This year, Fuorisalone saw an unprecedented number of visitors for its coveted design week which, like every year, included a dizzying array of installations, pop-up exhibitions and panel discussions. The various showcases allowed visitors to discover Milan’s vibrant neighbourhoods and unexplored streets. For its third edition, the projects showcased at Fuorisalone elaborated on the theme of Materia Natura, where each exhibited installation aimed to emphasise on sustainability as a core principle for design. Thus, it created an opportunity for international designers and architects to engage with and shed light on pressing issues such as the climate crisis, environmental degradation and other ongoing socio-economic crises.

With Milan Design Week coming to a close and the design fair wrapping up all its festivities, Fuorisalone announced the winners of this year’s titular award. The design award chosen via public voting from the 16 shortlisted works was accorded to Czech glass design company Lasvit’s mesmerising glass installation, Re/Creation. Special mentions chosen by a technical committee—which included Francesco Zurlo, Dean of Politecnico di Milano’s School of Design and Nicola Ricciardi, artistic director of miart among others—were given to the memorable design installations that showcased either enhanced interactivity, a concern for sustainable practices, or innovative use of technology in their concept and execution. This year, besides the awards for winners, a Special Mention was also awarded by media collaborators to Straordinaria by Elica x Fondazione Ermanno. As media partners with Fuorisalone, STIR enlists the installations that won the coveted titles.

The Audience Award

Re/Creation by Lasvit

Re/Creation, a fused glass installation by Lasvit, was named the winner of this year’s Fuorisalone Award. Situated in the 19th-century context of the Palazzo Isimbardi, Re/Creation offered a space for visitors to escape, recharge, and relax. The centrepiece of the showcase was Porta, designed by Lasvit’s art director Maxim Velčovský, a dizzying maze of textured glass panels crafted in Europe’s largest glass kiln. Through this project, Lasvit demonstrated its expertise in innovation with glass, allowing visitors to immersively experience the magic of one of Lasvit's creations and the possibilities presented by such a ubiquitous material.

Special Mention – Interaction

Data Bugs – AI is a mirror by Dotdotdot

Dotdotdot, a multidisciplinary design studio founded in Milan, presented an interactive installation that explored and narrated the generative power of artificial intelligence. AI is a mirror, exhibited at Via Tertulliano, allowed visitors to delve into an imaginary universe populated by insects. In this way, the project presented a reflection on the responsibilities of human beings in providing data and reducing biases to ensure equity by creating a simulation which presented two scenarios with differing data sets. The data set that was based on homogenous information produced stereotypical images of insects while the dataset based on balanced information, which included the wide range of insects found in nature allowed for the creation of results that were much closer to the diversity of the reality we experience.

"With this project, we chose to delve into the Explainable AI (XAI) strand to give visitors an emotionally immersive experience that allows them to visualise the way machine learning models make decisions and generate outputs, to shed light and reflect on the implications this has on our society," explained Alessandro Masserdotti, co-founder and CTO of Dotdotdot.

Special Mention – Sustainability

Born in Oasi by Zegna

ZEGNA, an Italian luxury fashion house, presented Born in Oasi, an installation dedicated to the brand's commitment to nature and sustainability, at their showroom in Via Savona. This art installation provided an environment to fully experience Oasi Zegna, a natural territory in the Biella Alps, and a new book published by them defining the ethos behind the beauty of ZEGNA. The installation interweaved art and nature, allowing visitors to walk through Oasi Zegna's lush vegetation and interact with the stories and images of the book. The project aimed to convey the importance of green urban spaces in bringing people closer to natural ecosystems, protecting biodiversity, and making people aware of their social responsibility towards our natural surroundings.

Special Mention – Technology

EARTHIC® LAB by Cosentino x Formafantasma

Cosentino Group, a Spain-based company producing innovative surfaces for interiors and architecture, presented EARTHIC® LAB, at the historic Teatro Gerolamo, in collaboration with the research-oriented architecture studio Formafantasma. EARTHIC® LAB took the visitors on a transformative journey, showcasing the creation of their latest collection, EARTHIC® surface, manufactured with recycled water and renewable electric energy.

The installation guided visitors through different levels of the Teatro, showcasing the process behind the capsule collection. The entrance space enveloped an enchanting landscape surrounded by sculptures of EARTHIC®’s surfaces. Each balcony narrated the story of EARTHIC®'s formulation from recycled glass to pioneering post-consumer bio-resin. The third balcony offered a deeper understanding of Cosentino’s role in the journey of the development of this collection.

Special Mention – Communication

Nendo: Whispers of Nature

Marking its 20th year of participation in the design event, Nendo hosted a solo show titled Nendo: Whispers of Nature at Via Giovanni Bovio. In this installation, Nendo presented designs rooted in nature, encapsulating the unique aesthetic consciousness of the Japanese sense of beauty. The solo exhibition displayed different product design collections like Clustered Clouds, which presented a series of translucent, hazy cloud-shaped shelves, and Passing Rain, a series of five aluminium bowls supported with 2mm-thick stainless steel rods that seemed to depict still frames of a rain shower.

Special Mention – Media Partner

Straordinaria by Elica x Fondazione Ermanno

Elica, a leading kitchenware brand presented Straordinaria, a site-specific installation in collaboration with Fondazione Ermanno at Fuorisalone 2024. Straordinaria, designed by Japanese design studio we+, was exhibited at the courtyard of Palazzo Litta in Milan. Taking inspiration from the lightness of clouds, this installation created a continuous flow of alternating hues evoking air and warmth, two distinctive natural elements of the Elica world. The artwork was designed using tulle-made tubes with a gradient ranging from frost azure to hot red which gave an impression of traversing a cloud.

This year’s awards were designed by the Studiolabo team and produced by Andrea Gallo, the creative director and founder of a Milan-based design and production company Pollodesign Factory. The award designs paid tribute to what has always represented the official map for the district that allows one to orient oneself among installations, exhibitions and discussion panels during an important week for the art and design industry.

Stay tuned to STIR's coverage of Milan Design Week 2024 which showcases the best of exhibitions, studios, designers, installations, brands and events to look out for. Explore EuroCucina and all the design districts—Fuorisalone, 5vie Design Week, Isola Design Week, Brera Design District and Porta Venezia Design District.

(Text by Sameeksha Bahuguna, intern at STIR)