Interni

Installations, themed exhibitions and micro-architecture that highlight the know-how, research and experimentation of Italian design and its interaction with the world, embracing and emphasising the universal principles of sustainability and protection of the places where we live. This is the idea behind the eagerly awaited INTERNI CROSS VISION exhibition-event, held to celebrate the magazine’s 70th anniversary and make the next edition of FuoriSalone unforgettable.

More than 40 creative projects by more than 44 designers from 12 different countries will be presented at 6 iconic locations across Milan, which will host 14 days of events, meetings and talks with leading figures in design and much more. These are the numbers for Interni Cross Vision, the exhibition created by INTERNI, the magazine for interiors and contemporary design produced by the Mondadori Group and edited by Gilda Bojardi. The events will take place from 15 to 28 April in the courtyards of the University of Milan, Eni Space at the Brera Botanical Garden, and Portrait Milano, home of the Audi House of Progress. Renewing its role as an ‘activator’ of design energy, INTERNI expands its exhibition venues this year, including for the second time Eataly Milano Smeraldo and De Castillia 23 by Urban Up | Unipol, and, for the first time, Università Cattolica.

The exhibition intends to express the transverse, polyphonic thinking that allows apparently opposing concepts to be combined — technology and craftsmanship, art and industry, production and nature, materials and digital products — understood as complementary and indispensable elements of contemporary innovation. At the same time, it highlights the role that Italian design culture plays in this process. During Design Week in April, Milan becomes a design gym for architects, designers and creative people from around the world, who come for the opportunity to compare their visions and blend knowledge in a common effort to build a more beautiful and sustainable world.

INTERNI CROSS VISION is one of the main initiatives proposed by the Municipality of Milan for Design Week and FuoriSalone 2024. The latter was created in 1990 by Gilda Bojardi and is universally recognised as a key event in international design and architecture.

INTERNI’S 70^TH ANNIVERSARY

But INTERNI CROSS VISION, is also an opportunity to celebrate INTERNI’s 70^th anniversary, with 30 years under the creative leadership of director Gilda Bojardi.

‘In April, INTERNI officially begins the celebrations for its first 70 years of publication, a dense journey that has documented, interpreted and promoted the evolution of architecture, interior design and design around the world,’ says Gilda Bojardi. ‘In 70 years, we have had the fortune to share in the fantastic, adventurous history of Italian design and furnishing, the famous Made in Italy trademark, and we have closely followed the growth it expresses thanks to the work of brilliant men and women in culture, architects and designers, intuitive and courageous entrepreneurs. INTERIOR has evolved with design. With an increasingly precise commitment to communicating the project culture internationally, it has developed a system of parallel publications to shift the monthly magazine from elite media to mass media. Its activities also include the conception and coordination of events and exhibitions, organised to foster interaction between the different people designing, producing, distributing and disseminating.’

For this important anniversary, AMDL CIRCLE – Michele De Lucchi and Guido Scarabottolo have created Diorama 70, an installation in the auditorium of the University of Milan that presents a journey immersed in a landscape that can be observed from multiple perspectives and unconventional angles. Drawing, art and architecture meet in a large-scale diorama that transposes Scarabottolo’s signs from paper to an unexpected size, inviting exploration and three-dimensional immersion. This imaginary scene can be traversed, winding through seven majestic mountains, each of which narrates one of INTERNI’s 70 years of history. The display culminates in an imposing erupting volcano, a vibrant symbol of the magazine’s vitality and incessant dynamics. The evocative metaphor complements the magazine’s cross-cutting approach to the changes in morphology, aesthetics and landscape of Milan that it has witnessed for 70 years. The decision to produce the scenic effects of a diorama translates into the exclusive use of paper to create all the elements, with particular attention to the selection of materials. In each of the seven mountains, the story of the magazine’s seven decades continues through 700 covers, which are graphically combined and presented to visitors in the form of posters, rounding out the entire narrative scenario.

To kick off the celebrations, INTERNI organised an exclusive gala dinner on Sunday 14 April in the 18^th-century courtyard of the University of Milan. The evening was reserved for 200 guests, including entrepreneurs, architects and designers, and seven outstanding designers — Piero Lissoni, Patricia Urquiola, Michele De Lucchi, Ferruccio Laviani, Benedetta Tagliabue, Francesca Lanzavecchia and Elena Salmistraro — recounted 70 years of design through the mise en place and decorations on the 21 tables.

INTERNI CROSS VISION, which already promises to be memorable for its variety, research and distinctiveness, will be officially presented on Monday 15 April at 14.30 in the auditorium at the University of Milan (via Festa del Perdono, 7). In addition to designers, the press conference will be attended by: Ambassador Mario Vattani, General Commissioner for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka; Archbishop Rino Fisichella, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelisation; Satoshi Suzuki, Japanese Ambassador to Italy; Mauro Battocchi, Director General for Promotion of ‘Sistema Paese’; Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Alessia Cappello, Councillor for Economic Development and Labour Policies, Municipality of Milan; Maria Pia Abbracchio, Deputy Vice-Chancellor focused on Research and Innovation, University of Milan; Franco Anelli, Rector of Università Cattolica; Antonio Porro, CEO of Mondadori Group; Fabrizio Longo, Director of Audi Italia; Matteo Ricci, Mayor of Pesaro – Italian Capital of Culture 2024; and Gilda Bojardi, Director of INTERNI. The conference was moderated by journalist Monica Maggioni.

The three co-producers of the exhibition are: Audi, Eni and the General Commissioner for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka.

The main sponsors of INTERNI CROSS VISION are: Audi, a leading brand in the automotive world, invests its technological edge in conscious mobility and is committed to decarbonising all production plants by next year; Eni is a global energy company present in 62 countries with more than 30,000 employees. Originally an oil & gas company, it has developed into an integrated energy company. It plays a leading role in ensuring energy security amid the energy transition. It aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 by decarbonising its processes and the products it sells. Finally, last sponsor is the General Commissioner for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, with a preview of the model for the future Italian Pavilion for EXPO 2025 Osaka.

At Portrait Milano, on Corso Venezia 11 – Audi House of Progress

Reflaction: a combination of the words ‘reflection’ and ‘action’ forms the title of the installation designed for Audi by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group. ‘Action’ is understood as action aimed at harmonious technological evolution, but also as a concrete commitment to environmental protection and building a more equitable social ecosystem. ‘Reflaction’ is an invitation to reflect on the consequences of what we do and the meaning of our very existence in the world. It is no surprise that mirrors were chosen to define two high walls that intersect symmetrically, dividing the centre of the Piazza del Quadrilatero at Portrait Milano into four areas using imposing walls (10 m x 1.2 m x 8.5 m), the same number as Audi’s rings. Almost invisible, the structure multiplies people and objects, creating different situations that invite us to the numerous activities offered during the FuoriSalone. Visitors can move around Reflaction and stop in the Performance section, where two Audi SQ6s in different shades of grey are on display for the official preview. Community, in the shade of Japanese maple trees, is the space dedicated to stimulating exchange and conviviality. Knowledge consists of a circular amphitheatre with solid wood steps and chrome-plated steel balustrades where meetings and talks are held. The Audi light technologies area shows the innovative digital lighting technologies developed by the German brand.

At the Brera Botanical Garden – Eni Space

The Brera Botanical Garden turns into Eni Space to host sunRICE, the recipe for happiness. The installation, designed by CRA – Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota for Eni in collaboration with Niko Romito, presents an experience dedicated to happiness — eating well, new discoveries and everything unusual. Visitors are led to see familiar elements of everyday life with new eyes via a simple food: rice. Starting with the plant and moving on to the ingredient and its innovative use in the kitchen, this step-by-step journey also shows how rice processing waste can become raw material for new, sustainable buildings. The installation consists of triangular modules made of geopolymer (silica-based) suitable for outdoor use. This material is generated by reusing rice milling waste (rice husks) in a zero-impact production process. In a spirit of circularity, the installation will be transformed once again at the end of the exhibition, becoming nourishment put back into the soil for cultivation.
For SunRICE, Chef Niko Romito, who has built his own distinctive vision of food and gastronomy over the years based on the circularity of creative thought, has created a biscuit whose ingredients include rice and herbaceous raw materials grown in the Brera Botanical Garden. The tasting offered to visitors will contribute to an unexpected experience and promote the core values of the initiative.
SunRICE focuses on sharing the core issues behind transformative economies, wellness and health, skills and training.

At the University of Milan, the future Italian Pavilion for EXPO 2025 Osaka

Already the focus of two meetings organised last autumn — in Bergamo for the Landscape Festival and in Bologna at Cersaie — the Italian Pavilion at Expo 2025 Osaka is now the star of FuoriSalone in Milan. In fact, the 1:100 scale model of the building designed by Mario Cucinella – MCA Architects is on display as part of the Cross Vision exhibition in the University of Milan auditorium. The model illustrates the founding principles of the work but also the communication agreement between the General Commissioner for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka and INTERNI. This partnership will result in a series of events and presentations that will accompany the public at the World Expo scheduled in Osaka, Japan from 13 April to 13 October 2025.

‘Milan Design Week celebrates “Italian know-how”, whose value is globally recognised,’ says the Italian Commissioner for Expo 2025, Ambassador Mario Vattani. ‘The FuoriSalone exhibition organised by Interni is the ideal setting to officially present the Italian Pavilion designed by Mario Cucinella’s Studio (MCA), which will host all of “Sistema Paese”. The theme of our pavilion is “Art Regenerates Life”. For us, the term “art” is understood in a broad sense and is synonymous with eclectic Italian creativity, that “thinking with your hands” that forms the basis of our success in design around the world.’

Mario Cucinella’s project focuses on people and their interactions with society, technology and sustainability. The architecture of the pavilion revisits the ideal Renaissance city in a contemporary key, with the theatre, piazza and Italian-style garden as distinctive sites of Italian urban planning. ‘Designing the Italian Pavilion for Expo 2025 Osaka,’ says Mario Cucinella, founder and creative director of MCA – Mario Cucinella Architects, ‘is a unique opportunity to create a stage where we not only showcase our country’s culture, history and innovation, but also create a place where we can weave connections.’

Installations and designers: the leaders in INTERNI CROSS VISION

The large INTERNI exhibition-event was created to initiate and multiply connections and relationships in a virtuous system among creative figures, businesses and distribution networks who have a fundamental need to connect people and ideas from different cultures and backgrounds. In collaboration with businesses, multinational companies, start-ups and institutions, more than 44 designers have created over 40 projects (site-specific installations, displays, design islands, micro-architecture and macro-objects) to explore the theme of this year’s exhibition.

University of Milan

At the University of Milan, a series of impressive installations come to life. Oceans, mountains, paths suspended over water, stone gardens, constellations and monumental sculptures lead visitors through environments that require respect and rediscovery, inviting people to reflect on the topics of design, innovation, recovery and sustainability.

The 18th-century courtyard houses the installation SUB: Sustainable Underwater Balance, designed and created by Piero Lissoni and Sanlorenzo. Through immersion in a virtual sea, it tells of the green future of yachting, setting the silhouette of innovative hydrogen-powered boats alongside sea creatures, waves and swimmers. The work consists of an open pavilion with rectangular floor plan enclosed by a roof and wall to mark the edges. Both architectural elements are entirely covered with LED walls that recreate the lights and sounds of the marine environment, while the platform is made of a reflective material. Walking through the pavilion, visitors are enveloped by the projections for evocative immersive effect.

The Pharmacy Courtyard houses The Amazing Walk, created by Amazon in collaboration with MAD Architects. The international architecture firm chose the image of a mountain to accompany the public through the discovery of home products, furniture, lighting, smart home and technological accessories available on Amazon.it. The mountain is accessed via a path suspended over a body of water, symbolising the customers’ journey of product exploration.

The exhibition continues in the Courtyard of Honour with dozens of extraordinary installations, starting with Travelogue on Mountains by Wu Bin, a project with strong symbolic value that translates into the discovery of Oriental architecture. Made of lightweight and environmentally friendly materials produced by Yardcom, it consists of a labyrinth outlined by long sheets of DuPont^® Tyvek® positioned at regular intervals, leading to the heart of the work containing a pool of water. The work was also supported by INTERNI China.

Annabel Karim Kassar responds to the theme of INTERNI Cross Vision with her first encounter between performance and installation. In fact, Travelling incorporates a studio space where visitors can watch her paint (Tuesday 16 and Wednesday 17 April, from 2 to 4 p.m.). The works she produces will complete and transform the environment during the exhibition period, crossing the boundary between finished architecture and active experience. The project, by AKK Architects – Annaka, is divided into seven rooms, each representing a human activity: work, music, sexuality, meditation, art, play, cinema.

In contrast, the image of a flower, which symbolises lightness, renewal and evolution, is the leitmotif and basic module of the Stone Garden, a project by Vivian Coser promoted by Centrorochas (Brazilian Center of Natural Stone Exporters) and ApexBrasil and organised by It’s Natural – Brazilian Natural Stone. Involved in creating biophilic projects for more than 20 years, the Brazilian designer chose this form because it encapsulates the concept of biophilia used in architecture to give life to spaces ‘that blossom and change, just like the life of a flower’.

Internationally renowned Japanese architect Kengo Kuma presents StoneGrove. Using modular elements in marble and quartz agglomerates, he reinterprets the principles of Ikebana in a contemporary key and with alternative materials, creating a composition that represents the different textures and finishes of stone products made by Quarella.

Umbral, the Temple of Listening was produced by Rubner Haus based on a design by Carlo Farina, Veronica Pesenti Rossi and Memo Sánchez Cárdenas, under the guidance of the Franco Albini Foundation. The concept of the installation is the importance of co-creation. The title Umbral — ‘threshold’ in Spanish — evokes the idea of a boundary between the known and the unknown, and invites us to enter a new design culture, whose centrepieces are the Blockhaus solid wood construction system and the principles of the Albini Method. Red thread, both real and symbolic, creates the central tree representing the bond that unites us all in a single community of sharing.

Marco Piva for Saint-Gobain Italia gives life to Material Tower a rigorous hexagonal structure more than 5 metres high that houses and encloses a glass wool sculpture with soft, undefined contours, symbolising ‘a cloud of creative thoughts’. The filaments capture light and nuances from the top of the tower, which is outlined in LEDs of different colours. Of the six sides of the tower, two have tactile cladding and two are transparent, which, like suspended windows, reveal what lies within the glass volume. The remaining two consist of LED walls presenting the story of production at Saint-Gobain.

Inspired by Kiko Milano’s iconic 3D Hydra Lipgloss, which blends glossy transparencies with sensual colours and volumes, Tandem interweaves the two different design approaches of Jacopo Foggini and Massimo Iosa Ghini to recount how diversity can be transformed into harmony. Anchored to two elements with rounded corners designed by Massimo Iosa Ghini, Jacopo Foggini’s large chandelier is a cascade of transparent rods that plunge into the ‘lip’ shapes of the sofa designed by Massimo Iosa Ghini.

The large totem El Paron – Wisteria Tower by designer Patricia Urquiola for Cimento evokes a sense of movement, towering in the Courtyard of Honour and representing the intersection of nature and technology, production and the environment. El Paron — a term in Venetian dialect meaning ‘the master’, traditionally referring to the bell tower of a church, a tall structure that dominates the landscape — is a monumental sculpture composed of four overlapping modular elements that reach a height of 10 metres.

Designed by Mario Cucinella Architects for Roca, Sparking Change is a 4.5-metre-high semicircular backdrop made of 1,200 3D-printed modular ceramic elements. It recounts the evolution of the sector between tradition and industrial innovation. The concept is inspired by new developments in technology and digital tools and bears witness to the renewal behind sustainability, thus reflecting the essence of Roca.

I am what I throw away is by Italo Rota, NABA Scientific Advisor, and Claudio Larcher, NABA Design Area Leader, with the involvement of students in the Design Department of NABA Academy and AMSA – A2A Group. It uses both recycled and innovative materials to make the ethics of circular processes and the virtuous results of recycling visible and understandable.

Eighteen portals consisting of golden spheres and arranged in six rows form Mille Miroirs is a brilliant, spectacular, dreamlike landscape of regular geometries by French designer Cyril Lancelin for Fidenza Village, part of The Bicester Collection. As they walk between the structures, people move between shadows, light and reflections, plunging ‘into the heart of the artist’s imagination and losing their balance, out of time and reality’ in an enthralling atmosphere.

PATH – Dream | Dine| Delight | 37 hectares of pure wellness by Simone Micheli recalls the PATH project at Porto San Vito in Grado, which covers an area of 37 hectares. Based on a concept by Andrea Bigot, CEO of Porto San Vito, the pavilion traces the geometry and contents of Simone Micheli’s vast architectural project and accompanies people viewing it on a virtual journey through the focus and themes of the area’s redevelopment.

Sit Together – Climate Adaptive Bench by Berlin-based studio Topotek 1 in collaboration with MDT-tex and with the support of Mapei, is part of the design project for a new range of street furniture that adapts to climate change. The prototype, previewed at the INTERNI exhibition-event, is the result of a formal union between the classical European bench and wind towers in ancient Persian tradition: a welcoming bench at any time of day and in any season, where one can sit and socialise. One side is warm and darker and the other is cool and lighter, while the tower protects it from the sun.

Also in the Courtyard of Honour, Ludovica Diligu, designer and founder of Labo.Art, together with the artistic duo Plastique Fantastique (Marco Canevacci and Yena Young), brings Planetarium to life. This 9-metre-diameter inflatable structure surrounds a tree trunk and transports the public into a planetarium with constellations made of branches, leaves, stars and the voice of Pablo Trincia reciting nursery rhymes by Gianni Rodari. The De Ambrogi Gallery exhibits Marvelous Creatures, two large sculptures in recycled plastic by the artist Dario Ghibaudo, while sport and design interact, intersect, observe and talk to each other in the Powerful Intersections project by Marco Acerbis for Santini Cycling.

Marco Nereo Rotelli, with Ever in Art^® for Bertolotto, has designed a large golden portal, Door is Love, installed behind the arches of the lower portico of the Courtyard of Honour. Consisting of 46 golden gates, it symbolises entry to all the cities of the world. The threshold is understood as a real and metaphorical space, a boundary between matter and nature, which becomes a gateway, a place of passage, of waiting and meditation. There, a packaged tank displaying the word ‘LOVE’ is situated as a further message of peace.

The tour continues in the lower portico with the exhibition From a Thousand Years to the Future curated by Japanese designer Toshiyuki Kita with Bizen City and Odate City. It reflects on the future of traditional Japanese craftsmanship and the topicality of crafts that have reached high levels of perfection over the years. Juxtaposing the skills and creativity of the crafts originating in the two Japanese towns, the exhibition showcases, for the first time in Italy, works with a thousand-year history.

Re-Ceramic by Tom Dixon for VitrA is an exploration into the world of recycling and an opportunity to present the Liquid line of high-strength ceramic bathroom fixtures created using an innovative process. The installation shows the stages of material transformation leading to the creation of the Liquid washbasin, the first in the world made of almost 100% recycled ceramic from waste materials recovered during the production of such fixtures.

For Caravanserraglio, Lorenzo Palmeri elaborated on the concept of ‘mingling’, designing a space conceived precisely for transit and to receive people passing through the lower portico of the Courtyard of Honour. For its construction, he chose Cosmolite^® from Stone Italiana, a material consisting of recycled minerals from the quarrying industry.

Turkish designer Julide Konukoglu then covered part of the columns of the lower portico with strips of Kutnia fabric for her installation Weaving Inside Out. She creates a contrast between the hardness of stone and the softness of this contemporary handmade fabric, which blends history, research and innovation. Other columns give life to the Quinte Mutevoli project, created by Catello Raffaele, Ornella Formati and Vincenzo Esposito in collaboration with the students of the Interior Architecture Course at the IUAD. This project immerses visitors in ‘active participation’ that allows them to customise parts of the installation, freely moving its coloured slats.

Conceived by Giulio Cappellini, The Art of Independence stems from the activities at the San Patrignano Community craft workshop. It expresses the latest developments in the work carried out there using digital tools, which allow the community’s young people to follow training useful for their professional reintegration. Covering four entrance columns of the University of Milan, it is intended to emphasise the ancient building by means of graphical signs that draw on a contemporary key to reinterpret a series of decorations found in various corners and historical buildings of the city.

The theme of wellness, taking care of oneself and reconnecting with nature, is dedicated to Metodo Benessere, the installation designed for Zentiva Italia by Emiliano Calderin, which tells the story of the iconic Schoum Solution bottle. With its harmonious scheme, the installation creates a transverse relationship between the product, its narrative, and the architecture, before returning to the city with the iconic Torre Velasca, which becomes the view, reference, inspiration and perspective of the installation itself. The itinerary, which develops organically around the columns of the cloister in the Courtyard of Honour, also houses the work by students at the University of Genoa who took part in a workshop focused on creatively reinterpreting the bottle of this well-known plant-based drug.

An example of the versatile Tile of Spain catalogue of Spanish ceramic manufacturers is presented by designers Carlos Sánchez García and Luis Navarro Jover with their House of Mirrors, an installation consisting of ceramic elements with mirrored walls that multiply the view of the tiles on display.

The West Loggia, doorways of the Grand Staircase and the Courtyard of Honour are transformed into the Brazilian design manifesto curated by Bruno Simões and organised by ApexBrasil. The project is inspired by Coccoloba gigantifolia, a plant recently discovered in the Amazon which is known for its resilience and originality. The 50 selected companies and independent design studios reflect the present, and the creations, made with different materials and techniques and inspired by Brazilian culture and landscape, hail from different regions of the country. The exhibition is accessed via the two imposing staircases on either side of the university vestibule, which will house an immersive installation evoking the importance of water and light in the process of photosynthesis. The organic design of nature is exemplified both in the set design by Estojo Arquitetura and in the pieces and their innovative, sensitive use of natural materials.

The East Loggia will shine with Arik Levy’s Path of Visions for Sans Souci. Suspended mirror elements held together by cables and jointed connections that rotate randomly continuously multiply the space, superimposing images of architecture, landscape and people. The installation continues in the Courtyard of Honour, where the faces of the sculpture Ghost interact with anotherreflective composition that, when placed on the wall, projects light and reflections prismatically.

The works will also include chandelier-sculptures: Unlocking No.3 Flavours a spiral shape (1.20 x 1.50) designed by Alessandra Baldereschi for No.3 Gin, which interprets and imagines ‘making the aroma of gin visible’ with a delicate, fairy-tale touch; and Scomposizione di un volo by Federica Marangoni which, with the support of Murano glassworker Simone Cenedese, uses a deliberately classical structure to depict crystal seagulls, whose legs also run along the central tube almost as if supporting it. The work is ‘a metaphor for the life of a city on the water, a strong aesthetic presence, symbolically uniting good and evil, air and earth’.

Finally, 100% Arabica, Uni viaggio alla scoperta tra design e sostenibilità is the design for the exhibition press rooms at the University of Milan. It is inspired by Arabica coffee plantations, and the walls are covered in wallpaper depicting coffee plants. The arrangement of the space, curated by Carlo Bach, artistic director of illycaffè in collaboration with Kartell, is intended to highlight Italian know-how in a constructive comparison with the cultures of other countries. It consists of research, innovation, and experimentation based on the universal principles of sustainability and protecting places — so much so that the furnishings are made from coffee capsule waste.

The new location: Università Cattolica

Università Cattolica, which for the first time is included in the circuit of exhibitions organised by INTERNI, hosts Sonosfera® by David Monacchi, Sherwood by Marcantonio and projections on the former Castagnaravelli barracks.

From Pesaro – Italian Capital of Culture 2024, comes Sonosfera®, resulting from the vision of its inventor, David Monacchi. This initiative embodies the union of art, technology and environmental awareness. Monacchi uses his interdisciplinary expertise in sound engineering, field research and eco-acoustic art to pay tribute to Pesaro as a UNESCO City of Music. Sonosfera^®, which has been hosted in Pesaro since its creation, will be presented in the Leone XIII Courtyard of Honour at Università Cattolica. This exhibition aims to tell the story of Pesaro and go beyond the classic concept of a temporary installation by presenting a work resulting from decades of research and concrete actions.

The Sonosfera^® experience is accessible in groups of 40 people, who will be immersed in a three-dimensional sound field created by 45 loudspeakers positioned in a spherical geometry. This sensory theatre reproduces the closest sound to reality ever made. Sound spectrograms are projected onto a 360° ultra high-definition sphere, generating a powerful visual transposition of the audio experience, overturning perceptual hierarchies. Sonosfera® fits into this epochal ecological transition as an accelerator of consciousness, where high technology paradoxically allows us to reconnect with the primordial world through profound sensory and cognitive experiences. The sounds of the Earth’s oldest and most diverse forest ecosystems are recorded in 3D and projected in every direction. Partners in the installation include CTE Square – Home of Emerging Technologies and Renco, an international company present in 20 countries and a benchmark in engineering and design. Free entrance by reservation at the following link.

Large deer animate a dreamlike universe between fantasy and reality. A presence with a strong energy dominates the space of the Benedict XV and Pio XI Cloisters at Università Cattolica, awakening emotions and immortalising the relationship between man and nature. Sherwood, a QEEBOO project designed by Marcantonio, consists of an imposing deer whose antlers branch out to become chandeliers decorated with crystals and pendants. The animal’s strong natural energy is immortalised by the designer, who imagines it moving proudly through a forest, creating magical glowing light in the night with its mighty horns, as if it were a guide to follow. Sherwood takes centre stage in indoor and outdoor spaces.

Eataly Milano Smeraldo and De Castillia 23 by Urban Up | Unipol.

For the second year running, Eataly Milano Smeraldo and De Castillia 23 by Urban Up | Unipol join in the INTERNI CROSS VISION exhibition-event circuit.

Eataly Smeraldo presents Food, Design & Happiness, a work created by Giulio Cappellini. It consists of four suspended modular panels supported by natural wood frames that form a backdrop for transparent containers holding wine, legumes, pasta and oil. Each screen is divided into modules made of rice paper. The work, which will remain on view until 6 May, fits like the wings of a stage into the entrance hall of the former Smeraldo Theatre and narrates everyday products in the store in a unique and different way.

Continuing with the H2O Help installation in the 2023 edition dedicated to the water emergency, this year Urban Up | Unipol bears witness to its commitment to environmental sustainability through a large installation focused on air. ‘The Breath of Air’, designed by Studio Azzurro, transforms De Castillia 23 into a 4,000-m² vertical sky using 13 soft, air-inflated ‘Magritte-style’ clouds of various sizes (from 7.5 m x 2.5 m to 13.5 m x 5 m). Installed on the building façade, they are lit in blue every evening starting at 8 p.m. The aim of the installation chosen by Urban Up | Unipol is to raise awareness among the broader public at Design Week 2024 of the importance of focusing on air quality improvement in urban design and in the management policies of large cities (including Milan).

The INTERNI System

The INTERNI integrated system of communication multiplies and reiterates its role as a key source of information for the world of design. Three printed publications (Interni, Interni King Size and FuoriSalone Guide), one major event (Interni CROSS VISION), two digital events (Interni King Size and the FuoriSalone Guide), Interni online (website and social media), with in-depth features and videos conveyed through a newsletter system, all provide tools so you can keep up to date in real time on trends, novelties and design previews.

Now in its 34th edition, the FuoriSalone Guide is the essential handbook for anyone who wants to discover and explore the increasingly packed calendar of Milan Design Week. 350 events involving the companies, designers and architects participating in FuoriSalone are presented briefly, organised both by day and in alphabetical order. The guide, which is available for free with the April issue of INTERNI in Milan and at all the showrooms, institutions, museums and other locations participating in FuoriSalone 2024 (as well as at the fair itself), can also be accessed online (both on tablet and smartphone) with an interactive map.

The brand’s strength is also clearly visible on the ground. In fact, a major street advertising campaign is planned for CROSS VISION with: 10 customised points of sale at the Malpensa (T1) and Linate airports and at Milan Central Station; 68 digital screens at Milan Central Station, 10 large retro media on shuttles/buses; 38 LCD monitors on the Digimupi circuit at the Cadorna, Porta Garibaldi, Domodossola, Lambrate, Rogoredo and Bovisa railway stations; 17 LCD monitors for Brian & Barry Digital Downton in Piazza San Babila; 15 digital box installations on Corso Vittorio Emanuele; 41 selected FSU digital installations (from the Clear Channel circuit) in the centre of Milan; window displays at the Mondadori Multicenter in Piazza Duomo, the Rizzoli Store in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and the related Ledwall circuit in both stores; as well as 50 customised newsstands around the centre and at major transit points in the city.

For information www.internimagazine.it

Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni, the benchmark brand in the entertainment world, is once again taking part in this year’s FuoriSalone by bringing a special artist.

The Sorrisi show, which will be held on Sunday 21 April in the Aula Magna of the University of Milan, as part of the INTERNI CROSS VISION exhibition-event, will feature one of Italy’s best-loved stars: Emma.

A versatile and eclectic artist, Emma, real name Emmanuela Marrone, is one of the most popular artists on the Italian music scene, and will be the guest of Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni director Aldo Vitali in an unmissable event celebrating Italian music. During the event, the singer will be honoured with the Telegatto, the prestigious award given to the most important personalities in show business.

Emma will perform for the Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni audience in a special showcase at 6 p.m. (free admission subject to availability).

INTERNI DESIGN RE-EVOLUTION confirmed and exceeded expectations at FuoriSalone 2023 that gave the design project community a great gift in terms of research, sustainability and the future.

From 17 to 26 April, the event, created and coordinated by the Mondadori Group magazine directed by Gilda Bojardi, has produced record numbers, recording an audience presence of 400,000 people in the three institutional venues: the University of Milan, Eni Space in the Botanical Garden of Brera, and the Audi House of Progress at the Portrait Milano. It’s also been a great public success in its two satellite locations:  Eataly Milano Smeraldo and De Castillia 23 by Urban Up | Unipol. In addition, more than 150,000 users viewed the first fully digital installation at the Torre Velasca.

This edition of the exhibition has translated the concept of Evolutionary Thought into experimental installations, intended as a design tool for new known and unknown territories: physical and digital, multimedia, present and future.

With the contribution of the 3 co-producers (Audi, Eni and Whirpool) and in collaboration with companies and institutions, INTERNI has gathered more than 40 famous and young Italian and international designers and architects and some artists, in a fusion between Architecture, Design and Art.  For the exhibition, 40 installations, micro-architectures and macro-objects have been created, all site-specific that – together with conferences, talks, live performances and showcases – have created a varied mosaic of styles and visions, as well as time for discussion, attracting thousands of people. Visitors included large numbers of Italian and international journalists, who provided excellent coverage for INTERNI Design Re-Evolution in the daily papers, on radio and TV, in the trade press and in popular magazines, and ensured a continuous presence for the exhibition on the main social channels and the web.

The INTERNI exhibition confirms its place as the iconic event of the FuoriSalone, created as an initiative of the magazine’s editor, Gilda Bojardi. The foundation of its success is the outstanding design and cultural content of the installations, the internationally famous brands involved, flanked by smaller operations who also offered exhibits of great interest.

The exceptional response from both the public and the media reflects the absolute leadership of INTERNI in the professional living sector and in design system communication.

We thank the co-producers Audi with Gabriele Chiave and Controvento, Eni with Italo Rota and CRA Carlo Ratti Associati, Whirlpool with Odile Decq Studio, and all the companies, designers and architects who participated: Mirage with Andrea Boschetti and Metrogramma, It’s Natural, Centrorochas and ApexBrasil with Vivian Coser, Annaka with Annabel Karim Kassar Architects, Felis with Intro and FMG Shapes with Massimo Iosa Ghini, AXA IM Alts with Ma Yansong and Andrea D’Antrassi MAD Architects, Mapei and ICA Group with One Works, ApexBrasil with Bruno Simões, Roca with Benedetta Tagliabue EMBT Architects, Landscape Festival with Topotek 1, Sanlorenzo with Piero Lissoni, Galleria De Ambrogi with Gianluigi Colin, Amazon with Stefano Boeri Interiors, Simone Micheli, DotGallina with Jacopo Foggini, Artemide with MCA – Mario Cucinella Architects, Missoni with Alberto Caliri, Tile of Spain with Tomás Alonso Studio, Itelyum with Roberto Banfi/Studeo Group, Caparol, Build-Up with Silvio De Ponte Architects, Labo.Art with Ludovica Diligu, Studio Gum with Sergio Fiorentino, Besenzoni with Francesco Forcellini, Halo Edition with Mandalaki, Ever In Art with Marco Nereo Rotelli, Embassy of Italy in Madrid with Carmelo Zappulla External Reference, Levi’s with Ian Berry, Giannoni & Santoni with Gianni Lucchesi, Fidenza Village with Urbansolid, Pedrali, Zambaiti Parati, Concreta with CaberlonCaroppi, Boero with Francesca Grassi/Italo Rota Studio, Cimento with Parisotto + Formenton Architects, Atelier Biagetti, Eataly with Paola Navone/Otto Studio, Urban Up | Unipol De Castillia 23 with Maria Cristina Finucci, Hines with Elena Salmistraro.

Diodato, one of the most appreciated and award winning artists of Italian music, was awarded the Telegatto, the popular recognition of the entertainment world,  from TV Sorrisi e Canzoni.

The special showcase – presented as the final event of Design Week – took place on Sunday, April 23, in the fully packed Aula Magna Hall of the University of Studies of Milan, together with “Design Re-Evolution’s” interior decoration exhibition-event, which was open to the public since April 26.

The Telegatto was awarded to Diodato by Tv Sorrisi e Canzoni’s Director, Aldo Vitali, to celebrate the “first 10 years of its recording début: years of very successful, original and heartfelt music and for the incredibly strong emotions conveyed by the “Fai Rumore” song which turned into a ‘never give up’ motto for many.”

The singer-songwriter – with his four unreleased albums under his belt – performed in a special showcase, singing some of his most popular songs to TV Sorrisi e Canzoni’s audience, including Adesso, Fai Rumore, Che vita meravigliosa and two new songs taken from the “Così Speciale” album: Così speciale and Occhiali da sole.

Over 40 creative projects by a line-up of more than 40 designers from Italy and around the world across 6 iconic locations in Milan, which will play host to 9 days of events, meetings, and talks with leading figures in design culture and much more. These are the numbers that matter for INTERNI Design Re-Evolution, the eagerly awaited exhibition-event created by INTERNI, the Mondadori Group interiors and contemporary design magazine, and curated by Gilda Bojardi. The events take place from 17 to 26 April in the courtyards of the University of Milan, the Eni Space at the Brera Botanical Garden, and at Portrait Milano, home of the Audi House of Progress.

This year, INTERNI, a long-time champion of new spaces for creativity, is adding Eataly Milano Smeraldo, De Castillia 23 by Urban Up | Unipol and the Torre Velasca to the three “institutional” locations.

In collaboration with the City of Milan, INTERNI Design Re-Evolution is one of the main initiatives of Milan Design Week and FuoriSalone 2023, created in 1990 by the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Gilda Bojardi, and universally recognised as the leading event for international design and architecture.

INTERNI Design Re-Evolution aims to offer a collective and multidisciplinary reflection on the role of evolutionary thinking as a design tool for new territories, both known and unknown, physical and digital, present and future.

“The Design Re-Evolution is a revolution, because it aims to redevelop the land, the objects that inhabit it, the materials with which they are made, and the energy used to create them”, explains Gilda Bojardi, editor-in-chief of INTERNI. “But it is also evolution, because it develops through a synergy between various disciplines – such as science, art and set design – fostering positive exchanges between individuals, businesses, institutions, and, of course, the citizens. And it is a process, in that it is a way of conceiving, producing and sharing ideas in order to reach a new configuration of the spaces in our lives. The Design Re-Evolution therefore approaches the home in the sense of a ‘mirror for the soul’, in the words of Mario Praz, encouraging the circulation of information and contacts on possible circular economy solutions. The exhibition event thus helps to build new landscapes to promote new interaction between people and environment, in a profound dialectical relationship with nature”.

But INTERNI Design Re-Evolution also explores territories that are still beyond our knowledge, from the Metaverse to the farthest universe. Because it is in this realm of creativity, where we may well feel out of our comfort zone, that the empathy inherent to design becomes a tool which strengthens imaginative power and the ability to interpret human emotion. Combined with solid professionalism and design ethics, these qualities allow us to understand, conceptualise and experience the evolution of our planet.

The three co-producers of the exhibition eventi: Audi, Eni and Whirlpool

The main sponsors of INTERNI Design Re-Evolution are three premium brands active in the field of sustainability: Audi, a leading car manufacturer with a comprehensive commitment to providing sustainable mobility, has innovation and progress in its DNA; Eni, an integrated energy company, launched a new strategy in 2020 which will allow it to reach its goal of zero net emissions by 2050 and to supply a range of totally decarbonised products, combining environmental and financial sustainability and focusing on technological leadership built over years of research and innovation; Whirlpool is a global leader in domestic appliances, thanks to its solutions with cutting-edge design created to improve the quality of domestic life. Each co-producer is presenting a high-impact installation with their own interpretation of the theme of the exhibition event.

At Portrait Milano, Corso Venezia 11 _ Audi House of Progress

Human values are central to The Domino Act, an installation representing Audi‘s vision of sustainable mobility. A circular structure of 22 monoliths encloses and protects the Audi skysphere concept car, their multiplying reflections acting as a reminder of the importance of working together. Located in the magnificent Piazza del Quadrilatero of Portrait Milano, Milan’s exclusive new hotel complex occupying the spaces of the former Seminary of the Archbishop in Corso Venezia, it was designed for Audi by Gabriele Chiave with Controvento. It brings an artistic sensibility to the principle of the Sustainability Domino Act, highlighting how decisive action in a strategic area can trigger a virtuous knock-on effect. The key presence of the Audi skysphere concept, demonstrating the perfect blend of emotion and technology with people at its centre, recognises research and progress as defining factors in the Brand’s strategy and its roadmap to decarbonisation.

At the Brera Botanical Garden – Eni Space

The Brera Botanical Garden is transformed into Eni Space, hosting Walk the talk – Energy in motion, a large interactive game. With one of Milan’s most beautiful gardens as its backdrop, the design tackles the FuoriSalone “Future Lab” theme through an intriguing giant game board all about the evolution of mobility, representing the activities and vision of Eni Sustainable Mobility. Developed by Italo Rota and CRA – Carlo Ratti Associati together with the Blob Factory Gaming Studio game designer collective, Walk the talk – Energy in motion explores themes such as the shift to more sustainable transport solutions, vehicle sharing services, and producing fuel from renewable raw materials. In so doing, it invites the public of FuoriSalone and INTERNI Design Re-Evolution to reflect on the future of our city. Each player chooses a path to follow through the installation, offering an interactive way to discover everyday actions and practical solutions for increasingly sustainable mobility. Entrances and exits punctuate the trail, which runs along the leafy pathways of the Botanical Garden, over an area of 3500 square metres with roughly 400 illustrated boxes. The boxes absorb sunlight during the day and convert it to light in the evening, creating lighting effects that change with the time of day.

At the University of Milan, Whirlpool with “The Synesthetic Swirl”

Light, colour, reflections and visual distortions abound with The Synesthetic Swirl, the spiral display in the Cortile d’Onore at the University of Milan, designed by Odile Decq for Whirlpool, the exhibition’s co-producer. Reproducing the geometry of a vortex and inspired by the archetypal image of the spiral, The Synesthetic Swirl prompts a journey and invites us to explore our sixth sense: intuition. Inside its fully immersive and engaging interior, whose exterior is just as appealing and intriguing, the installation offers the possibility of a ‘before’ or an ‘after’. The reflective effect of the mirrors creates a synesthetic vortex which can represent the dualities of an opening or an awakening, an oscillation, a step forward or backward.

Installations and designers: the key figures of Interni Design Re-Evolution

The great INTERNI exhibition event was created with the aim of initiating and multiplying connections and relationships: a virtuous system between creatives, businesses, distribution networks who have the fundamental need to connect people and ideas from different cultures and backgrounds. In collaboration with businesses, multinationals, start-ups and institutions, there are more than 40 designers who have made over 40 creative projects (installations, displays, design islands, micro-architecture and macro-objects, all site-specific) to explore the theme of this year’s exhibition.

The spaces of the University of Milan provide the setting for a series of impressive installations.

In the Cortile della Farmacia, Amazon presents The Amazing Playground: an interactive immersive space featuring Swing, an installation designed by Stefano Boeri Interiors. It takes the form of a special swing inspired by early twentieth-century Spanish Surrealism and the Circo Americano in Madrid, and offers a playful counterpoint to the abstract rhetoric around sustainability. Swing supports Parco Italia, a national urban forestation project promoted with Amazon Italia by Stefano Boeri Architetti and AlberItalia, founded to improve and implement Italy’s natural capital and its biodiversity. In addition to interacting with the installation, the public can also discover a selection of certified Climate Pledge Friendly products available on Amazon.it and displayed around the courtyard.

In the Cortile del ‘700, The Impossible Machine, a metal sculpture designed by Piero Lissoni for Sanlorenzo, combines high technology with skilled workmanship, giving physical form to the theme of sustainable yachting. It presents a large mechanism whose parts move thanks to the new hydrogen system that Sanlorenzo is developing to power its craft, in partnership with Siemens Energy. The backlit platform on which the metal installation rests highlights the mechanism’s propellers and cogs, while the fine vapour surrounding it reproduces the effect of a turbine powered by a fuel cell system.

A number of different projects have been created in the Cortile d’Onore. These include A Theatre to Save the Planet, an itinerant theatre created by Andrea Boschetti in collaboration with Ana Lazovic from Metrogramma studio with Mirage designed to promote the values of sustainability, solidarity and responsible innovation. It consists of containers recovered from the ocean, which become a place of meditation and participation, hosting events each day dedicated to the theme of sustainability (partners of the Save the Planet project).

A modern Cabinet of Curiosities, by Annabel Karim Kassar, is an interactive installation which invites the visitor to reimagine their place in the natural order and to go beyond mere viewing, exploring how architecture can change our emotional balance and the intimate human experience.

The Oasis. Microarchitecture by Massimo Iosa Ghini, enveloping and protective, demonstrates an approach to design inspired by plant organisms, resulting in a space with a beating heart which places man and nature in dialogue through natural light and materials, the movement of the air, and sensory perception.

Berlin studio Topotek 1 – in collaboration with the Landscape Festival of Bergamo – Masters of Landscape – with Grow together, Grow green / 10k+ has designed an experience to be lived and shared, a collective action divided into three concepts: deconstruction, activation and green growth. The structure, which can be dismantled and reused, acts as a pick-up point for a collection of plants that visitors are invited to take home and look after. The Nutura pavilion, by Benedetta Tagliabue – EMBT Architects, built in collaboration with Roca, is made from wood and ceramic and offers a multisensory exploration of nature and Mediterranean architecture, with lattices and shutters creating shadow effects, material textures, and changing views. The pathway leads to a plaza in which to relax and enjoy the view of the Cortile: in keeping with the Re-Evolution theme and the value of sustainability, all the materials used will be disassembled, recovered and used for other projects.

The Loggiato Est hosts Discover(y) lightning by Mario Cucinella with Artemide: a bright and heartfelt tribute to Ernesto Gismondi, founder of Artemide, achieved through a series of pendant lights which cloak the Cortile del Filarete in red, shaping its spaces and framing details. The work enhances the quality of the spaces through the use of Integralis, a patented lighting technology which sanitises and inhibits the growth of bacteria on the surfaces it lights.

Also in the Cortile d’Onore, English artist Ian Berry presents The greatest story ever worn, a tribute to 150 years of the iconic Levi’s 501s; Stone Pavilion by Brazilian architect Vivian Coser showcases the country’s stone production with a focus on eco-friendly processes and materials, in collaboration with It’s Natural, Centrorochas, ApexBrasil.

Fidenza Village presents  MOAI sculptures by street artist duo Urbansolid, offering a reflection on modern times by reinterpreting ancestral history through the contemporary language of street art. Operae by Gianni Lucchesi for Giannoni&Santoni and the Hangar gallery is a stone sculpture of a life-sized seated figure overlooking the Cortile d’Onore from the top of a 13-metre totem made up of modular cubes in lightweight concrete.

Symbolising the perfection of architecture, standing on the central lawn is an enormous cube in reflective strips – Momentum – by Ma Yansong and Andrea d’Antrassi/ MAD Architects produced in collaboration with AXA IM Alts.

Lastly, two totems, one created from layers of construction materials and the other formed from a slim metal frame – Tangibile & Intangibile  – presented by One Works with  Mapei and Ica, aims to find a balance between architectural know-how, through the reuse of materials, and the discovery of new languages to express design, such as virtual reality and the Metaverse.

Temporal, the presentation organised by ApexBrasil, is two-fold: a spherical, cocoon-like installation 6 metres in diameter covered in real moss, in the Cortile d’Onore; and an exhibition of products curated by Bruno Simões, displayed along the Portico Richini and Portico San Nazaro. It represents the vitality of contemporary Brazilian design in its various forms, regions and characteristics, and reflects on production driven by sustainability and a focus on the environment and nature.

As a long-standing advocate for his ideas on architecture and design, in the Cortile dei Bagni Simone Micheli presents Free.Dom, a metaphor for time and the approaches we can take to life. Through companies, who are exploring new interpretive possibilities thanks to his work, Micheli created three large structures representing “cages” in a large mesh. Two of these house a stylised bird, while the third is empty. Next to it is the bird which has flown out. The meaning is that only those who truly wish and choose to free themselves from stereotyped patterns, from system crises, from content stalemate, from clichés and conservatism, can do so.

There are also numerous installations in the portico of the Cortile d’Onore: Seating Experiments With Spanish Tiles by Tomás Alonso Studio for Tile of Spain, Metamorphosys  by Roberto Banfi with Studeo group for Itelyum, and Farfalle by Ludovica Diligu with Labo.Art, as well as Flow by Francesco Forcellini with Besenzoni, Studio Nomade d’Artista by Sergio Fiorentino – Studio Gum, New Horizons by Mandalaki for Halo Edition, Sit on the wor(l)d by Marco Nereo Rotelli for Ever In Art and Giardino Segreto, which is the exhibition of the results of the 4th edition of the contest “Design. A journey through Italy and Spain”, curated by Carmelo Zappulla of External Reference for the Italian Embassy in Madrid.

In the Aula Magna great hall, Time After Time by Gianluigi Colin with Galleria De Ambrogi  presents an installation consisting of hundreds of metres of fabric used to clean newspaper printing presses; authentic objets trouvés, secular shrouds, loaded with the memory of endless erased stories, hanging eleven metres high. This work prompts us to question the quality of the information system, collective memory and its dissolution. A secular temple of knowledge, the University is the natural home for a project such as this because, as Aldo Colonetti says, “like architecture, design must never forget that art is the foundation of every design-related discipline”.

Material textures are the focus of Acrylic Skyline by Jacopo Foggini with Dr. Gallina, a polychrome skyline as a “tribute to Alessandro Mendini” on display along the Loggiato Ovest. The visitor is guided by the light filtering through the multiwall polycarbonate sheets in a rainbow of colours, chosen to offer an impression of fluidity. Foggini invites us to reflect on the materials of the future and prompts positive thinking on the “eternal” nature of plastic.

With L’arte del colore by Francesca Grassi of Studio Italo Rota with Boero, the Portale Hall Aula Magna becomes a modern interpretation of the rainbow, achieved using the colours of the new Boero colour system, 1831 – Il colore italiano.

The North and South doorways of the University host the installation Re-Connection: Alberto Caliri, creative director of Missoni Home Collection, offers a series of small rabbits designed to prompt our memories and reconnect us with emotions and imagination.

CaberlonCaroppi studio with Pedrali, Zambaiti Parati for Concreta explore the theme of Design Re-Evolution with Liminal, by furnishing the exhibition’s press room with unique furniture customised for the occasion, while Urban Stage by Parisotto + Formenton Architetti with Cimento offers a concrete look for outdoor relaxing with an urban feel with Outdoor Lounges.

Worth noting is that many of the installations in the exhibition were created with the idea of being reused, whether fully (such as the Amazon swing, linked to biodiversity, or the containers of Mirage, with Save the Planet), or partially, to create new settings and objects. INTERNI participates in the Urban Economy, Fashion and Design Project by the City of Milan, which transforms the exhibits of Milan Design Week into a concrete possibility of regeneration and reuse, in line with the principles of the circular economy.

New sites

The traditional institutional sites of INTERNI Design Re-Evolution are joined this year by other iconic locations in the city: Eataly Milano Smeraldo, De Castillia 23 by Urban Up | Unipol and the Torre Velasca.

At Eataly Milano Smeraldo, Paola Navone Otto Studio are celebrating Italian identity with 100% Pasta: a thorough examination of the quality of good food, from harvest and preparation to tasting. Tomatoes, pots and pans, garlic, chillies and spaghetti all made by the Viareggio Carnival Foundation hang from the ceiling in an aerial installation at Eataly Smeraldo, over the stage at the centre of the store. The stage has been decorated for the occasion in tomato red, and furnished with modern chairs and tables in red, white and green, referencing the ingredients of the quintessential Italian dish, pasta with tomato sauce. And not just any recipe, but the dish Paola Navone’s grandmother used to make for her, selecting the ingredients with care and love. The “100% Pasta” installation will be presented to the public on Thursday April 20, at 6pm, on the stage at Eataly Smeraldo, with a food performance which will see Paola Navone talk about her installation and the link between food and design, sharing the story of her “Pasta Paola”, alongside an Eataly chef who will make it for those present.

The message conveyed in the Isola district consists of just two simple yet alarming words: H2o HELP. On the lawn in front of De Castillia 23, a building redeveloped by Urban Up – Unipol and owned by the Group, an installation by Maria Cristina Finucci greets visitors with a sort of living being, 70 metres long and formed of a series of “water cushions”. Those sitting on it may not immediately realise that just a few steps away, this living being is gasping for air, showing everyone its struggle to survive. Through its agony, it attempts to communicate humanity’s distress in light of one of the most serious issues it is facing: a lack of water.

Once again, 66 years after it was built, with QR Code: Quick Re-Evolution Code, the Torre Velasca is the mouthpiece for a Re-Evolution, acting as the gateway to a virtual world offering new levels of perception to augment reality. Hines entrusted the project to the creative flair and talent of designer Elena Salmistraro. The project is an innovative digital experience which introduces an extraordinary foray into new ways of experiencing places, freeing their revolutionary communicative potential. As the name suggests, a QR code is key to the installation. Visitors use it to access a specially designed digital space, dedicated to discovering this iconic Milanese building. The QR Code will be available in the FuoriSalone Guide, on the INTERNI channels, on the website www.torrevelascaqrcode.com, as well as on 80 floor stickers positioned strategically around the city.

The Interni system

The INTERNI integrated system of communication multiplies and reiterates its role as a key source of information for the world of design. Two printed publications (INTERNI and the FuoriSalone Guide), two digital publications (INTERNI King Size and the legendary FuoriSalone Guide), one major event (INTERNI Design Re-Evolution), INTERNI online (website and social media) and Interni Design Journal – with insights and videos which will be delivered through a newsletter system – provide all the tools for keeping up to date in real time on all the latest design trends, news and previews.

Now in its 33rd edition, the FuoriSalone Guide is the essential handbook for anyone who wants to discover and explore the increasingly packed calendar of Milan Design Week, through the annotated presentation of 350 events involving the companies, designers and architects participating in FuoriSalone, organised both day by day and in alphabetical order. The guide, which is available free with the April issue of INTERNI in Milan, and in all the showrooms, institutions, museums and other locations participating in FuoriSalone 2023 (as well as at the fair itself), can be accessed online (both on tablet and smartphone), and includes an interactive map.

The strength of the brand is also clearly visible throughout the city: Design Re-Evolution involves a major street advertising campaign which includes 15 banners displayed at the main entrances to Milan and in the historic centre, 1000 flags at the locations of the events mentioned in the FuoriSalone Guide, as well as 60 digital points in the busiest areas, 10 retro shuttle buses, customised news stands in the historic centre and in airports, window displays and LED walls(Mondadori Duomo bookshop in Piazza del Duomo and Rizzoli Galleria in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele).

For all information www.internimagazine.it

Great success for INTERNI Design Re-Generation at the 2022 FuoriSalone. From 6 to 13 June, the event created and coordinated by the Mondadori Group magazine edited by Gilda Bojardi attracted a total of approximately 300,000 visitors in the three institutional locations: Milan “Università degli Studi”, the Brera Botanical Garden and the Audi House of Progress, for the first time at Palazzo Medelan in Piazza Cordusio.

“This year once again, Milan succeeded in involving an international public in a spectacular across-the-board happening people are determined not to miss,” said INTERNI editor Gilda Bojardi. “Revealing its most secret places and buildings, it turned into a city-wide museum featuring projects and design initiatives whose cultural and experimental dynamism pushed the boundaries of the trade show.”

This edition of the exhibition looked at the regeneration of thought and design, with experimental installations on such important questions as: the new sustainability aesthetic, nature in the city, artificial intelligence for innovative design and a new future through greater design awareness.

With the contribution of the 3 co-producers (Audi, Eni-Plenitude and Whirpool) and in collaboration with companies and institutions, INTERNI called over 50 great Italian and international -designers and architects. Over 40 installations, micro-architectures and macroobjects have been created for the exhibition, all site-specific which – together with conferences, talks and live performances – have created a variegated mosaic of styles and visions, but also moments of confrontation, attracting thousands of people. Visitors included large numbers of Italian and international journalists, who provided excellent coverage for INTERNI Design Re-Generation in the daily papers, on radio and TV, in the trade press and in popular magazines, and ensured a continuous presence for the exhibition on the main social channels and the web.

The INTERNI exhibition confirms its place as the iconic  event of the FuoriSalone, created as an initiative of the magazine’s editor, Gilda Bojardi. The foundation of its success is the outstanding design and cultural content of the installations, the internationally famous brands involved, flanked by smaller operations who also offered exhibits of great interest.

The exceptional response from both the public and the media reflects the absolute leadership of INTERNI in the professional living segment and in design system communication.

Thanks go to the co-producers Audi, Eni-Plenitude with CRA Carlo Ratti Associati and Italo Rota, Whirlpool with AMDL CIRCLE and Michele de Lucchi, and all the companies, designers and architects who took part: Citco with Ron Arad and Associates, AlphaTauri with Hannes Boeker and Daniel Kainz, Roca with Cobalto Studio, Rubner Haus with Giacomo Garziano- GG-loop, Mathera by Saib with Diego Grandi, Tecno with Zaha Hadid Architects, Deutsche Telekom Design & Customer Experience in collaboration with Layer, Sanlorenzo with Piero Lissoni, Focchi Group, Mitsubishi Electric with Progetto CMR, De Castelli with Antonio Marras, Guglielmi Rubinetterie with Elena Salmistraro, Portobello, Casone Group, Mapei, Pietra Serena Group with Isay Weinfeld, Amazon with Lissoni Associati, Beton Eisack with Jacopo Foggini, Nardi with Raffaello Galiotto, AHEC with Benedetta Tagliabue – EMBT and Fundació Enric Miralles, iGuzzini illuminazione with Scandurra, ApexBrasil with the curator Bruno Simões, Fujifilm Italia with FTA | Filippo Taidelli Architetto, Porro with Andrea Branzi, K3 with K3 Creative Team, Ledvance with Eurostands together with CastagnaRavelli, Hitachi Cooling & Heating with LuccheseDesign, C&C Milano with Nicolò Castellini Baldissera, Mirage with Andrea Boschetti – Metrogramma, G.T.Design with Deanna Comellini, Accademia IUAD with the Three-Year Course in Interior Design and Architecture, Lladró with Lladró creative team, Cerasarda with ovre.design, LibriBianchi of Lorenzo and Simona Perrone, the Italian Embassy in Madrid with Gianluca Pugliese-Lowpoly Design Studio, Milano Makers with Franco Raggi, Maria Christina Hamel and Cesare Castelli, Michieli Floricoltura with Roberta Studio and Paolo Michieli, Ever in Art with Marco Nereo Rotelli, Higold Group with Pininfarina Architecture, Missoni with Alberto Caliri, Forbo Flooring Systems with Mac Stopa and Massive Design, FIND – Design Fair Asia, and Giulio Cappellini for the design of the Cappellini@IBM Studios Milano Exhibition.

Design Re-Generation is the title of the long-awaited exhibition event conceived by INTERNI, the Mondadori Group’s Interiors and Contemporary Design magazine, which will run from  6 to 13 June in the quads of the Università degli Studi di Milano, at the Orto Botanico di Brera and, for the first time, in Piazza Cordusio at the Audi House of Progress. In addition to these three institutional locations, this year there is also the Cappellini Exhibition @IBM Studios in Piazza Gae Aulenti, 10.

In collaboration with the City of Milan, INTERNI Design Re-Generation is one of the main initiatives of the Milan Design Week and FuoriSalone 2022, created in 1990 on the initiative of Gilda Bojardi, editor of the magazine, and universally recognised as an event of reference for international design and architecture.

“Design Re-Generation aims to stimulate new design proposals, both material and functional, in which sustainability is the key value for a new quality of life,” explained Gilda Bojardi, editor of INTERNI. “In other words, regeneration understood as redevelopment, recovery, rebirth. But also, as the formation of a new design awareness that sees design as a tool to encourage a harmonious merger between space and nature. Our exhibition wants to stimulate a collective reflection on design, in the sense of an approach to improve both our present and future. All this through creative, visionary but also concrete proposals, which foreshadow a future in which those who design, do business, invent and experiment are animated by a profound and responsible awareness of the things of the world, by a greater sensitivity, an attention and ‘concern’ for realities and natural resources, for the common good and the benefit of individual well-being.”

INTERNI Design Re-Generation was conceived with a view to activating and multiplying connections and relationships: a virtuous system between the leaders in creativity, and of companies and distribution networks that have an essential need to connect people and ideas from different places and cultures. In collaboration with companies, multinationals, start-ups and institutions, over 50 designers have created more than 40 creative proposals (installations, exhibitions, design islands, micro-architecture and macro-objects, all site-specific) to interpret the themes of this edition of the exhibition which are: the new aesthetics of sustainability, nature in the city, artificial intelligence for innovative design and a new future through conscious design.

Installations and designers

Among the proposals that come to life in the spaces of the Milan University, located inside the Cortile d’Onore, will be a series of impressive installations. Starting from Fabbrica, a work designed by Piero Lissoni and built by Sanlorenzo, which stands in the centre of the lawn and recalls the industrial nature of the boatbuilder’s yard, and the structures used for the construction of the boats. It is a large structure made of tubular scaffolding that recreates the experience of getting on a yacht: a path of ramps leads visitors to a nautical wooden platform that evokes, in terms of shape and materials, the deck of a ship.

Love Song, conceived by Studio Ron Arad and Associates, meanwhile, is a sculpture in white Carrara marble created by Citco. This installation highlights Ron Arad’s constant experimentation with materials and is a sort of visual palindrome: the word Love has been extruded and distorted so that on one side it reads ‘love’ and on the other ‘song’.

A metaphysical landscape of oversized minerals enclosed in large showcases in a sort of museum itinerary: this is the concept of New Mineralia by Diego Grandi. The project reflects on the importance of sustainability through the use of a new generation material that is totally recycled and recyclable: Mathera by SAIB, designed by Grandi himself for a company that has made regeneration its manifesto.

Chromosaturation is the title of the installation by Daniel Kainz and Hannes Boeker for the fashion brand AlphaTauri which exploits the physical phenomenon of chrome saturation for a visual and physical experience that involves the viewer and transmits sensations of hot/cold, without the need to use any media.

Water, change and interaction are the key words of La voce di Idra, the futuristic fountain imagined by Elena Salmistraro for Guglielmi Rubinetterie.

With The Giants, Antonio Marras transforms the entrance columns of the University into an army of mythological characters inspired by the history and culture of Sardinia, dressed in metals produced by De Castelli.

In the Hall of the Aula Magna, the exhibition The dancing furniture of the house of Enric Miralles & Benedetta Tagliabue. For the first time, 9 unique pieces are presented in Italy, reproduced thanks to the support of the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), in a selection of sustainable American hardwoods.

Spread across the Cortile della Farmacia, The A-maze Garden, a maze of curved walls of four different heights, celebrates the values ​​of environmental commitment sanctioned by Amazon with the Climate Pledge, in the interpretation of Lissoni Associati curated by Francesco Canesi Lissoni. A maze that reinterprets the compositions of Piet Mondrian’s trees and traditional Italian gardens to reflect on the idea of ​​a conscious regeneration of the environment.

In the Cortile dei Bagni, the past, present and future come together in a temple that alludes to antiquity but proposes an innovative construction principle. Phoenix, is the name of the creation by Jacopo Foggini and Beton Eisack which explores the theme of sustainability in aesthetic terms, combining two materials of different nature but both coming from a recycling process: PC/PET-G and Eurobeton concrete.

In the Cortile del Settecento there is the Labyrinth Garden by Raffaello Galiotto with Nardi, maze an outdoor multi-disciplinary maze comprising an articulated pathway, developed over some 625 square metres of lawn. An experiential structure that is also a metaphor for the sense of loss we are all experiencing, characterised by issues such as the environment, health and peace.

Participants include Gabriel Escámez – Cobalto Studio (with Roca), Giacomo Garziano – GG-loop (with Rubner Haus), Benjamin Hubert (with Deutsche Telekom), Michele Pasca di Magliano – Zaha Hadid Architects (with Tecno), Alessandro Scandurra (with iGuzzini Illuminazione), Bruno Simões (ApexBrasil), Filippo Taidelli (with Fujifilm Italia), and Isay Weinfeld (with Portobello, Mapei, Casone).

The design islands are by: Andrea Boschetti (with Mirage), Andrea Branzi (with Porro), Alberto Caliri (with Missoni), Nicolò Castellini Baldissera (with C&C Milano), Deanna Comellini (with G.T.Design), Giulia Delpiano e Corrado Conti – ovre.design (with Cerasarda), Roberta Filippini and Paolo Michieli (with Michieli Floricoltura), Nieves Contreras (with Lladró), Kenzo K3 Team, Francesco Lucchese (with Hitachi Cooling and Heating), Giovanni de Niederhäusern – Pininfarina (with Higold Group), Lorenzo and Simona Perrone (with Libribianchi), Gianluca Pugliese – Lowpoly Design Studio (the Italian embassy in Madrid), Catello Raffaele and Giovanni Maione (IUAD – Accademia della Moda), Franco Raggi and Maria Christina Hamel (Milano Makers), Gianni Ravelli and Paolo Castagna (Ledvance with Eurostands), Marco Nereo Rotelli (with Ever in Art), Massimo Roj – Progetto CMR (Focchi Group with Mitsubishi Electric), and Mac Stopa (with Forbo Flooring Systems).

The main sponsors: AUDI, Plenitude and Whirpool

There are 3 co-producers of INTERNI Design Re-Generation: Audi, the premium brand with a 360° commitment as an aware mobility provider with innovation and progress in its DNA, Plenitude, the new identity of Eni gas and electricity, on the market with a unique business model that integrates production from renewables, the sale of gas and electricity, energy services and an extensive network of charging points for electric vehicles, and Whirpool, one of the world’s leading brands in the domestic appliances sector, thanks to advanced solutions characterised by cutting-edge design and conceived to improve life in the home. Each of the main sponsors will present a high-impact installation giving its own interpretation of the theme of the exhibition.

Design and innovation are the protagonists of Audi’s usual appointment during Milan Design Week, as always organised in an unprecedented location for the FuoriSalone. This year the company has chosen The Medelan, in Piazza Cordusio: an historic building currently undergoing a conversion in line with the highest sustainability standards that will make it a futuristic centre for business, shopping and hospitality. With Audi House of Progress, the brand will open the doors to a place where a vision of tomorrow is already a reality and, starting from the evolution of the concept of sustainability in the broadest paradigm of Re-generation, will share with the city of Milan its own reinterpretation of the planet, of society and the individual through visual suggestions, panels, talks and exclusive premieres starting from 6 June.

Meanwhile at the Orto Botanico di Brera, an evocative green oasis squeezed between the buildings in the centre of Milan, will be Feeling the Energy, a project conceived for Plenitude by CRA – Carlo Ratti Associati – which is taking part in the third consecutive edition of the INTERNI exhibition – and by Italo Rota. Feeling the Energy interprets the Design Re-Generation theme with an interactive installation dedicated to multiple forms of energy, thanks to which visitors can discover and experience, in game dynamics, the phenomena of solar and wind energy and evaporative cooling. But re-generation also concerns ways of being together in safety: and, in fact, the entire path is made of antibacterial copper, to which the multinational producer KME contributed, and which, at the end of the exhibition, will be reused in a circular design perspective.

In the Cortile d’Onore of the University of Milan, will be Sidereal Station, the installation by Whirlpool, created in collaboration with Alucobond, which continues a project started in 2021 with the architect Michele De Lucchi and AMDL CIRCLE. It is a sort of “telescope” that points towards the sky and at the same time targets an objective: that of finding harmony to feel good with oneself and with others, while preserving the physical environment in which we all live. An incentive to think about a future of well-being for the individual and the environment. In fact, inside Sidereal Station it is possible to enjoy an immersive experience, explore emotional spaces, discover the beauties of our planet, be amazed and continue to dream of a better future. In an increasingly complex world, which constantly challenges people’s inner balance, it is important to find the time and ways to reconnect with yourself and your needs every day.

Cappellini @IBM Studios Milan

A new feature of this edition of the INTERNI event exhibition is the extension of its range of action to include another location in the heart of the city: the IBM Studios Milano Pavilion in Piazza Gae Aulenti, 10. In the spaces of the IBM Studios Milan, Cappellini gives voice to new concepts of living today and tomorrow and stages two exhibitions:

• Looking to the future, presents a vision of the contemporary product thanks to readings offered by a number of international creatives such as Bjarke Ingels, Patricia Urquiola, Jasper Morrison and some young people in their first design experience;
• The Slowdown Refuge, investigates the theme of living through an environment where design and technology merge; in which historical pieces find an aesthetic counterpoint in the most innovative products, poised between the material and immaterial, technology and memory.

The project was conceived by Giulio Cappellini, with the support of the international students of the Marangoni Design Campus Master. There will also be some virtual installations that give a new interpretation of the Metaverse by redefining the future home in space.

The INTERNI system

INTERNI’s integrated communication system is expanding and reaffirming its role as the leading source of news and information about the world of design. In fact, thanks to 3 printed publications (INTERNI, Annual Cucina 2022 and the FuoriSalone Guide) and two digital publications (INTERNI King Size and the legendary FuoriSalone Guide), a big event (INTERNI Design Re-Generation), INTERNI online (website and social media) and Interni Design Journal with insights and videos that will be conveyed through a system of newsletters, provides the tools that allow you to keep up to date in real time with trends, news and previews on design.

An authentic vademecum for all those who want to know and find their way around the increasingly rich panorama of Milan Design Week events, the print and digital versions of the FuoriSalone Guide (also available for tablets and smartphones and available online from today) are a must, offering a reasoned overview of some 350 events involving the companies, designers and architects participating in the FuoriSalone, organised both day by day and in alphabetical order.

The brand’s strength can also be clearly seen on the ground: an important street advertising campaign has been planned for Design Re-Generation which includes 15 banners positioned at the main entrances to Milan and in the historic centre, 1,000 flags at the locations of the events present in the FuoriSalone Guide, over 60 digital systems selected in the busiest areas, 10 retro shuttle buses, customised newsstands in the city centre, shop windows and led walls (Megastore Mondadori in Piazza del Duomo and Rizzoli Store in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele).

With this appointment, which gives Milan unique and exceptional visibility, INTERNI confirms its absolute leadership in the professional living segment, but also in the communication of the design system, transforming itself from a specialised publication into a mass medium.

For full information: www.internimagazine.it

INTERNI, the Mondadori Group’s interiors and contemporary design magazine edited by Gilda Bojardi, presents XXX-Y 30 YEARS OF THE FUORISALONE, a book published by Electa that celebrates the most memorable designs, personalities and events that have characterised the creation and development of an event that is a symbol of the city of Milan. The story begins with the origins as the “Milano Designer’s Week” created in 1990 by Gilda Bojardi and INTERNI, which evolved and adopted the name FuoriSalone (also invented by the magazine’s editor) which then led to the explosion of temporary districts and its position as an authentic urban festival.

In 512 pages, 1000 images and the designs of over 2500 protagonists, the book covers the history of the most important event in the world of international design.

“It’s not enough to use the equation Design = Milano to understand the success of an event as unique as the FuoriSalone,” declared Gilda Bojardi, editor of INTERNI. “As the book explains, created 30 years after the first event which, on our initiative, structurally involved many of Milan’s key design locations, the FuoriSalone is a choral effort with a great number of protagonists involving a range of historical factors, geographic, productive and cultural. It is, in fact, the expression of a system that only in Italy, and only in Milan, could find such fertile ground. From 1990 to the present, the event has continued to grow, overcoming, both in terms of cultural vivacity and experimentation, the limits of an exhibition-market to become an exceptional urban festival that visitors, regardless of their professional interests, experience as an important spectacular and unmissable cross-cultural happening. The knock-on economic impact is such as to make it the most important week of the year for the city and, together with the Salone del Mobile – to which it is complementary – makes Milan the ideal place for the diffusion of a culture that places design at the heart of debates regarding innovation and the progress of society,” concluded the editor.

The book brings to life the various stages of its development and the most emblematic events that has marked the history of the FuoriSalone – a spectacular cultural and market model, copied around the world, based on a successful mix of performance, installations, and experimental exhibitions and expressions – and enabled Milan to become the recognised capital of international design.

The story is told chronologically and divided by decades (1990-1999, 2000-2009, 2010-2019), introduced by a chapter on the 1980s, and specifically the events that led to the creation of the FuoriSalone. Written by four leading design critics (Beppe Finessi, Deyan Sudjic, Paolo Ferrarini and Li Edelkoort) the book offers a general and personal account of the phenomenon, its evolution and significance. The decades, meanwhile, benefit from a historical and sociological introduction by university professor and scholar Andrea Davide Cuman, who tells the story of the event in relation to the evolution of taste and the transformations of the city.

The range of images – drawn from the INTERNI archives – is accompanied by contributions from around  50 personalities who with their first-hand accounts, memories and anecdotes, describe ‘their’ FuoriSalone: from the inventors of the big events that formed the basis for the FuoriSalone – such as Giulio Cappellini, Paolo Pallucco, Patrizia Moroso – to designers that created unforgettable installations – including Ron Arad, Andrea Branzi, Michele De Lucchi, Jacopo Foggini, Barnaba Fornasetti, Massimo Iosa Ghini, Antonio Marras, Fabio Novembre, William Sawaya and Paolo Moroni, Emiliano Salci – as well as the gallerists and curators whose spaces and initiatives have marked the evolution of this urban phenomenon – including Gisella Borioli, Rossana Orlandi, Antonia Jannone and Carla Sozzani.

XXX-Y 30 OF THE FUORISALONE will be presented in preview on Tuesday 21 December 2021 at the Triennale in Milan with the participation of: Stefano Boeri, Giulio Cappellini, Antonio Citterio, Stefano Giovannoni, Ferruccio Laviani, Piero Lissoni, Rosita Missoni, Paola Navone, Maria Porro and Patricia Urquiola.

XXX-Y 30 ANNI DI FUORISALONE will be in bookstores from 18 January.

INTERNI is grateful for the collaboration of: Videomobile, Moretti and Acqua Chiarella.

Huge success for the INTERNI Creative Connections exhibition at the FuoriSalone 2021. From 4 to 19 September, the event recorded a total of over 180,000 visitors at the three main locations: the quads of the University of Milan, the Orto Botanico di Brera and – until 27 September – the Audi City Lab, for the first time in Via della Spiga 26.

The Mondadori Group magazine, edited by Gilda Bojardi invited leading Italian players from the design world, along with international architects and designers to translate into experimental installations the concepts of care, sustainability and mobility. With the contributions of 2 co-producers (Audi and Eni) and in collaboration with companies and institutions almost thirty site-specific installations, micro-architecture and macro-objects were produced which – along with conferences and talks – created a varied mosaic of styles and visions, as well as moments of exchange that attracted thousands of people. These included a great many Italian and international journalists who gave INTERNI Creative Connections outstanding media coverage – from national newspapers to radio and television, the specialised press, and mass-market publications – as well as ensuring continuous presence on the main social media and web channels.

The Internimagazine.it website saw a +50% increase in unique users compared with the previous period and the reinforcement of the range of social media activities – with the generation of over 650 posts, each with an average of 70,000 profiled followers – led to a doubling of the total reach compared with previous figures.

The INTERNI exhibition was consequently confirmed as the symbolic event of the FuoriSalone – which this year marked its 30th anniversary – created in 1990 on the initiative of Gilda Bojardi, the magazine’s editor. Underlying this success is the high level cultural and design element of the installations, the prestigious Italian and international brands involved, as well as the many smaller players who have equally contributed to the creation of content of value.

The exceptional feedback, both from the public and in terms of media visibility, testifies to INTERNI’s absolute leadership in the professional living segment and design system communication, and, as Gilda Bojardi underlined, “It was also a strong signal for Milan and for a vibrant sector – that of design – which proposes and produces, and which has never given up. Indeed, thanks to the events, presentations, conferences, live and virtual debates, new proposals and collections and the displays in the showrooms, new spaces and museums set up for the occasion, this FuoriSalone was truly a unique and unforgettable occasion.”

Our thanks to all of the companies and partners who took part in the exhibition: Audi/Marcel Wanders studio, Eni/Carlo Ratti Associati, Italo Rota, Alessio Fini; Artemide/MC A – Mario Cucinella Architects; GLO/ Marco Nereo Rotelli; OPPO/Kengo Kuma, London Design Festival, Clare Farrow and Musicity/Midori Komachi; Fondazione Renzo Piano with Lia Piano/Anna Merci with Puricelli; Whirlpool/AMDL Circle and Michele De Lucchi; Sal Cord and Oneeightyone/Italo Rota and Francesca Grassi; EXPO 2020 Dubai – Padiglione Italia; Eurostands and Ledvance/MAD Architects; Corepla e Guzzini/Stroop Design with Jeffrey Beers International; Staininger Group-Six Senses Kitzbühel Alps/Peter Pichler Architecture; Guglielmi/Alessandro Zambelli; Qeeboo/Stefano Giovannoni; NABA Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti/Claudio Larcher and Sara Ricciardi; EWO/NOA* Network of Architecture; LAD onlus/Emilio Randazzo; the Italian Embassy in Madrid, COAM, di_mad, ADI-FAD/Davide Valoppi– Noarc; JCP Universe/CTRLZAK for Homage to Nanda Vigo; Fondazione Bisazza for Homage to Alessandro Mendini; PerDormire/Fabio Novembre Studio; Associazione per il Policlinico Onlus/CastagnaRavelli; APEX-Brasil with Abimóvel/José Roberto Moreira do Valle; Mapei/Cino Zucchi Architetti and Chiara Zucchi; TMK Projekt, Wolf Group, Forbo, Hushoffice, Muraspec/Mac Stopa and Massive Design; Missoni Home/Rosita Missoni; Nardi/Raffaello Galiotto; Magis; Netflix and, finally, Axor-Hansgrohe, Caricami, Danese, Ferrarelle, illy, Kartell.

INTERNI Creative Connections is the title of the much-anticipated exhibition event, conceived by the Mondadori Group interiors and contemporary design brand, that is taking place from 4 to 19 September in the courtyards of the University of Milan, at the Orto Botanico in Brera and, for the first time, at Via della Spiga, 26.

With the patronage of the City of Milan, INTERNI Creative Connections will also be an occasion to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the FuoriSalone, first launched in 1990 – on the initiative of Gilda Bojardi, editor of the magazine – and widely recognised as the event of reference for international architecture and design.

“The real vocation of the FuoriSalone is to propose a cultural, spectacular and market-based model, which is translated on the ground as performance, installations, exhibitions and, in an entirely natural way, in experimental expressions which over the years have become part of a spontaneous process of design education and training,” explained Gilda Bojardi, editor of INTERNI. “The results of the recent FuoriSalone events make it possible to see it historically as a collaborative effort in which INTERNI is one of the leading protagonists. A phenomenon that is wholly complementary to the historic Salone del Mobile, for which the city is the location for the spread of a culture in which design offers an opportunity for reflection, development and encounter. A model much imitated around the world but still unrivalled that this year celebrates its thirtieth edition. And, to mark this milestone, also Palazzo Niemeyer, the headquarters of Mondadori, will be illuminated in red, green and yellow, the colours of our exhibition.”

INTERNI Creative Connections was created with the intention of activating and multiplying connections and relationships: a virtuous system among the protagonists of creativity, designers, companies, distribution networks that have a fundamental need to connect people, ideas and projects from different places and cultures. In collaboration with companies, multinationals, start-ups and institutions, almost thirty site-specific installations, design islands, micro-architectures and macro-objects have been created, which develop three important themes: ‘Care’, in design, in production processes, in the use of materials and in the subsequent application of the circular economy, ‘Sustainability’ in the sense of being conscious and as an indication of method, a creative and productive attitude that is fundamental for those who design, do business, invent and experiment; and finally ‘Mobility/ Speed’, in both a real and metaphorical sense, and referred to peoples, thought, space, means of transport and technology

Installations and designers

Among the installations on show in the spaces of the University of Milan are, in the Cortile della Farmacia, an installation designed by Mario Cucinella which accompanies visitors through a visual narration dedicated to the world of Ernesto Gismondi, the brilliant entrepreneur and founder of the world-famous Milanese company Artemide, who passed away in 2020. Meanwhile, connecting natural and technological materials with sounds is the focus of Bamboo ring: Weaving a Symphony of Lightness and Form by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, created by Oppo in partnership with the London Design Festival.

Sharing-Connection-Conviviality is the title of the micro-architecture tower – which anticipates the large installation by Whirlpool for the FuoriSalone in April 2022 – which consists of a symbol that looks to the future and invites us to question ourselves about the meaning of human existence in the world of tomorrow. The designer Michele De Lucchi with AMDL CIRCLE has created a metaphorical tower in the Cortile d’Onore that encourages the eye to look up and at the same time the mind to reflect on who we are and who we will be. In the Cortile dell Settecento we’ll find Falso autentico, a project for Glo by Marco Nereo Rotelli who defines it as “the house of the languages we have lost”: you enter an architecture made of raw earth using an ancient African technique and go out into the future, a digital and immersive space.

Two impressive installations are placed inside the Cortile d’Onore. The first one is called Freedom – designed by MAD Architects with the support of the Rome-based European office of the Chinese studio: it represents a seagull with its head turned upwards looking at the sky, as if it were about to take flight for distant lands. The metaphor is clear and is naturally connected to the post-pandemic world that is shaping our current situation, but which wants to represent a tangible symbol of optimism, a desire for rebirth and renewal that is both social and private at the same time. The lawn meanwhile hosts Survival, a project by Stefano Giovannoni, designer and owner of the Qeeboo brand. The idea comes from the desire to represent this epochal moment through the biblical story of the rescue of mankind and animal species on an ark, represented here by a 10×6 metre platform which brings together, using mechanical elevators of about 7 metres, about forty animals, some of them life-sized.

In the Aula Magna (the Great Hall of the University) the Folded line installation, for the exhibition L’archivio si racconta – I libri della Fondazione Renzo Piano (The archive speaks – The books of the Renzo Piano Foundation) with the eleven volumes published by the Renzo Piano Foundation, each dedicated to a single project. In the Loggiato Ovest there are installations in homage to Nanda Vigo and Alessandro Mendini, as well as the installation by the Fabio Novembre Studio for Perdormire

The main sponsors: AUDI and Eni

There are two co-producers of INTERNI Creative Connections: Audi, a premium brand that is wholly committed to becoming a conscious mobility provider with the widest range of electric cars in the world, and Eni, an integrated energy company with over 30,000 employees in 68 countries around the world. Each of the main sponsors presents a high impact installation conceived by architects of international standing: the Marcel Wanders Studio for Audi at the Audi City Lab in Via della Spiga 26, and Eni with Carlo Ratti Associati with the contribution of Italo Rota (Creative Lead) and the scientific research of Alessio Fini, from the Department Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Milan at the Orto Botanico di Brera.

The Audi City Lab is dedicated to research and experimentation in the field of mobility, a hub that will host stories and personalities that embody the idea of Audi’s progress to celebrate new perspectives and ideas about the future. To transform the unfinished space of Via della Spiga 26, the Marcel Wanders Studio, as part of the INTERNI Creative Connections exhibition-event, with the installation Enlightening the future which offers an emotional representation of the new frontiers of Audi research thanks to an immersive experience based on light as a means of connection and narration of its innovation projects. The exhibition focuses on the presentation of two new cars from the company, the Audi RS e-tron GT and the Audi A6 e-tron concept, and, as the basis for inspiration, the various expressive and design forms with which the German brand develops the issue of lighting. Through different lighting scenarios, the visitor is guided through an experiential path that begins with a ‘sensorial’ tunnel, where the walls, covered with a soft fabric, emanate a diffused light that encourages visitors to touch and interact with the space. The corridor leads to the exhibition space for the two new models, where the light ‘explodes’ in a dynamic game of reflections and refractions, and takes on the architectural function of an immaterial wall that protects the cars, like a glass case protects works of art in a museum, but which the visitor is invited to pass through. To examine how innovation and evolution intersect, the Audi Inspired by progress talk will take place on 6 September, during which ideas and interpretations that anticipate the future will take shape generating unprecedented connections.

Moving to the Orto Botanico di Brera, a suggestive oasis of greenery squeezed between the buildings in the centre of Milan, Natural Capital, the installation, designed by Studio Carlo Ratti Associati for Eni, aims to increase visitors’ awareness of the role of forests in the fight against climate change. Natural Capital, which extends over 500 square metres, shows the CO₂ captured and accumulated by the different species present in the Orto Botanico di Brera and the risks deriving from deforestation, among the main causes of the increase in CO₂ in the atmosphere. Visitors will be able to admire the installation immersed in the garden of the Orto Botanico di Brera and experience a different point of view of the fight against climate change thanks to design, a universal language capable of stimulating collective reflection on the issue of decarbonisation. The theme of forest conservation fits perfectly into the context of the INTERNI Creative Connections exhibition, as it speaks, through design, about the connections between human beings and nature and the use of various forms of creativity to identify effective solutions to important new needs, such as global warming.

The INTERNI system

INTERNI’s integrated communication system continues to expand and reaffirm its role as the main source of information for the world of design. In fact, thanks to two print titles (INTERNI and the FuoriSalone Guide) and two digital publications (INTERNI King Size and the FuoriSalone Guide), a major event (INTERNI Creative Connections), INTERNI online (website and social networks) and Interni Design Journal with background and videos conveyed through a system of newsletters, providing the tools to allow user to keep up to date in real time on trends, news and previews in design.

An authentic vademecum for all those who want to find out about and find their way around the increasingly rich range of Milan Design Week events, the print and digital versions of the FuoriSalone Guide (also accessible on tablets and smartphones) are a must, with a day by day agenda of events involving the companies, designers and architects taking part in the FuoriSalone.

The brand’s strength is also clearly visible on the ground: a big street advertising campaign is planned for Creative Connections which includes 15 banners positioned in the main entrances of Milan and in the historic centre, 1,000 flags at the locations of the events in the Fuorisalone Guide, as well as 60 digital systems in the busiest areas, 10 retro shuttle buses, customised newsstands in the city centre, shop windows and LED walls (the Megastore Mondadori in Piazza del Duomo and the Rizzoli Store in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele).

With an event that gives Milan unique and exceptional visibility, INTERNI confirms its absolute leadership in the professional living segment, but also in the communication of the design system, transforming from specialist to a mass media publication.

For full information, please go to: www.internimagazine.it