When In Rome Milan … Do As I Saloni Do!

Well, it’s that time of year again, when the big players in the home furnishing industry temporarily relocate en masse to display their latest offerings in the “city of the Saloni”.

Same as they do every year, they return to the Rho exhibition centre – from 14th to 19th April – and, as is customary, with cultural and commercial events being held all over Milan from March to May.

One event which caught my eye, (especially as I was only writing about the subject a few posts ago here), is dedicated to the autograph drawings and sketches that have been donated to the FAI (Fondo Ambiente Italiano) by designers from all over the world.

Presented by FAI and Moleskine®, the “Hand of the Designer” is a fund-raising project celebrating the persisting power of free-hand sketching in this AutoCAD® dominated era. According to the publishers, “ it is an intimate look into the creative process of the designer, and a celebration of the everlasting power of free-hand sketching even in the AutoCAD® era.”

“The Hand of the Designer” features an impressive array of original designs and never-before-seen works donated by designers Alberto Meda, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Fernando and Humberto Campana, Antonio Citterio, Massimiliano e Doriana Fuksas, Michael Graves, Jaime Hayon, James Irvine, Hella Jongerius, Piero Lissoni, Ross Lovegrove, Alessandro Mendini, Karim Rashid, and Oscar Tusquets, among many others.

The 450 drawings on exhibit will form the basis for a fund-raising auction and direct sales for the restoration and maintenance of the Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan (see video below) and the launch of the Olivetti shop in Venice, designed by Carlo Scarpa in 1957/8, for public viewing.

This gave me the thought me that, whether we care to admit it or not, we all like to have a nose around other peoples houses! Come on, be honest now…

As a designer, I am lucky enough to get to do this often - for research or project evaluation purposes only, of course. And it is even better when great architecture and interior design, people and their lives, are experienced frozen in time in their historical context.

The Villa Necchi Campiglio, having been restored recently, gives us a fascinating snapshot of a pivotal turning point in 1930’s architecture and interior design, a period of transition where new industrial influences began to take over. There is clear evidence to be seen of still lingering traditional styles, mixed with glamorously decadent Art Deco, and the rationalism of the emerging Modernism - all brought together beautifully in architect Piero Portaluppi’s masterpiece.

And yes, I’m wondering if it would have looked much different had it been designed using AutoCAD?