Heavyweights

For the upcoming edition of the Salone del Mobile, design and creativity are back, enlivening the former industrial district of Lambrate, once the home of some of the historic factories that made Milan and Italy famous in the past around the world. Innocenti with its MiniMinor, Lambretta, Faema with its production of coffee machines, were true icons of the years of the Italian economic boom. For the Fuorisalone 2010, Ventura Lambrate continues its process of revitalization of what today is one of the most lively, dynamic cultural zones of the city, a new epicenter of research and quality applied to design, in an increasingly multicentric Milan, a city in search of new motors of creativity and innovation. Besides the exhibition 13,798 grams of design, the Lambrate area will also present an outstanding selection of designers invited to occupy the spaces of the abandoned factories and renovated lofts of the zone.

13,798 grams of design is a theme exhibition curated by Maria Cristina Didero and Susanna Legrenzi for LAP – Lambretto Art Project. For the first time, the show involves 45 internationally renowned and emerging designers in an investigation of their work and the importance of creativity, in an attempt to discover the factors behind the success of a product. From raw cement to ultralight plastics, compact forms to unpredictable balances of solids and voids, miniature to giant scale, the projects in the exhibition stimulate a series of reflections on the key role of contemporary design in forecasting urgent needs and increasingly complex desires. The designers’ focus in these works is on the value – if such a value exists – of creativity applied to a product. In a feather-weight exhibit, the design is exposed to the blunt judgment of an ideal international office of weights and measures, in a continuous flow of images that reveal the true value, per gram, of a design object.

Opening: Wednesday 14 April, 18.00 (until 23.00)

During the Fuorisalone, 15-19 April, open every day from 11.00 to 20.00

From 20 April to 14 May 2010 | Tues-Sat, 16.00-19.00, or by appointment.

LAP – Lambretto Art Project | Via Cletto Arrighi 19, Milan | info ww.lambrettoartproject.com

Participating artists include: Atelier Oï, Barber & Osgerby, BetaTank, Big-Game, Fernando e Humberto Campana, Louise Campbell, Michel Charlot, Matali Crasset, Olivia Decaris, Oscar Diaz, Ken Eastman, Freshwest, Konstantin Grcic, Gitta Gschwendtner, Martì Guixé, Richard Hutten, Sjoerd Jonkers, Max Lamb, Arik Levy, Ross Lovegrove, Xavier Lust, Maezm, Cecilie Manz, Ilaria Marelli, Johan Olin & Aamu Song, Peter Marigold, Ben McCarthy, Nendo, Marc Newson, Fabio Novembre, Polka, Karim Rashid, Adrien Rovero, Karen Ryan, Martin Saemmer, Inga Sempé, Richard Shed, Elisa Strozyk, Usin-e, Anna van der Lei, Kiki van Eijk, Marcel Wanders, Robert Wettstein, Maciek Wojcicki, Michael Young.