Design Gallery Milano’s Icons and Material Medley
A Temple to Radical Design
Since the 1980s, Design Gallery Milano has been on a mission: to support the design vanguard. Working with designers intent upon disrupting the commerce-driven underpinnings of industrial design—the architects of postmodernism and masters of material experimentation, like Ettore Sottsass, Alessandro Mendini, Andrea Branzi, and Michele De Lucchi—it was one of the first galleries in the world to treat design production as a fine art and to develop limited edition design collections.
Design Gallery Milano is still going strong. The gallery’s presentation Icons during last week’s Salone was like a greatest-hits tribute to their three-decades-long quest for new design frontiers. And the dialogue between these now-classic pieces and the new work by Madrid-born, London-based studio El Ultimo Grito—entitled Material Medley—proves that design provocation and subversion are alive and well in the post-post-postmodern era.
*All photos courtesy of Design Gallery Milano.
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Sole Wall Clock by Alessandro Mendini for Alessi
Papilio Table by Alessandro Mendini for Zanotta, 1980s
Il Piede Chair by Gaetano Pesce for B&B, 1970s
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Olly Tango Chairs by Philippe Starck for Driade, 1990s, Set of 8
Olly Tango Chair by Philippe Starck for Driade, 1990s
Mid-Century Sculpture by Gaetano Pesce for Cassina, 1960s
Victoria and Albert Chair by Ron Arad for Moroso, 2000s
Candeliere 4 Candle Stick Holder by Michele de Lucchi for Produzione Privata, 1996
UP Armchair and Ottoman by Gaetano Pesce for B&B, 1969
Deriva Copper Hanging Lamp by Alessandro Mendini
Louis XXI Porcelaine Humaine by Andrea Branzi
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Kristal Side Table by Michele De Lucchi for Memphis, 1981
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Deriva Fluorescent Orange Hanging Lamp by Alessandro Mendini
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Colorful Wooden Dresser by Alessandro Mendini for Zanotta, 1980s
First Chair by Michele De Lucchi for Memphis Milano, 1990s, Set of 2
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Deriva Decoration 3 Hanging Lamp by Alessandro Mendini
Deriva Decoration 2 Hanging Lamp by Alessandro Mendini