At its fifth edition, Alcova is once again an interesting stop for both its container (the previous slaughterhouse in Porta Vittoria, which has been abandoned for the past 20 years) and its content: a delicate but sturdy balance between independent designers, schools, and businesses, selected by the curators Joseph Grima and Valentina Ciuffi. There are too many events to list them all, so here’s a recommendation of what to not miss: the OTO Chair, the chair in recycled plastic designed by Alessandro Stabile and Martinelli Venezia (L6); the 15 Danish brands of “This is Denmark” (C16); the “IED Ecocentrico” (Ecocentric) exhibition, with Giacimenti Urbani, an association that focuses on reducing resource waste (M15a); the graphic self-sufficiency experiment of the Dutch designer Mark van Wageningen (R11), who tried to produce everything by himself, from the paper to the soap he used to wash his hands after work; and the collection in Acron, a cement-based composited, coordinated by Stormo Studio for the Venetian brand Pulkra (C17).

E.S.

Dropcity is once again the experimental collector of the former warehouse tunnels of the Stazione Centrale. The program was curated by the founder of the architecture and design center Andrea Caputo and it includes a series of exhibitions and panels with international designers until April 23^rd, with a strong participation from Asian countries. The daily events will be hosted in Tunnel 60 and are curated by Anneke Abhelakh.
The exhibitions include “Tunnel Evangelion,” featuring the ten finalist projects of the contest for the recovery of the former warehouse, and an interpretation of the spaces by the SCI-Arc students. Don’t miss “Prepper’s Pantry: Objects That Save Lives,” an astonishing installation on Survivalism, and “The Last Pencil,” a sneak peek of Lausanne's Mudac program. Many Asian countries participated; we recommend the metallic chairs of Daisuke Yamamoto, a space for Nero Editions and Freitag, the historical brand that portrays the past and future of their bags and circular economy. 

G.R.

Once again on the throne of coolness thanks to last year’s collaboration with Bottega Veneta, the volcanic doyen of the Italian designed based in Brooklyn dominates Milan. He returns to Cassina after last year’s collaboration, he “illuminates” Bottega Ghianda, while at Luisa Delle Piane, his namesake new lamp (Gaetana) joins the classical Osso, Spaghetti, and Quadrata. The main star is once again Bottega Veneta, for which he designed a set of bags with a bucolic theme (mountains and prairies) and a carefully created, site-specific installation that you can visit at the Montenapoleone boutique before it will flood your Instagram feed.

A.S.

Cristina Celestino enters the Milan Design Week and chooses a place that might as well be the most original of this edition of the Fuorisalone for her “Clay Court Club:” the historical tennis club, designed by a young Giovanni Muzio for the Bonacossa count between 1922-1930. Here, her furniture – just like the seats for Billiani, the carpet by Besana Carpet Lab, and the bench with a canopy for Skillmax – play and converse with classical elegance and Muzio’s slightly metaphysical architecture, which Celestino valorizes by exalting every minimal detail. It’s also worth taking a walk outdoors among the tennis courts and to the pool surrounded by a long, blue colonnade.

E.S. 

Under the vaults of the brand’s urban space, overlooking a 17th-century courtyard, Flos is hosting Six Acts, the installation blending the versatility of flexible track lighting elements
My Circuit by Michael Anastassiades with a six-act performance cycle, curated by Fabio Cherstich. The time-based practice of a group of performers interacting with lights and domestic elements enhances the temporal flexibility of Anastassiades' design, "an ephemeral and dynamic scene that can change in the shortest time" generated by a ceiling design that conceptually could evoke Baroque moldings, as the designer himself has remarked.