OMA for Knoll at Prada Foundation OMA for Knoll is perpetually interested in the performance that architecure and design suggests for its users, and its project shown at the Prada Foundation illustrates the executive office of the future. Ippolito Pestellini, OMA's guru of all things Prada, claims the furniture is neither corporate nor domestic. The exhibition's design, also by Ippolito, further reinforces this blur, but in a perhaps more suggestively directed way; the double-layer glass table/desk on a hydraulic lift is perfect for work but can be adjusted to accommodate other tasks.
Wonmin Park at Spazio Rossana Orlandi Wonmin Park's series of compactly geometric furniture defies its physical precision, cast in subtly contrasting shades of translucent resin. Titled Unfocused, the collection's dimly-lit debut at Spazio Rossana Orlandi was seductively displayed to further reinforce a hazy quality around the individual pieces only partially lit to reveal the underlying colors upon closer inspection.
Muller Van Severen at Spazio Rossana Orlandi and Ventura Lambrate Muller Van Severen exhibited an ironic collection of very restrained but somewhat superfluous pieces, consisting of seating, lighting, and shelving—often all incorporated into one piece. The Belgian duo, exhibiting at both Spazio Rosanna Orlandi and Ventura Lambrate, maintain trim Bauhaus-like steel forms accented with surprisingly rich natural stone and leather surfaces.
Jordi Vilardell's Meridiano Stool for Vibia Jordi Vilardell's stool-cum-cocktail-table-cum-light-design for Barcelona-based lighting company Vibia is more effect than form. The Meridiano stool casts a lantern-like radial pattern of lines on the floor or ground (it can also live outdoors!), transforming the mood of even the most sober space.
Nendo for Kartell You couldn't blink an eye without seeing a Nendo collaboration in Milan's design season this year. For Italian polystyrene powerhouse Kartell, he cleverly re-designed the concept of a bookcase as a modular wall tile that allows for an unlimited series of geometric combinations. Available in matte black and white, the successful shelf design may perhaps discourage reading in the long run.
