Milan Design Week 2018

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This year’s Milan Design Week showcased some inspirational designs from experimental wood usage and recycled materials to LED lighting and Japanese paper. More than 2000 exhibitors from over 165 countries descended on the global capital of design, Milan to display their creative installations. The most alluring were the eco-friendly designer products that made an impact. Sila lamp by Zsuzsanna Horvath Helsinki-based Hungarian architect Zsuzsanna Horvath developed the Sila lamp – born through experimentation with laser cutting techniques. An elegant lamp, it emerges from a two-dimensional plane of laser-cut birch plywood. The lamp’s structure is made with thin, delicate slivers of plywood using a flexible OLED panel as a light source, nearly as delicate as the plywood itself, making it an ethereal structure. Halo lamp by Mandalaki Designed by the Milan-based Mandalaki office, the Halo lamp is a bold combination of art and technology. Unlike most lamps, Halo does not provide neutral white illumination. Instead, it dyes space with vivid, unexpected colours. The vivid colours are produced by analog optical decomposition instead of an RGB LED. Mandalaki developed a dichroic filter to divide the pure luminous flux, or the measure of perceived light, into a vast spectrum of colours. Sundial clock by YOY Sundial wall clock by Tokyo-based design studio YOY is a wall clock appearing to be structured as a sundial, designed with a bar for the minutes hand and its shadow as the hour hand. The entire clock face with the shadow imprinted on the surface turns to tell time, giving the impression that the bar and shadow is chasing each other around the clock. Although at first sight it seems to be a real sundial, it is only an illusion. Part of the “Fictionality” collection, this clock has a regular bar as the minute hand and a “shadow” as the hour hand, which is imprinted on the clock’s face. Surprisingly, the entire clock rotates to show the correct time. D.01 bench by Davide Montanaro Wood appears to be a stiff and rigid material, but it can be made to bend with just the right touch. Dukta is a unique incision process that can make wood into a flexible, manageable material. Davide Montanaro used this process to design the plywood D.01 bench and ensured the piece had character with its smooth shape and distinct pattern. Paper and Light by Denis Guidone and Tomoko Fuse Designer Denis Guidone and origami artist Tomoko Fuse created Paper and Light to blend classic and contemporary techniques. This project includes a series of lamps made from folded washi, a traditional Japanese paper. The folded light instalments illuminate the area and create playful shadows. Macaron seat by Kalo Kalo created the Macaron Seat by using locally-recycled bits of rubber. Each Macaron seat is made by pressing a two part mold onto a pre-made wood frame. Macaron Seat’s main visual characteristics are chamfered smooth surfaces, rounded off edges, and their distinct fuzzy centre. The parting line been the molds is exaggerated by allowing some room for overflow rubber, which creates a solid rim around the seat. Once the pieces are de-molded giving the rough edge to the seat, it contrasts the smooth seat surfaces. Inlaid within, is a thin brass elements and visual juxtaposition. Also, mixed in with the rubber crumb are wood shavings, giving the rubber seats a contrasting speckled look.