Down Side Up Glass Cabinet & Large Glass Cabinet
Fabrica, Benetton’s communication research centre presents various off-show design events during Milan’s International Furniture Fair.
Hosted in historical Palazzo Borromeo, Down Side Up is an exhibition that explores how basic wood furniture can be transformed into something new with a unique personality.
Down Side Up Shelves & Desk & Detail
Billed as ‘an encounter between experimentation and consumption, where design challenges shapes, volume perception and directions,’ simple basic wood units are given a few essential accessories, such as legs, handles, hooks or hands, as well as a patterning of small holes. The effectiveness of each article lies in its versatility of use and its potential for creating customised modular systems.
Around the Table Arms Family Ceramic Vase, Jug & Bowl
Also at at Palazzo Borromeo, Fabrica is showing Around the Table. The exhibition presents a selection of blown glass and ceramic objects created after many years of collaboration between Fabrica and Secondome Gallery in Rome.
Around the Table Ceramic Ribbon Vase & Ceramic Ruota Fruit Bowl
New designs created in 2010 include a collection of cake stands, an object with an old-fashioned style that evolves into unexpected forms, as well as a series of ceramic objects which are the result of a workshop between Fabrica’s young designers and a master craftsman in the Puglia region of Italy.
Around the Table Glass Group & Glass Tray Voilà
Fabrica will also be exhibiting at Salone Satellite with The Riot Act, a collection of twelve decorative objects.
The Riot Act Cut Knife holder by Jaeun Park; Cage fuit bowl by Valentina Carretta; The English Gent coat hanger by Philip Bone
The project takes its name from the 1713 Act of the British Parliament which gave local authorities the right to order the dispersal of groups of twelve or more people deemed unlawfully assembled. Each of the twelve designers from Fabrica was given a ceramic cylinder to transform it in form and function through modifications, processes or additions of new elements.
The Riot Act Flower vase by Elliot Burford; Forbidden vase by Myriam Maguire; Lights candle holder by Sam Baron
Lastly, Fabrica’s young Portuguese designer Catarina Carreiras will present her Divine Providence project at Interni Think Tank, an exhibition/event that offers an opportunity to reflect on the necessity of new approaches and on changes in design values in the new millennium. Using web printing, a new concept developed by HP Imaging & Printing Group, Catarina Carreiras creates a new “religious arsenal” for the contemporary designer. The printer is considered a creative tool – ignoring the role it plays in mass production – to create a limited series of images illustrating “a new enunciation: design providence.”
Down Side Up and Around the Table rune from April 14-19 2010 at Palazzo Borromeo (Benetton Group showroom) , Piazza Borromeo 10 – 1st floor.
The Riot Act runs April 14-19 2010 at Salone Satellite , Fiera Milano, Rho.
Divine Providence runs April 13-25 at Interni Think Tank, University of Milan , via Festa del Perdono 7, Milan.
