During Milan Design Week, MaterialDistrict is in Milan, bringing its best projects to you. Today we show you various innovative projects.

Piscis
For Spanish manufacturer BD Barcelona, designer Jorge Penadēs created a limited edition vase collection made of recycled extruded aluminium profiles. The profiles were collected from old object, such as lamps and shelves from BD Barcelona’s discontinued collection. 3 different types of profiles have been used. Only 800 metres of material is available, so the collection is only continued as long as there is aluminium.

The colours come from a fish colour study, hence the name of the project: Piscis. The Mediterranean sea functioned as main source for the project. All the vases are named after particular fish.

Bodem
Belgian design collective Brut is also present at Milan Design Week. Each year, the collective invites different Belgian designers. This year’s participants are Bram Vanderbeke, Charlotte Jonckheer, Linde Freya Tangelder and Nel Verbeke.

The team worked with the theme ‘Bodem’, Dutch for soil. Specifically, they considered the soil of Tongeren, the location of Belgium’s oldest Gallo-Roman settlement. They were inspired by the archaeological finds that were excavated there, with objects dating from the Roman era to the Middle Ages, as well as the stratification of the soil.

Verbeke created tall vases of a Jesmonite and earth mixture, a translation of the amount of rain fallen during a defined period of time and space. Jonckheer made a hand-knotted carpet inspired by the effects of the wind’s movement on the soil. Vanderbeke was inspired by the negative shapes of Roman foundations in excavations, and created textured concrete structures. Tangelder, finally, experimented with brick as an end product, incorporated as a backrest into an aluminium chair. The works can be seen at Studio Maraniello during Milan Design Week.

Digital Craft
Designer Ganit Goldstein’s interest lies with the intersection between craft and technology. She predominantly works to incorporate 3D printing and scanning into 3D textiles. She developed a collection of outfits and shoes inspired by the traditional weaving technique IKAT, in which unique patterns are created following the dying of the threads prior to the weaving process. By adding 3D printing technology to the IKAT process, the outcome combines human with digital craft.

During Milan Design Week, Goldstein shows her work at Via Tortona.