Salone del Mobile, perhaps better known as the Milan Design Week, is the most famous furniture fair and design event in the world. This year, it took place from 4 to 9 April, and was visited by almost 350,000 attendees from 165 countries. For those who missed the event or did not manage to see everything, Materia made a selection of some of the best material projects, which we will show in 3 articles. Here is the first selection.

A Capsule of Memorabilia
Along with Patricia Urquiola, 3M Design created an outdoor installation, in which 3M’s Novec products were used to capture the memories of guests. The installation, titled ‘A Capsule of Memorabilia’, was built with the belief that behind every memory, there is a story, and that behind every story there is a memory worth protecting.

Novec is a molecule that was invented for protection against fire, environmental degradation and ageing, but can also defend, clean, preserve and cool electronics and data storage systems. All Novec product have zero ozone depletion potential and low global warming potential. In addition, they are not targeted for regulatory phasedown.

The installation, located at Superstudio Più in the Tortona district, was made of silver strips, creating a shaded space with a unique photo booth. The idea was that visitors snapped photos of themselves or others, using a camera submerged in Novec fluid, protecting the memories. The pavilion was created by Patricia Urquiola.

Lexus YET
This year for the Milan Design Week, Lexus collaborated with architect, designer and professor Neri Oxman from the MIT Media Lab, and her research and design team, Mediated Matter Group. Lexus’ aim is to push boundaries by combining facets that are contradictory at first sight. Or as they put it, “Don’t compromise, harmonise”.

Lexus’ horseshoe-shaped exhibition showed a multidimensional design of light and shadow. The implied contradictions were brought together by digital technology to create an experience.

The main installation incorporated illuminated towers of 3D printed glass, using an old material with a new technology. An additional installation titled Static YET Dynamic revealed the Lexus UX Concept car via a series of light projections, which come together for just a fraction of a second to reveal the car.

REDO Super Supermarket
This supermarket, designed by former students of Design School Kolding (DK), who now run the design agency Femmes Régionales, was designed to look like an ordinary supermarket. However, upon looking closer, the visitors became aware that the displayed products were production remnants that had been transformed and “REDOne” into art pieces.

Susanne Nors, Alberto Bellamoli and Sisse Falster have invented, transformed and developed the various works of art with a playful and experimental approach to the material. Examples of their work are dipping silk ribbon into glue, or melting lime-plastic with a fan heater.

Soft leather became part of a roll of toilet paper, cabbages sprouted from discarded muffin pans, and red wine bottles grew out of polyurethane plastics. Each product was packaged in new bottles, tins, or boxes and organised on shelves and racks placed in long aisles. Each was marked with a label indicating what company the applied material comes from.

The REDO Super Supermarket, shown at Ventura Lambrate (via Ventura 6) at the Milan Design Week, was nominated for the Milano Design Award.

Photos: Designboom (Capsule of Memorabilia) / Vogue.com.au (Lexus YET) / Fuorisalone.it (REDO)