ALDO - Appartamento Lago Design Objects

A competition for ideas open to young designers fills the Lago space in via Brera with 30 new objects.

Designed but also alive and constantly evolving, in just a year the Appartamento Lago has become an established presence above the renowned Jamaica bar in the Brera district. Over time it has expanded its function as an exhibition space in which to explore and experience all its rooms and lent itself as the temporary showroom of a London fashion house, a kitchen for famous chefs and a backdrop for photographic reportages (see the Daniele Lago interview). These changing but busy activities have perhaps revealed the need to flank the company's furniture with a number of ad hoc objects that lend character to the surroundings. This is the background to the ALDO (Appartamento Lago Design Objects) project, conceived by Diego Paccagnella and curated by Domenico Diego and Dunja Weber, a miniature Salone Satellite that resulted in the creation of 30 new pieces.

From left: <i>Anti-fly Sphere</i> by José de la O; table lamp “Lampo” by Jorge Nàjera. — From left: *Anti-fly Sphere* by José de la O; table lamp “Lampo” by Jorge Nàjera.

"Lago offered the apartment as a showcase and the designers took care of the contents", says Dunja Weber. "The competition was a great opportunity for both sides; Lago didn't have to fill its space with anonymous objects and the designers invited got a chance to show their designs – ready for production – in the apartment, which was packed with visitors during the Salone. We asked emerging designers from Italy and abroad to reflect on how we live our domestic space and the way our habits are reflected on the objects around us. They produced the objects with the help of craftspeople and model-makers, proving yet again that designers are all-rounders who can follow the project from the first sketch all the way through to the photograph in the catalogue."

Wall hangers <i>Papercut</i> by Laura Fornoni. — Wall hangers *Papercut* by Laura Fornoni.

The competition by invitation was launched last winter and produced approximately 30 objects and lamps. There are objects that make you smile, useful objects, innovative ones and ones that prompt reflection: a cork pot-stand with a built-in bell that rings when you place the saucepan on it, calling people to the table; a copper object made in collaboration with a craftsman that updates a disappearing skill; a two-height umbrella stand that holds different-sized umbrellas better; and a wall lamp that becomes a table lamp at the touch of a lever. LM

Appartamento Lago
Via Brera 30, Milan
12-17.04.2011

From left: breadborad <i>Gruezi</i> by Sonja Schaub, oven gloves <i>Eva</i> by Anna Bormann & Selma Serman. — From left: breadborad *Gruezi* by Sonja Schaub, oven gloves *Eva* by Anna Bormann & Selma Serman.

From left: perpetual calendar <i>Picchio</i> Alessandro Gnocchi and e Luca Spagnolo; lamp “Goodlux” by Dunja Weber and Cécile Feilchenfeldt. — From left: perpetual calendar *Picchio* Alessandro Gnocchi and e Luca Spagnolo; lamp “Goodlux” by Dunja Weber and Cécile Feilchenfeldt.

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