The brand by the Grau brothers, which aptly chooses .art as its website extension, makes its mark at Milano Design Week with a substantial presence at the heart of the event. The space is effectively divided into two sections that eloquently embody the brand’s philosophy. On one side, a dual installation commands attention, featuring Bonfire, a towering three-meter sculpture crafted from illuminated aluminum tubes to resemble a stack of matches. Next to it is another sculpture depicting a single burning match. This area comes to life with a series of performances curated by Three. At the far end is a display of products, including the Fire portable light, ingeniously designed “like a portable speaker” – Grau’s latest creation.

In the era of the Beatles and the miniskirt, Porsche left its mark not only with the iconic 911, but also with the Pepita motif, a distinctive pattern of squares and diagonal lines that has been used in the interiors of the Stuttgart company’s cars since the 1960s. It is this very Pepita pattern that serves as the muse for Porsche’s installation at this year’s Design Week, which returns to the illustrious setting of Palazzo Clerici. Aptly titled “The Art of Dreams,” the exhibition features a towering installation by the design collective Numen / For Use – a habitable tower of suspended spaces made of nets – that dominates the expansive courtyard. In addition, Vitra announces a new edition of three of its chairs with the Pepita motif, including the famous Plastic Side Chair by Eames.

The (particularly impressive) Tubes stand is designed by Studio Palomba Serafini. The layout aims to give the radiator an aesthetic and cultural centrality, transforming it from an object to be hidden into a cult element, made visible and appreciable as a decorative feature. The Italian company's products are placed at the centre, and confronted with two-dimensional silhouettes of historical design or functional objects. The installation is animated by a video work created by Alessandro Gomiero and generated with the aid of artificial intelligence (AI). The video, reproduced on a 16-square-metre video wall, is not only an interpretation of the company's products, but is a work that fuses technology and design, exploring the world of Tubes radiators and their shapes with a creative vision and a game of emulation.

For those who didn’t live through the 1980s and 1990s, Lynch was a cinematic maestro, both a Hollywood darling and an enigma, who delved deep into the recesses of the subconscious, exploring its limits, horrors, and contradictions. In recent years, he’s stepped away from filmmaking to take on the role of guru, traveling the globe to share his wisdom on meditation. Throughout his cinematic career, he has created surreal spaces that have etched themselves into the collective consciousness, realms inhabited by nightmares and hypercubes containing entire universes. In a nod to the Fuorisalone audience, the Salone has invited Lynch to unveil two “Thinking Rooms” at the fair. It’s a paradoxical gesture, given that few visitors are likely to engage in deep contemplation, with most opting for selfies instead. Meanwhile, David Lynch, the master of paradox, will no doubt be laughing.

Legend has it that a dragon once lived in Lake Orta (Piedmont, Italy), wreaking havoc until Julius, a Greek cleric on a mission to evangelize the locals, killed it with a simple swing of the crucifix around his neck. A tangible relic of this story is said to be an egg that still rests on the island in the lake now named after the saintly Julius. This dragon and its egg serve as the inspiration for a grand installation by Playlab’s Los Angeles studio, symbolizing the unfolding of Alessi’s creative prowess, which traces its roots to the shores of Orta. Surrounding the installation are four historical elements that recount Alessi’s mythical beginnings, interspersed with the company’s most recent product launches.

In the rooms of a parish, in what until a few years ago we might have called the “suburbs”, but now falls within the realm of “Nolo’s outskirts”, lies one of the most unexpected exhibitions of this Design Week. It’s housed in the hollowed-out (and therefore, in today’s aesthetic, beautifully raw – though who knows what tomorrow will bring) spaces of the former Casoretto cinema. Founded in the 1970s, Artesanos now boasts hundreds of artisans and supports various social initiatives from the Andes to the coast of Peru. The exhibition shows the fruits of the collaboration between these skilled artisans and the designers involved in the project, including Casadei, Iacchetti and Zaven. All of this is conveyed through a captivating looping film projection – fitting, given the venue’s cinematic history.

Under the Willow, Sara Ricciardi’s installation at Palazzo Litta, focuses entirely on delicacy and poetry. Ricciardi uses the trimmings of the Antica Fabbrica Passamanerie Massia Vittorio 1843 of Turin to fashion the myriad branches of a grand tree, which assumes the gracefully arched form of a willow. Much like its natural counterpart, this creation undulates and responds to its surroundings. Adorning each “branch” are small bar chimes, suspended to be played by music therapist and musician Paolo Borghi. The visitor’s encounter is immersive, with the artwork striving to serve as an emblem of the life cycle, female cyclicality, and lunar influence.

Among the emerging “containers” gaining momentum in recent editions of Fuorisalone, Capsule stands out, an exhibition format curated by Alessio Ascari and Paul Cournet, offering “a hybrid between a fair and a collective exhibition.” For Design Week 2024, Capsule has expanded into two venues: Spazio Maiocchi and 10 Corso Como. At Spazio Maiocchi, notable highlights include the recycled aluminum projects by Norwegians Hydro, the oversized furnishings by Muller van Severen, and a true gem, the prototype of the Lancia Sibilo by Marcello Gandini, now part of the Lopresto collection. At 10 Corso Como, exhibitors include Herzog & de Meuron, Vitra, and Acerbis, among others.