MoscaPartners

MoscaPartners chooses an industrial space to launch the fourth edition of Design Variations.

It is on the Darsena, in the heart of modern Milan, that MoscaPartners' selections for the next FuoriSalone 2024 will find their place. The old city port, which over time has become a fragment of absolute modernity, reveals a hidden place that has been able to preserve the Milanese city's own vocation for transformation. 

A precise choice to suggest unprecedented combinations, to offer an updated vision of what it means to do design today and to return it to its true experimental and perennial research nature.

Design Variations 2024 is a meeting point for designers, brands and universities on the international scene. Through the display of the latest collections and research, new perspectives are indicated, redefining the boundaries of aesthetics and functionality.

The Project

At the entrance to the location, a site-specific work by Nathalie Du Pasquier will welcome guests. The artist, famous for her unique approach that blends art and design, will create a work composed of twelve large decorative panels (300x260 cm each), designed for the entrance corridor and printed on MEG, a versatile material designed for outdoor use, resistant to light and weather, suitable for the building sector and produced by Abet Laminati, a partner in the project. The work, strongly linked to the specificities of the site, will create a tunnel with a strong graphic component and bright colour contrasts and will accompany the visitor into an imaginary world. 

The Milan-based architecture firm Park Associati will sign the installation project. At the centre of HEMP_SCAPE - this is the name of the installation - is the creation of a set of hemp cement bricks, supplied by Biomat, that modularly designs the indoor area of the three large spaces (totalling about 2,500 square metres) built in the late 1930s and completed in the early 1950s. Completing the installation are technical partners Delta Light for the lighting, and Kvadrat, for the spectacular textile set design, made of recycled material and, finally, the green architecture will be taken care of by Fratelli Leonelli.

In the event, the concept of impermanence is converted into a vision of circularity, proposing a cradle-to-cradle approach in which the end of life of a structure or material does not imply a simple discard, but represents a potential resource for the future.

The guests

The venue will be animated by designers, brands and universities carefully selected by MoscaPartners. Among them: Stellar Works, Woak, One to One, Tamart, Orografie, Pulkra, Analog Lab and Azzurra Ceramiche, presenting new products and innovations signed by Michele De Lucchi, Giulio Iacchetti, Alessandro Stabile and Martinelli Venezia, Elena Salmistraro, Francesca Lanzavecchia, Debonademeo, Studio Stormo, Gian Paolo Venier and others. Many international names such as Neri&Hu, Space Copenhagen Studio Stefan Scholten, BassamFellows, Thomas Lehman, Amos Goldreich, Tamar De Schalit and others. In addition, the results of the workshop held by Michele De Lucchi and Francesca Balena Arista at the Milan Polytechnic will be presented.

What's New

Reasoning on how to make the event more sustainable and able to cut down on waste and unnecessary costs, MoscaPartners thought of proposing to all the designers and brands present the possibility of putting on sale, at a special price, the chosen products in a Garage Sale on Wednesday 17 April. 

The idea stemmed from two thoughts: to give visitors the opportunity to immediately purchase exclusive pieces or prototypes on display at favorable prices, and at the same time offer exhibitors the opportunity to keep transport costs down. The exchange event always attracts a great deal of interest and participation and is also able to involve a wider public, who are passionate about design even if they are not experts.