoto, this time with Studio Swine and its installation of perfumed bubbles. In third place, the MINI brand of vehicles alludes to its name through designs of minimal living spaces by the architects of SO-IL. Immediately after that we wish to draw attention to a Spanish talent on the rise, Xavier Mañosa of Apparatu, who in collaboration with the Almería trademark COSENTINO has been studying the properties of a material which all we knew about until now were its ultrapressed panels. Finally, the exciting lamps of Formafantasma, manufactured for the first time for the brand FLOS, which is indispensable in the fair, more so with lighting as protagonist.
MINI LIVING – Breathe is a forward-looking interpretation of resource-conscious urban living within a minimal physical footprint. The installation calls into question conventional living concepts and demonstrates how architecture can react creatively to future challenges presented by ever-shrinking living spaces and limited resources in urban areas.
In keeping with MINI’s adherence to the principles “Creative use of space” and “Minimal footprint”, the installation conjures attractive living spaces for up to three people within an area just five metres wide and ten metres tall. The concept views the home as an active ecosystem which can make a positive contribution to its environment – expressed here through intelligent use of resources essential to life, e.g. air, water and light. The transparent, flexible outer skin filters the air and floods the installation with natural light to ensure a bright and pleasant ambience inside. Plus, a roof garden stocked with vigorous, oxygen-producing plants does its bit to improve air quality and the urban microclimate around it. Also on the roof, an intelligent construction collects rainwater for further use. The basic structure of the installation features reusable, environment-friendly and recyclable materials, setting the seal on the concept’s keen all-round awareness of the resources involved.
Xavier Mañosa explores the concept of the kitchen through a single material, Dekton, which he works with in its various phases of production: from the powder base with which he makes clays to the finished panel that is sold.
The burners, the kitchen counter, the structure, and the handles are made with Dekton, which has been molded, pressed, and baked, leading the material’s malleability into different artisanal processes, always with the simple but sure energy of the fire coming out of the range.
In continuous collaboration with the Spanish firm Cosentino, the ceramist tries to find new ways to work with Dekton, capitalizing on how it behaves when subjected to different temperatures of density conditions, on its versatility, and on the various uses it is able to serve.
Behind this, diverse new questions arise regarding the creative process: how to combine the industrial production of the material with Mañosa’s artisanal work, how to make it stand out in three dimensions, how to design Dekton in a way that highlights contrasts in texture and color tone…
Dektonclay combines the artisanal pieces of Apparatu with the ultracompact Dekton surface, manufactured in the SpectraXGloss color.
Jara Varela
Jara Varela
Jara Varela
Jara Varela
Jara Varela
Apparatu es un atelier cerámico y estudio de diseño español liderado por Xavier Mañosa. Xavier creció entre cerámica, viendo lo que sus padres hacías en Art-Foc, el estudio que ellos fundaron en 1968. Hornos, arcilla, agua y tornos siempre han formado parte de su entorno. Hace nueve años Mañosa asumió la dirección del estudio familiar y lo renombró Apparatu. Hoy, el estudio es un espacio efervescente y creativo que no tiene límites a la hora de combinar diseño, investigación y creatividad.
During the 56th edition of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, Laufen takes part in Design Week with grand style, choosing the fascinating spaces of the Posteria, in the heart of the Brera Design District, to celebrate an important anniversary and to amaze visitors with an exhibition and installation featuring all of the company’s latest creations and recent bespoke products.
This year represents a remarkable milestone for Laufen, the 125th anniversary of the company’s founding. The first Laufen kilns transformed clay into ceramic 125 years ago, and expert hands shaped the material with great skill and delicate sensitivity. Even today, that material and those hands are the true reference points of the company, constants in all its manifestations, bridging the gap between past and future.
CLASSICS
“Every once in a while, a form will emerge that never loses its originality.”
Some forms remain special forever. They become part of a canon of forms, loved and celebrated for too long to surprise, yet eternally unique, and much too beautiful to ever be considered standard. The result is a classic which never fades — always at the cutting edge of technology, and gorgeous for eternity.
Design: Stefano Giovannoni, wall-hung WC, IlBagnoAlessi One, 2002 Polymers and silica sand, binder jetting (powder bed 3D printing), in ltrated and painted 25 × 19 × 17cm, Producer: Christenguss AG
CLEANSING
“A quirky and unusual animal is the symbol for the cleansing ritual.” Its porous skeleton provides it with the unusual ability of soak- ing up water and then releasing it again. It is perhaps the oldest hygienic tool, and along with water often the only one: the sponge. Functional, it cleans and caresses at the same time and is soft to the skin. It is not uncommon to nd one in our tool box — for we also use sponges to clean ceramics during production.
Already during production, therefore, we see the triad of basin, water and sponge: the most original source of cleanliness, the perfect package, tradition and inspiration as one. Design: Studio Achermann. Natural sponge in dipped and sintered SaphirKeramik, 15 × 22 × 27 cm Producer: Laufen Bathrooms AG, Gmunden factory
THE SEARCH FOR NEW VISIONS
“Time only goes in one direction. But we give it form.”
Tomorrow is a question: What will we be able to accomplish? It challenges our willpower: How good can we be? Which new technologies can help? To us, progress is a neverending process, a step that is bigger on some days, much smaller on others. Because the future is not a time that comes, but a path one must take. A path we want to take. To provide the answers ourselves. In all that we do.
Design: Patricia Urquiola A mix of polymer cast ance ceramic, binder jetting (powder bed 3D printing), in ltrated, 5 × 19 × 19 cm, Producer: my3dworld GmbH
COMPLETE BATHROOM SOLUTIONS
“Everything begins with cleanliness. It is the start and the nish.”
With water came bathrooms, and with bathrooms, the begin- nings of a whole new movement: in the middle of rst half of the 20th century, the installation of bathrooms was accompanied by a plea for hygiene and cleanliness. Today, this concept is so obvi- ous that we cannot fully comprehend the impact it had at the time, especially if we consider that trends have long since made rejuvenation the leading topic when it comes to bathrooms. Bathrooms have gone from an almost shameful, hidden, ideally space-saving, functional space to a room that is harmoniously integrated into the open oor plans of a living space.
Design: Konstantin Grcic Polymers and silica sand, binder jetting (powder bed 3D printing), in ltrated and painted in ltriert und lackiert, 145 × 80 × 57 cm, Producer: Christenguss AG
OPEN-MINDEDNESS
“True teamwork is not a deal. It is a culture.”
The connection between a commercial product and creative de- sign is rarely obvious. No form follows function rule, no brie ng and no order can con dently provide the grandeur that designs need if they are to become relevant for generations to come. What it takes is open-mindedness, and the courage to collective- ly explore new avenues until the goal is reached. This is the cul- ture of cooperation we encourage.
“Trusting one’s own strengths: When everything we know converges onto one point, ideas emerge which can simultaneously solve many challenges.”
Everything new. Better. Faster. The invention of a process that casts ceramic under pressure didn’t just arise from a single step, it involved several di erent steps wrapped into one. Pressure casting made surfaces smoother, rmer and more pristine. It shortened production times, not only the casting itself, but also because pressure-cast objects can continue to be processed im- mediately after casting. Suddenly, moulds no longer had to be replaced after a few hundred uses, but only after twenty or even forty thousand. Sometimes progress happens in leaps and bounds, and everything converges in a single concept.
A new division was formed — Kelapor. The pressure casting process is still used today and marketed all across the planet. What began as a simple idea forged a new reality: how people work, what they produce — an approach that has found its way into countless apartments and homes through- out the world.
“We can’t take credit for the mountains. But everything else of which we are proud, we develop one step further every day.”
LAUFEN is not only a company; it is a community in the canton of Baselland. It is our home. And it is a commitment: as far back as the Middle Ages, ceramic was made here. It is a tradition we will carry into the future. Absolutely local, perfect for this very spot. We are people of Baselland. And Swiss. In all that we do, always and gladly. With an eye on the whole world, but with our feet on the ground, as ambassadors of a tradition and claim. A claim for Swiss quality and precision — the art of engineering.
Design: Peter Wirz Fine reclay, cast by hand using a shaped mould, glazed and sintered, 20 × 84 × 23 cm Producer: Laufen Bathrooms AG, Gmunden factory
WATER
“The missing element — the consummation of our labour.”
Water is life. It represents purity, health and relaxation. Water is the element which allows our objects to function, which makes them useful and turns them into the luxury amenities o ered by modern bathrooms. In 1890, Swiss households gained access to the general water supply. No other event has been more vital to the development of LAUFEN, for without it the company would not be in existence today. Our ideas and designs always take into consideration the texture, temperature and power of water: both how we use it and the possibilities of conserving it — along with longevity, this is our contribution to sustainability.
Design Toan Nguyen SaphirKeramik, plaster mould produced from a shaped model, cast by hand, glazed and sintered, 50 × 35 × 35 cm Producer: Laufen Bathrooms AG, Gmunden factory
THE WORLD
“Strong roots ensure one can continue to grow. From Switzerland to the world.”
Limits are self-imposed: On the one hand, LAUFEN is a Swiss company. On the other hand, it has always been connected to the outside world — via its partners and production sites in Central Europe.
As early as 1952, LAUFEN also began to produce wall and oor tiles in Brazil. From that time, long before the era of frequent yer miles, the company’s director started commuting between the two continents. An inevitably cosmopolitan spirit set in, with the company forging alliances and taking over pro- duction sites in
Austria and the Czech Republic. Since 1999, the company belongs to the Spanish group Roca. Its heart remains Swiss. But its thinking is global.
Design: Ludovica + Roberto Palomba Fine reclay, cast by hand using a shaped mould, glazed and sintered, 78 × 55 × 35 cm Producer: Laufen Bathrooms AG, Gmunden factory
Poetry, technique, aesthetics, and functionality. Four approaches to the fashion world, where architecture has much to give.
Collaboration between architecture and fashion is possible, once again, thanks to the Prada Invited initiative, through which architects like Herzog & de Meuron and Rem Koolhaas have redesigned the iconic Black Nylon of PRADA during the presentation of its autumn/winter 2018 collection in Milan. The architectural view, also present in the industrial space where the show took place.
The backpack, as we know it, is an obsolete and uncomfortable object. Rem Koolhaas speaks of the rhythm of life of current society and its need for storing and transporting belongings. He proposes to move it to the front and make its compartments smaller, adjusting them to the real sizes of everyday objects.
An ode to language as a tool of persuasions and sincere communication. Words are joined to create vacuous discourses with no space for criticism nor reply. A mere pattern of the Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron applies like texture on a black nylon shirt.
The German industrial designer Konstantin Grcic returns to the origins of nylon and to the element it best responds to: water. Conceived as a material for making bags, it is now put forward, with its technical properties improved, for use as a fishing vest, in abstract designs with lines that adapt well to the body.
The brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec focused on the aesthetic aspect of nylon. Ronan says that he has always liked people – architects, painters, and students – who go around with art portfolios; the movement of this rectangle, its clean cut and fixed geometry in contrast with bodies in motion.
Alexandre de Betak (Paris, 1968) has worked for years turning the most prominent runways and fashion shows into spectacular scenographies that bring together originality and technical skill
With offices in New York, Paris, and Shanghai, Bureau Betak has developed its aesthetic around the design and production of fashion shows for the most prestigious international firms (Christian Dior, Tiffany & Co., John Galliano, Hussein Chalayan, Victoria´s Secret, to name just a few). Its set designs, always original, research into all the fields of creation, from pure craftsmanship to high technology, and from the most artificial making to the most natural. The Bureau´s projects are based on four elements. The first would be the venue (working in mythical places like the Louvre in Paris, the Forbidden City in Beijing, or Moscow´s Red Square), which gives the story a narrative thread. Next, the mise-en-scène or set seeks creating something new, be it architectural, dystopian, or fantastic. This is where perfection and technical display are made visible. Light, Alexandre de Betak´s obsession since he was a child, would be the third element, which brings credibility and marks the final success of the intervention. Lastly, the performance would represent the live element: movement and human life. This is where, according to the designer, the rest of the components come together in a precise but subtle balance.
Founded in 1987 by Dennis Paphitis as a product line in a small beauty salon in Melbourne, the company is present today in 50 countries with more than 220 stores.
In the digital commerce era, the Australian skin, hair, and body care company Aesop pays special attention to in-store experience through art, architecture, and design. The brand’s philosophy – based on principles of quality, honesty, and sensibility – pervades each one of its spaces, but the projects are designed with the creative freedom needed to adapt to the character of the place. Fearing precisely that global expansion could turn the brand into a ‘soulless chain,’ founder Paphitis decided to work with local architects, young emerging teams in most cases, to design the stores. The result is an extraordinary collection of designs that pursue not only a visually attractive image but also calibrate factors such as lighting, scent, and sound to apparently imperceptible levels. To celebrate this process, Aesop launched the web Taxonomy of Design in 2015, where they inform about their products, materials, and strategies, and include the designers and architects of the spaces that embody the essence of the company. Situated in London’s Chelsea district, the Duke of York Square store, designed by Snøhetta, reinterprets traditional brick constructions with a central column that branches out in twelve clay-clad arches.
Starting out from a simple element like a block of rammed earth, Mexican architect Frida Escobedo creates a woven tapestry design to clad the main space of Aesop Park Slope in Brooklyn, New York.
Designed by Brooks + Scarpa, the Downtown Los Angeles store represents the beauty of simplicity with an envelope of cardboard tubes that create a warm, tactile, and neutral atmosphere.
Under an ethereal ceiling of intersecting domes, Oslo’s Prinsensgate store, also by Snøhetta, evokes the mystic qualities of the Norwegian landscape through tactile materiality and the organic neutrality of its furniture pieces and finishes.
Steel pipe caps the ame as those used in the drains of Paris serve in the shop designed by Ciguë in Le Marais as small display shelves that seem to float on the uniform whitewashed walls.
Honoring the ancient oman stone baths that lend the English city its name, the new Aesop space in Bath, designed by James Plumb studio, inserts stone fragments in shelves, sinks, and countertops.
Located in Miami’s financial district, the Brickell City Center store – by the Japanese Mlkk Studio – is inspired by typical elements from a day at the beach such as sun-damaged plastic tables and chairs.
The typical pastel hues of the facades in the Kitsilano area of Vancouver are transferred to the shop designed by the studio Naturehumaine, creating a contrast with the neutral gray of walls, floors, and ceilings.
The Knox signature store in Dallas, created by Aesop’s in-house design team, is an ode to the chromatic palette present in Wim Wender’s film Paris, Texas, which is screened on a loop in the space.
Salmon-pink paint, brass, and terrazzo compose the material palette of the Ngee Ann City boutique in Singapore, planned by the local firm Asylum as a reinterpretation of Peranakan architecture.
The brutalist finishes of the ceiling, the table, and floors are balanced with classic materials like velvet, brass, and marble in the Luitpoldblock shop in unich, designed by the German team 1zu33.
The floors, the shelves, and the counter at the store designed by March Studio on Gough Street in Hong Kong are built with translucid glass bricks that give the space an abstract and immaterial atmosphere.
Developed by the team of Aesop, the Bordeaux shop seeks recovering the original spirit of the space by restoring the moldings and maintaining the imperfections of the dais to emphasize natural weathering.
Designed by the Pritzker laureate Paulo Mendes da Rocha with Metro Arquitetos, the Oscar Freire shop in São Paulo fuses the dynamism and material strength that characterizes modernity in Brazil.
The monochrome purity of the different spaces and furniture elements emphasizes the aesthetic beauty of the Fitzroy store in Melbourne, the design of which was completed by the local studio of Clare Cousins.
