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| Maarten Baas at Spazio Rossana Orlandi, Milan 2011 |
From April 12-17, more than 300,000 international vistors will descend on Milan for its annual Furniture Fair - by far the biggest event on the international design calendar. This year, the fair is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
WGSN-homebuildlife has been trawling through the invites and guides for several weeks now, bringing you individual highlights - and now subscribers can read our guide to the top twenty events.
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| Rest sofa by Anderssen & Voll at Spazio Rossana Orlandi, Milan 2011 |
Spazio Rossana Orlandi is an annual highlight of the fair, with Orlandi's serene courtyard, shop and gallery spaces alone worth a visit. This year, Orlandi's Design Week exhibits include new launches by Naoto Fukasawa for Plusminuszero, Jasper Morrison for Punkt, Omar Arbel, Atelier Forte, Anderssen & Voll, BCXSY, Piet Hein Eek, Maarten Baas and Jaime Hayón for Se and Metalarte. We are particularly excited to see an exhibition called Botanica by Studio Formafantasma - a collection of furniture and accessories made from natural, pre-industrial plastics.
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| Scribus and Others by Atelier Forte at Spazio Rossana Orlandi, Milan 2011 |
Dutch designers Droog always have an interesting concept, and this year they are focussing on open-source design (read our report on the topic here) - which is sure to be unmissable. On show will be a range of furniture and accessories designed for download by EventArchitectuur and Minale-Maeda and customised by Droog to form their new 2011 collection - alongside a series of digital design tools that allow ordinary computer users to easily make functional design decisions.
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| Design for Download by Droog, Milan 2011 |
Subscribers can access the full report here - and don't forget our special design guide to Milan, on hand to offer alternative activities if the hustle and bustle of the fair gets too much.