Milan Design Week 2024: Everything you need to know about 1,326 events across the city
There is less and less left until the start of the highly anticipated Milan Design Week 2024, which will take place in the Lombard capital from 15 to 21 April and will give space to 1,326 events spread across the city. Read on to find out more.
Milan Design Week 2024: 10.5 per cent increase in the number of events compared to 2023
The Milan Design Week represents a pivotal moment for the entire city, marked by numerous events scattered across almost every neighborhood, from the bustling center to the more peripheral areas.
This year’s proposal has expanded by 10.5% compared to 2023, now encompassing areas of Milan previously uninvolved, such as Paolo Sarpi, and the Milanese Chinatown.
In essence, Design Week is a celebration dedicated to honoring design in its entirety and its profound allure, which draws enthusiasts together to partake in this unparalleled project, one of the world’s few of its kind.
The projects selected through the tender from the Municipality of Milan totaled 182, marking a 3.4% increase from the previous year. Some of these projects are included in the schedule of Fuorisalone 2024, which coincides with Milan Design Week, boasting 778 events. Many of these events are exclusive to guests, and held within private spaces, showrooms, or corporate venues.
Three main selection criteria guided the approval of projects:
- Sustainability and Circular Economy: Emphasis was placed on projects promoting sustainability and circularity, with a focus on utilizing recycled materials and fittings.
- Promotion of Public Transport and Cycling Mobility: Projects encouraging the use of public transport or favoring cycling mobility were favored. Additionally, temporary pedestrianization initiatives were considered for areas with high event concentration, such as the Tortona and Brera districts, enhanced by elements of tactical urban planning.
- Inclusivity: A 360-degree approach to inclusiveness was adopted to ensure accessibility for individuals with motor or sensory disabilities, enabling their participation in the majority of proposals.
These criteria underscore the Municipality’s commitment to fostering environmentally friendly initiatives, promoting alternative modes of transportation, and ensuring inclusivity across the Milan Design Week and Fuorisalone events.
Milan Design Week 2024：Which neighborhoods will be involved and which buildings will be open to the public?
As stated by Alessia Cappello, Councilor for Economic Development of the Municipality of Milan, areas that had never before been included in the Design Week project will also be involved:
“Milan Design Week returns with a rich schedule, increasingly global and inclusive, capable of communicating with the territory. It will be a week of exhibitions and meetings for operators and professionals, but also an opportunity for everyone to discover design in its different forms. A celebration that will not be limited to the historic areas of the Design Week, but will involve new and less central areas, with a view to valorising all the neighbourhoods”.
But what are the specific neighborhoods involved?
- Brera, with 260 events
- Durini
- 5Vie
- Island
- State
- Tortona, one of the areas with the most visitors in 2023
- Porta Venezia
- Monumental
- Paolo Sarpi, also involving the Chinese Cultural Center
- Castle
- Roman Gate
- Central
- Saint Victor
- Fashion District, Via Montenapoleone
- Mouthfuls
- Navigli
- Nolo
- Crescenzago
- Barona
Many historic buildings will also open their doors for free during Milan Design Week 2024, usually accessible for a fee or by prior reservation. Some examples will be Palazzo Litta, which will host the 5Vie Design Week project, Palazzo Bovara, which will propose the Elle Decor Material Home project, and Palazzo Castiglioni with L’Appartamento Spagnolo.
Furthermore, it will also be possible to access Palazzo Mozart, which will host the Doppia Firma exhibition of the Cologni Foundation, and Palazzo Morando, which will offer an exhibition of photographs by Carlo Valsecchi. Palazzo Giureconsulti will be open for Masterly – The Dutch in Milan, while Stark’s installation, Transitions, will be proposed inside the Sala dei Pilastri of the Castello Sforzesco.
But it doesn’t end there, the Gallery of Modern Art will also open its doors to the public with La Casa dell’Architetto by Hearst and Portrait Milano, the former headquarters of the archbishop’s seminary, with the proposal of AudìHouse of Progress.
If last year it was the Marchiondi Institute that was exceptionally reopened for the design week, this year too there has been no shortage of re-evaluation of abandoned places in the city as spaces to be used for the exhibition of some installations.
The selected proposals, after being evaluated by the Municipality, Triennale, ADI Design Museum, and Polytechnic of Milan, were the following:
- the former Water House via Giacosa inside Trotter Park, which will propose an installation with sensory games linked to the theme of water
- Disused commercial spaces in the Cimiano and Niguarda districts, owned by the municipality, will be used for the exhibition of the projects of some emerging designers
Milan Design Week 2024：The proposals of the great luxury fashion houses
Among the luxury brands that will support the meeting between fashion and design during Milan Design Week 2024, we find Bottega Veneta and Ralph Lauren, but also Gucci and Prada. The National Chamber of Italian Fashion will also host some initiatives dedicated to the home collections and events of fashion brands, as well as Zegna, which will propose a showroom via Montenapoleone and the revisiting of some city newsstands, also on the occasion of the redesign of the flower beds in Piazza Duomo.
Prada frames, the Prada project
During the week of the Fuorisalone Prada will once again propose Prada Frames, a three-day exhibition that merges the essence of the natural and private environments, offering a complete and layered experience.
The event was organized by the design studio Forma Fantasma, with offices in Milan and Rotterdam, in collaboration with the Italian luxury Maison, and can be visited from 14 to 16 April inside the Bagatti Valsecchi Museum, located via Gesù 5 in Milan.
The project that will be presented during Milan Design Week 2024 will be entitled ” Being Home ” and will have the aim of conveying the feeling of intimacy and belonging that our home should give us, thanks to the people with whom we share it or thanks to the memories that we have there. we build.
Design Ancora, the Gucci project
The Design Ancora project will be proposed during the design week starting from 15 April until 21 April 2024, at the brand’s flagship store via Monte Napoleone 7a in Milan.
The space includes the exhibition of five design objects in a special edition, a symbol of Italianness, and is organized by Guillermo Santomà, architect, sculptor, and set designer who was also responsible for an intervention on the famous Casa Horta in Barcelona.
The dominant color, as we can guess from the name of the installation, will continue to be the classic Rosso Ancora, the shade that has distinguished the brand since the arrival of Sabato De Sarno, the new creative director.
Conclusions: Milan design week 2024 will take place in the Lombard capital from 15th to 21th April and will give space to 1,326 events spread across the city.
Read also:
MALO: A NEW INTERVIEW WITH NANCY MARCHINI
NEW YORK FASHION WEEK 2024: HIGHLIGHTS
NEWSLETTER
Do you want to receive Mam-e directly in your inbox? Sign up for the Newsletter, we will send you an email a week with the best of our Magazine.
Di Jialin Tan