Elena Salmistraro: “Milan is back. This year I felt excited as if it was my first design week”

AXO IN FABULA by Elerna Salmistraro X Cappellini - Courtesy of Cappellini.

We sat down with Elena Salmistraro to talk about her projects at Milan Design Week, what the pandemic has taught us for good, women in design, and her positive attitude toward the future.

Natural Capital: Carlo Ratti visualises trees’ key role in reducing CO2 through data

NATURAL CAPITAL by CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati x ENI - Photo by Marco Beck Peccoz, courtesy of CRA.

Energy company Eni and CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati present the ‘Natural Capital’ exhibition highlighting the importance of protecting and conserving forests. At the Brera Botanical Garden, a landscape of floating bubbles visualises through data how much CO2 each human produces and how much each tree species can capture and store.

‘Fantastic Smartphones’ and how to hack them… For our sake!

Fantastic Smartphones - Courtesy of ECAL University of Art and Design Lausanne.

Let’s admit it; our smartphones often outsmart us. With the FANTASTIC SMARTPHONES exhibition, students at ECAL University have developed tongue-in-cheek devices, robots and interfaces able to hack our mobiles and make us reflect on how much we have become dependent on Tinder, Instagram, What’s Up or TicToc.

A flame for research: 10 candleholders to fight cancer

A FLAME FOR RESEARCH - Photo by Matteo Imbriani.

Hope, togetherness, grief and remembrance are the intimate feelings that inspired international designers such as Jaime Hayon, Federica Biasi, Luca Nichetto and Marcel Wanders to create ten candleholders for the A FLAME OF RESEARCH project by Mingardo. The unique pieces will be auctioned to support cancer research.

MISSED YOU CALL: Design Academy Eindhoven grad-show debuts in Milan

MISSED YOUR CALL, Design Academy Eindhoven @ Milan Design Week 2021 - Photo by Archipanic.

Can tomato plants and a server live in symbiosis? How much would you pay for a cloud? Would you use an influencer starter kit for your kids? We selected ten out-of-the-box graduation projects by Design Academy Eindhoven students on show at the MISSED YOU CALL exhibition in Milan.

Fuorisalone 2021: 20 top destinations at Milan Design Week

Design Variations @ Milan Design Week 2021 - Courtesy of Mosca Partners.

Finally, Milan Design Week is back! Supersized beach cabins, a courtyard filled with orchids and a pavilion made from sustainable chairs. Fuorisalone 2021 unveils former military barracks and forgotten bakery factories and unlocks new destinations in the unexplored west side of the city.

Carlotta de Bevilacqua’s ‘Funivia’ lighting design shines with a mountaineering spirit

FUNIVIA by Carlotta de Bevilacqua for Artemide - Courtesy of ©Artemide.

Artemide launches FUNIVIA, a scalable and flexible lighting design inspired by cable cars. Energy runs through cables that can be arranged both vertically and horizontally, crisscrossing each others. Light sources hang from the cables allowing to create infinite lighting solutions going far beyond the limits dictated by the rigidity of systems.

Milano Design City 2021: the best physical and virtual events on show

Life in Vogue - Photo by Vogue Italia.

Milano Design City 2021: the world’s design capital hosts a phygital week with product launches, installations, archi-walks, virtual talks, and exhibitions.