Students of the IED Summer Camp at Archiproducts Milano for a study on materials

Marble, glass, ceramic, metal, wood and fabric. These are some of the materials that the students of the Interior and Showroom Design course of the IED Summer Camp in Milan have been able to experience first hand in the rooms of Via Tortona 31. An entire class made up of students and professionals from all over the world – some of them from India, Brazil and the Philippines – was welcomed at Archiproducts Milano for an in-depth study of the materials used in the production of the furnishings that make up the layout of the location.

Prof. Marco Vicinanza accompanied the Archiproducts team during the visit, responding to the student’s curiosity and questions, inviting them to observe, test and touch every single product on display.

Looking for a venue to host your event, meeting, product launch or shooting? Right in the heart of the Tortona Design District, Archiproducts Milano is the co-net-working hub available all year round for press days, photoshoots, temporary showrooms, pop-up shops, workshops, exhibitions and gatherings. Mainly reserved to an audience of Architects and Designers, the venue is also suitable for happenings addressed to Fashion, Music, Cinema and Culture professionals.

Contact us! We’ll help you choose the best solution for your event.

Meet WHER, the navigator App created to help women walking safely in any area of the city

Choose any street, fearlessly. This is the motivation behind WHER, the navigator App created for women that allows you to evaluate streets based on how safe they are. Available on Apple Store and Google Play, it was presented in Milan during a launch event in Via Tortona 31.

In Italy, according to ISTAT data for 2018, 36.6% of women say they do not go out at night because they are afraid. To respond to this need, WHER addresses all women – students, professionals, travellers – offering a tool for sharing and comparison, and a new approach to living in the city with complete peace of mind.

The app is a powerful crowdsourcing tool, meaning it collects assessments from users and transforms them into information for other women via an algorithm. Once you have chosen the city, the map shows an overview of the places, through which you can discover the street maps, or the assessments and comments related to a street and get directions to a specific destination. The route indicated is therefore not the shortest, but rather the one that is the most highly recommended by the WHER community. This implies that the navigator changes course depending on the time slot, because a street during the day can be a very different place in the evening and at night.

The message behind WHER is not: “be careful where to go”. The App aims at encouraging to create a network and share useful tips on which way to go, to go wherever women want. 

ABOUT WHER

WHER is a social startup created in Turin in 2018. The two founders are Eleonora Gargiulo (CEO) and Andrea Valenzano (CTO). At the moment, 7 people are working at this project, including developers, marketers and city managers. WHER has been created to help women feel free to go wherever they want to, thanks to other women’s support taking part to a little, big social change. 

Looking for a venue to host your event, meeting, product launch or shooting? Right in the heart of the Tortona Design District, Archiproducts Milano is the co-net-working hub available all year round for press days, photoshoots, temporary showrooms, pop-up shops, workshops, exhibitions and gatherings. Mainly reserved to an audience of Architects and Designers, the venue is also suitable for happenings addressed to Fashion, Music, Cinema and Culture professionals.

Contact us! We’ll help you choose the best solution for your event.

Olimpia Splendid at Archiproducts Milano to present the new air conditioners of the Unico* range

At Archiproducts Milano, Home of Comfort is centre-stage, the home with the perfect air conditioning: Olimpia Splendid. The new air conditioners of the Brescia-based company fit into rooms 5 and 6 of the building in Via Tortona 31 and interacted with the interior design project by the Marcante Testa studio.

There are two protagonists of the Olimpia Splendid press day at Archiproducts Milano: Air – recess-mounted – and Pro, signed by Matteo Thun & Antonio Rodriguez. The two air conditioners, part of the Unico* range, were discreetly integrated into the smart home concept designed by the Turin studio, contributing to a domestic scenario with air conditioning as a fundamental component.

“The goal we worked on was to create an essential product. So we worked on the shape of the air conditioner, experimenting with solutions that streamlined the product and, at the same time, made it original” – explains Antonio Rodriguez. “The concept is based, therefore, on a work of subtraction, of “purifying the forms”, aimed at making UNICO Pro a discreet presence that can work in any context, in line with trends followed in the high-tech objects sector.”

“We have chosen to develop the new range together with Matteo Thun and Antonio Rodriguez for their ability to interpret forms and transform objects into icons” – continues Marco Saccone of Olimpia Splendid – “What we present is the result of over two years of research and development that have made it possible to create a product that combines high-level engineering performance with an unequalled design”.

Both the 14 HP and 12 HP A+ versions of UNICO® Pro are the absolute top-of-the-range in terms of air conditioners without external units for cooling power and energy efficiency, thanks to significant engineering innovations.

The Pro Power system makes UNICO® Pro high-performing, allowing the achievement of a cooling power up to 3.5 kW in the 14 HP version. The Inverter Technology Pro contributes to the achievement of the A+ energy class in the 12 HP A + version, the most efficient in the range.

Both models also adopt the Silent Mode function, which sets the machine to minimum noise to ensure maximum acoustic comfort, thanks to the use of cutting-edge sound-absorbing materials for the casing of the machine body.

The power and efficiency that characterise the UNICO® Pro range are easy to manage, thanks to the new full digital remote control and the backlit display with touch controls available on the machine. Furthermore, UNICO® Pro is compatible with the UNICO Wi-Fi Kit that allows, by means of the installation of a USB key, to connect the air conditioner to the home network and even to manage it remotely via your smartphone.

Together with Air and Pro, were presented Limpia and Astomi, the humidifier and the essential oil diffuser with chromotherapy.

Always careful to combine know-how and design, the Brescia-based company designs, produces and markets products for indoor comfort with high aesthetic and technological performances. “For over 60 years we have been developing projects that can integrate into any environment thanks to a perfect combination of design, performance and functionality. That’s why our Made in Italy products are internationally recognised and have won awards” – says engineer Roberto Saccone, President of Olimpia Splendid.

In fact, the company boasts over 10 international awards. Among the most recent, the Good Design Award 2017 won by Bi2® Wall, the fan coil unit with a reversible installation, the Good Design Award 2016 for Unico®Air, for the slimmest air conditioner with no external unit, the Red Dot Design Award obtained in 2015 for MIA®, the first modular and customisable pellet stove and the IF Product Design Award won in 2013 with Bi2® Plus, the cooler-radiator that blends into the colours of each environment like a chameleon.

BTicino breakfast meetings head back to Archiproducts

At Archiproducts Milano and Bari we talk about a connected home whilst sipping coffee. On May 30th and June 6th -13th, the BTicino breakfast meetings head back to via Tortona 31 to make the finest Studios in Lombardy find out the latest in home automation and get to know the potential of Living Now, the brand’s new line of devices designed to provide the comforts of a Smart Home.

On October 1st the fourth BTicino meeting was held in the brand new Archiproducts Bari showroom, opened last December 2018, welcoming the most important Architects in Apulia.

Thanks to the “open time” option – from 9am to 12 am – professionals can easily manage their own participation and decide whether to stop for ten minutes, half an hour or just the time for a cup of coffee.

Save the date of the next meeting with the BTicino experts: October 22nd, Cantiere Galli, Rome.

Only 25 places are available and reserved to Architecture Studios.

The BTicino Team will guide professionals through the experience of a connected home, answering questions and showing all different features of Living Now: the simplest smart system based on a traditional infrastructure but aimed at new use experiences. Thanks to the wi-fi connection, Living Now allows to manage the main features of the electrical system through an App or voice control.

All meetings will take place in the Living Now Apartment, designed by Marcante Testa. A domestic scenery which welcomes a sophisticated Interior Design project. In these rooms, smart technology adds comfort to the traditional home living experience.

Only 25 places are available for each date.

At the end of each meeting, professionals will receive the Living Now sample, with three monochromatic finishes.

The new set-up presented during Design Week

50 international brands, 15 rooms set up with over 200 products, an exhibition itinerary that hosted over 11,000 visitors from all over the world: Archiproducts Milano  concludes – or rather inaugurates – its Design Experience. The co-networking space in Zona Tortona, in fact, is open all year round to architects, designers and brands.

The Tortona 31 building was confirmed once again this year as an unmissable rendez-vous during the Milan Design Week. This choral project was dedicated to eclecticism, exploring the contaminations between the world of design and its collateral dimensions. Each room of the new layout became its own individual microcosm, in a game of experimentation with colors, styles, and materials.

The Design Experience begins with eyes drawn upwards, towards the façade conceived by Truly Design: hundreds of feather-light aluminum chains outlined the building’s new face, a graphic, hyper-colored pattern created in collaboration with Kriskadecor.

The colorful shades of the façade give way to the pastel hues and sensorial details of the interior décor. On the ground floor, the room by SP01 – the Australian brand renewing its partnership with Archiproducts once again for this edition – reveals its new collections by Tom Fereday and Tim Rundle. The arches, pure forms and precious metals of the seating collection dialogue fluidly with the retro coverings of Ceramica Vogue, the velvet fabrics, and the glass panels that defined the setting. The installation is rounded off by the brass lamps and rough ceramic vases and accessories by 101 Copenhagen.

Following the evocative and timeless patterns by Cordonné, the visitors reach the location’s first floor, where they are welcomed to the BTicino Living Now Apartment home. Designed by the Marcante Testa duo, the space incorporates the new Living Now commands by BTicino, in total harmony with their architectural context: a mix-match of materials, furniture, lighting, shapes and references to different eras, in pure Marcante Testa style.

It’s impossible not to remain aghast when entering either of the two rooms. Ceramica Vogue boiserie intertwine with the retro allure of Dooq, the sensorial tables by Desalto, the precious blown-glass lamps by Veronese, or the more minimalist ones by Zero Lighting, to erupt in the bohemian feel of Toulemonde Bochart. Amidst this sensorial eruption, technology is the true protagonist. Walk in, and call out ‘Good morning, Alexa!’ to begin a seamless interaction with the BTicino Living Now system, transforming the room through simple vocal commands.

From the Bticino rooms you can already catch a glimpse of the open terrace, where the soft lawn patented by Roofingreen hosts the outdoor collections by the young Serbian brand Garda Furniture: ropes, fabrics, and metal in pastel shades are the perfect setting for a super-soft break en plein air.

The journey continues through a hallway covered in the sound-absorbent wood wool slates by Knauf AMF, in which circular padded niches are embedded sporting One Mario Sirtori’s fabrics. The pure forms of the circle and the sphere recall the Peggy blown-glass appliques by Vetreria Vistosi.

Room 8 provides a fully immersive experience: colors, fabrics and materials co-exist in a game of contrasts and overlays.

The strong graphic mark of the Policroma collection signed Cristina Celestino for Cedit – Ceramiche d’Italia becomes a dynamic backdrop for the eclectic world of Freifrau and Meisterwerke. Here the FreiFrau collections meet the baroque fabrics of Meisterweke, in floral designs and peacock feathers painted in rich jewel blues and greens, and in total contrast with the monochromatic velvet in tangerine and purple nuances.

A massive Janua table plays pedestal to Paola Paronetto’s multicolored vases, all lit up by Veronese’s crystal luminaires. The set is completed by Janua’s solid wood shelves dyed black with brass detailing, and Loewe’s OLED BILD 5.65 TV with its 60s retro styling. The poetic touch is given by Mutaforma’s Luna Caduta – ‘The Fallen Moon’.

The Winter Garden is one of Archiproducts Milano’s most idiosyncratic spaces, with its ample glass windows and ceiling recalling the typical style of the industrial buildings of Zona Tortona. The burnished metal fixtures and antique floorboards dialogue with the Extremis collections: the new minimal-extreme Tiki stools and the outdoor table, Pantagruel, one of the Belgian brand’s most iconic pieces. The teal-colored walls are decorated by Mutaforma’s mosaic panel, a homage to the work of French photographer Vincent Fournier. Blending pure forms, bold volumes and minimal metal, ANDlight’s lighting designs overlook the entire scene.

The great hall with the fireplace hosts a new workplace concept by BuzziSpace: pastel nuances and color-block articulate a flexible and functional space. New sound-absorbing solutions and original accessories redefine the traditional working environment.

Room 12 introduces neutral color tonalities to walls and fabrics. The Lake table by Gordon Guillaumier from Desalto takes centerstage, surrounded by the four-way swivel-based chairs by Stefan Diez for Wagner, and lit up by Vistosi suspension lamps. The final touch are the chromatic notes of Mutaforma’s wall mosaic and the Desalto bookcase, where the rough ceramic vases by 101 Copenhagen are exhibited.

Federico Pepe’s Araldica collection for Cedit – Ceramiche d’Italia gives visitors a visual welcome to room 13, serving as a theatrical curtain to unveil the historical De Padova collection by Master Magistretti. In the same space, the young French brand Objets Architecturaux presents its collection of modular and multifunctional furniture in oak and Carrara marble. Vistosi illuminates the room with the new JUBE T and PLOT lamps.

Last but not least, visitors find themselves in the instalment dedicated to the kitchen. The classic mood of this space is interpreted through a palette of delicate nuances. On the one hand, the articulate boiserie in a warm terracotta color conceals the functional elements of the kitchen; on the other, an array of subtle colors fills the space, ranging from the warm white of Vogue’s Dekorami covering, to the sage green of the modular Pontile bookcase by Novamobili, to the pastel hues of Paola Paronetto’s ceramic vases. The center of the room is occupied by the sculptural shapes of the Archetipo kitchen created by L’Ottocento, a tribute to the elemental forms of Aldo Rossi. Contrasting with the overall composition are Vine and Spotlight Volumes, the glam-rock lamps by ANDlight.

Among the protagonists of the 2019 edition are the creative team of Truly Design, who enticed visitors to via Tortona 31 through an anamorphic installation created for Volkswagen, main sponsor for Archiproducts Milano for the second year running.

The Truly Design installation within the building is quite literally fragmented across its architecture: from the walls to the floors and the ceiling, but also over the furniture and lighting objects, and even on the large, polyhedral mirror.

Whoever had the chance to pass through was absorbed by the installation, confronted by a setting which at first sight appeared confounding, disconnected. But simply find the right standing point to see the composition come together in the sum of its parts, and reveal the complete design… like magic!

Main Sponsor
Volkswagen

Partners
Furniture: BuzziSpace, De Padova, Desalto, Dooq, Framery, Freifrau, JANUA, L’Ottocento, Novamobili,
Objets Architecturaux, SP01, Wagner. Outdoor: Extremis, Garda Furniture. Lighting: 101 Copenhagen, ANDlight, Astro Lighting, Flos, Veronese, Vetreria Vistosi, Vibia, Zero. Decor: 101 Copenhagen, Hobby Flower, Meisterwerke, Mutaforma, ONE Mario Sirtori, Paola Paronetto, +d, soil, Toulemonde Bochart. Finishings: CEDIT – Ceramiche D’Italia, Ceramica Vogue, Ento, Florim Ceramiche, Knauf AMF, Kriskadecor, Mutaforma, Ressource. Smart 
home: Bticino, Ekinex. Electrical appliances: Falmec, La Marzocco, Loewe. Decorative radiators: Scirocco H. Doors and windows: Linvisibile, Mogs. Air Conditioning: DAIKIN Air Conditioning, Olimpia Splendid.

Technical Partners
101 Caffè, AEG, Amazon Alexa, Ca’puccino, Coordonné, Domal, Ege Miray Kaman, EVER Life Design, Knauf Italia, Kristina Dam Studio, Roofingreen, Silent Gliss, Sonos, Velux.

Media Partners
Cereal Magazine, darc magazine, DisegnoDaily, Domus & Domus Tabloid, Elle Decor Italia, Nomad Magazine, Oak The Nordic Journal, Openhouse Magazine, Sindroms, Surface mag.

An original, fully connected, interactive home concept lands at Archiproducts Milano

04/04/2019 – What happens when the aesthetic verve of Marcante Testa meets the tech-savvy solutions of BTicino? Quite simply, a new concept of home is born: Living Now Apartment is a fully connected and interactive space presented during Milan Design Week 2019 at Archiproducts Milano in via Tortona 31.

Living Now Apartment is the living concept that integrates all the comforts of a Smart Home, interpreted through two rooms. These represent two domestic spaces which differ in terms of language and chromatic expression, while sharing interactive functions that serve an underlying desire for a serene and accessible lifestyle.

Within the installation, the new Living Now range is in absolute harmony with an architectural context made up of a mix-match of materials and sensorial finishes, furniture, lighting, shapes and references to different eras. The ensemble perfectly reflects Marcante Testa’s instantly recognizable style.

The project started by identifying the relationship between the existing space of Archiproducts Milano’s constantly renewing headquarters and the new home living concept. In this case, the search for an identity begins by interpreting the interaction between the existing structure and the new installation. It is essential to ‘bring the “Genius Loci”, the place’s essence, back to the project, back to the home’, as Andrea Marcante and Adelaide Testa affirm.

Frames and boiserie, ceramics and colors: these elements create a shell within the shell. This is how Marcante Testa enables a dialogue between the existing space and domotic technologies, juxtaposing furniture, lamps and materials, playing with codes and languages which, at first glance, might appear contradictory, different.

‘At the root of this project is the idea of a contemporary home in which comfort stems, among other things, from the recognition of familiar elements from the past. It’s no coincidence that we perceive a sort of wellbeing when we’re in spaces that hark back to past epochs and traditions. Inhabiting a home, we always look for a symbolic-spiritual element, not just a technical-functional one – we need something that takes us back to our family of origin, to the story of the city we live in’, Andrea Marcante explains.

The project’s contrasting dualism adds value to a new living experience, a true technological and evolved infrastructure embedded in an environment where the ‘search for lost time’ becomes a recognizable and familiar analogy. ‘There’s something of the ridiculous in the rigidity of the fake hyper-tech home of the Arpel family in Jacques Tati’s “Mon Oncle”. Take instead the soft humanity of “Monsieur Hulot”, where a rather “soft tech” even has the potential to improve relationships within the domestic environment. This is what we wanted for Living Now Apartment’, Andrea Marcante concludes.

The result is an ulterior and imaginary scenario: in fact, it is the extension of a more intimate and personal dimension.

Created by BTicino in collaboration with Netatmo, the Living Now range is traditional and connected, conceived to generate new experiences. Thanks to the system’s wi-fi connection, it is possible to remotely regulate lights, blinds, energy use, all through the Home + Control App. The system can be activated through vocal commands, via Amazon, Apple and Google’s smart speakers.

Aside from Living Now, Biticino’s other devices complete the spaces of Archiproducts Milano. Among these, the Classe 300x connected video intercom, and the Smarther connected thermostat. The latter allows users to control and program a room’s temperature through the Thermostat App, anywhere and anytime, for maximum optimization of the domestic climate.

The Japanese design Pop-Up Shop returns to Archiproducts Milano

A ladle that stands on its own saucer, a goofy silicone human face on which to unload any residual pre-Milan-Design-Week stress, a shoehorn in the shape of a potato chip, alongside eco-friendly accessories sporting clean, pure lines and made from fossil material. Ever quirky, ever minimal, Japanese design returns to Milan during Design Week with a Pop-Up Shop whose offerings are entirely Made in Japan.

For the fourth year running the Archiproducts space in via Tortona hosts a little Japanese island among the industrial courtyards of Opificio 31. Here visitors will be able to buy objects by +d, soil, hmny and CORGA, the four brands that make up H Concept. Born of the creative mind of designer Hideyoshi Nagoya, the tetrad company has always been bent on design that understands and caters to people and their necessities.

The selection brings together functionality, minimalism and kawaisa – the cult that worships all things cute and graceful. Its small objects are seemingly simple, with a touch of the bizarre. But take a closer look: these are real design projects whose purpose is to stimulate creativity and gumption.

+d looks beyond the concept of functionality with its simple, fun objects. Founded in Tokyo in 2002, the brand has brought into its circle some of the most talented Japanese designers on the scene. From their silicone umbrella holders that recall the form of water stains, to animals rambling among the pages of books: +d’s design is the physical demonstration of how an object can bring joy while maintaining that essential quality, in its form and function, that is so idiosyncratically Nipponic.

This year +d brings to Milan the evocative atmosphere of the cherry tree blossoms of Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. ‘Kaze guru ma Sakura’ is a delicate magnetic cherry flower that adds a touch of Spring to any home environment.

While +d privileges materials like silicone, synthetic rubber and glass fibers, Soil focuses its production on the use of natural materials obtained by processing diatomaceous earth, a porous and absorbent fossil flour, that is both eco-friendly and totally recyclable. It is also ideal for the realization of accessories which are often in contact with humidity, such as food containers, soap dishes and toothbrush holders, bathroom rugs and anti-humidity sachets for shoes. The essential forms and the delicate palette are perfectly in line with the stylistic elements of Japanese minimalism.

Since 1961, hmny and CORGA have created accessories handcrafted by the artisans of the Kagawa prefecture, an area of Japan known for its production of leather gloves. Inspired by leather crafting techniques, the two brands focus on bags, laptop cases and small accessories with pure, elemental lines.

This is the new creative scene of easy-to-use product development that fully mirrors Japanese design culture. Rigorous execution melds with tongue-in-cheek humor through products developed and made in Japan. Come and discover them during the Milan Design Week in the Archiproducts Milano spaces!