Looking for ‘Materia Natura’ at Milan Design Week 2024
Katie Treggiden (Credit: Author’s own)
The theme of the Fuorisalone Milan Design Week 2024 was intended to promote a conscious design culture, highlighting sustainability as a guiding principle and fundamental value. Founder of Making Design Circular, Katie Treggiden, found it, but only by looking really, really hard.
An oversized marble phallus.
A severed shark’s head in gold mounted on a lamp stand.
A sofa shaped like a giant pair of lips, complete with cavorting opera singer.
Much the fashion and design of Milan Design Week 2024 felt offensively out of touch with the real world – to say that Milan was ‘fiddling while Rome burns’ wildly understates the ferocity with which global crises – from the social and environmental to the geopolitical – are burning. Design is supposed to solve problems and Milan Design Week is the pinnacle of the world’s design – was this really the best we could come up with?
The disconnect becomes almost laughable when you learn that the theme of Fuorisalone 2024 was Materia Natura (‘Matter Nature’) – two words intended to provide ‘a strong reminder of the most urgent and current issues of our present and underline the importance of promoting projects oriented towards increasingly sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions.’ [1]
However, if you looked – if you really looked – there were projects that met this brief, designers who rose to the challenge of the times in which we live, and products created to make the world a better place.
There were projects that sought to repair our disconnection from nature, using light and sound to evoke the more-than-human world within the confines of our homes and workplaces – Halo Sunrise by Mandalaki Studio was ‘inspired by nature to establish a new form of connection between humanity and the natural world’ and somehow communicated not only the colours, but the anticipation of dawn.
Also at Galleria Rossana Orlandi, the Dangling Mirror refracted light in much the same way water does, creating a calming pattern of light and shadow as the breeze played over its moving parts. Part of a collection called Objects for Wellbeing by A+N Studio, it was intended to appeal to the senses to enhance health and happiness.
And over at 5Vie’s Palazzo Litta, Sara Ricciardi’s Under The Willow Tree – an installation comprising metal chimes hanging from bright yellow threads in the form of its namesake tree – encouraged playful interaction. ‘With this tree, I want to suggest that we should listen to our own roots, our own skin, our own body in relation to ourselves and others,’ said the designer.
Credit: Katie Treggiden
While none of these projects proposed direct solutions to ‘the most urgent and current issues of our present’, they all bridged an ever-widening gap between the human and more-than-human worlds and research shows that nature connection is not only good for our well-being, but increases our likelihood of environmentally positive actions. [2]
Communion – a shared table for making the West African staple food ‘fufu’ by Giles Tettey Nartey – celebrated and elevated Ghanaian rituals. ‘It’s a question of functionality, and whose functionality we admire and give space to,’ he explained. ‘The everyday local ritual is transformed into performance, exposing the beauty I have always seen in everyday Ghanaian life.’ Supported by AHEC and Jan Hendzel Studio platformed by Wallpaper* Magazine’s Class of ’24 exhibition, it promoted a collaborative and community-driven approach that will be vital in finding our way to a thriving, regenerative future.
Credit: Katie Treggiden
An exhibition of Korean craft entitled Thoughts on Thickness, curated by Choi Jooyeon for Galleria Rossana Orlandi, presented objects for contemplation. In three parts, it explored themes of ‘point of view, attitude, curiosity, and humanity,’ tea rituals and ‘coexistence and communication’. I found it fascinating that people’s voices dropped to reverent whispers around these carefully crafted objects – reverence that is absent in a culture of disposable next-day deliveries.
Other projects offered more pragmatic solutions. At Masterly in Milano, Robert Bronwasser’s Recover comprised a series of chairs with zip-on, zip-off covers that reflected the importance of aesthetic as well as literal durability in designing for longevity. At Alcova, The New Raw presented their latest experiments with digital craftsmanship and waste plastic. And at Isola, Leo Archard’s Chair Bike Frame combined reclaimed BMX bike frames with velvet to create a comfortable seat with retro vibes and eco-credentials.
Credit: Katie Treggiden
Alongside the official festival content were other reminders of ‘sustainability as a guiding principle’, from chair caning offered streetside to a coffee culture that doesn’t tolerate take-outs. It’s a reminder that everything from repairing furniture to taking a few moments to stop for your morning espresso promotes a more sustainable and connected culture.
‘Materia Natura’ is not just good for the planet – it’s good for our souls too. It didn’t feel adequate in the context of the rest of the fair, but it was enough to inspire hope, even in the face of the ‘fires’ burning around the world.
About Katie Treggiden
Katie Treggiden is the founder and director of Making Design Circular, a membership community and online learning platform for sustainable designers and makers, and the author of Broken: Mending and Repair and a Throwaway World (Ludion, 2023).
CREDITS[1] https://www.fuorisalone.it/en/info/fuorisalone-theme-2024
[2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169204622001992
