In Between Craft and Design: Mindcraft15 @ Milan Design Week |

In yesterday's post we looked at the exploration of innovative methods of production and new forms of craftsmanship. This could be considered as one of the sub-themes of the current Milan Design Week (until 19th April).

In some ways, "In Between" – the exhibition theme of the "Mindcraft15" display currently on in Milan – tackles this specific aspect linked with design. The showcase does so via artistic, experimental and conceptual projects by Danish craftspeople and designers.

Organised by Danish Crafts, an institution of the Danish Ministry of Culture, Mindcraft was showcased until 2010 in Zona Tortona, before moving to the trendy design district of Ventura Lambrate, as readers of Irenebrination will remember from previous posts that looked at past presentations. This year instead the event has been transplanted to a historical location – the old cloister Chiostro Minore di San Simpliciano, in Brera in the centre of Milan.

Curated by Danish-Italian design duo GamFratesi (designers and architects Stine Gam and Enrico Fratesi), Mindcraft15 features fourteen new works by nineteen leading designers and craftspeople.

GamFratesi have actually brought a breath of fresh air to the location and presentation. The cloister courtyard has indeed been covered with mirrors supported on a temporary platform (a perfect example of a space suspended between the past and the future…) and the various pieces exhibited are displayed inside metal cages or hung from supports in the covered walkways.

Some of the pieces on display can be described as fully developed functional products, others are conceptual ideas, but all the designs explore the intersections between one discipline and the other or the cross-field between functional object and conceptual/sculptural statement.

Practical examples of useful objects include "Pedestal" by Halstrøm-Odgaard – a flat-pack cabinet made with Trevira fabric from Kvadrat attached to a steel frame – and "Tram" by Akiko Kuwahata, a tray-cum-coffee table designed to fit into the narrow space between the sofa and the wall.

Unusual forms and silhouettes and symbolic meanings characterise instead those objects that seem to have lost their original function and purpose: "The Castaway" by design duo benandsebastian (Ben Clement and Sebastian de la Cour) consists in the recreation of a transport case from a museum collection in Copenhagen and in the object that was originally contained in it and that was lost (recreated by the duo using blown glass). The final product is a crossover between object and imprint or cast and mould, and symbolises presence and absence.

The installation of conical porcelain objects "Fontanella" by Claydies (Tine Broksø and Karen Kjældgård-Larsen) recreates the shape of a classic champagne fountain, transformed by its visually striking yet minimal decoration that gives the illusion of rivulets of water or wine spilling from glasses.

Experiments with "in between" materials are also particularly exciting: Edvard-Steenfatt's (Jonas Edvard Nielsen and Nikolaj Steenfatt Thomsen) "Terroir" is a lamp made combining seaweed and recycled paper. The result is a tough and durable material with a warm and tactile surface as soft as cork and light as paper.

The colour is determined by different species of seaweed and ranges from dark brown to light green. The seaweed is harvested along the coast of Denmark, it is dried, ground into powder and cooked into glue, using the viscous and adhesive effect of the Alginate – the natural polymer of the brown algae.

Material and texture is also at the core of Tora Urup's "Dish – Between Earth and Sky", a group of solid circular hand-crafted glass dishes, each with a unique character due to the textured decoration on the underside sprinkled with coloured glass powder.

Conceptual objects include "Selfie" by Eske Rex, an oval wooden object divided in two parts (deriving from the designer's earlier work "Divided Self") with embedded magnets that pull the two shells towards each other, while strings fastened to a round wooden frame keep them suspended in mid-air, preventing them from connecting. The suspended objects rotate and vibrate with the influence of a breeze or a breath hinting at the fragile nature of life and at the delicate position of the soul.

Though fully functioning on the practical level, the "Point of View" bench by Jakob Wagner has got a conceptual twist. Two persons can sit and enjoy the view together, while pondering about different points of views as the bench appears red and solid from one side or blue and transparent on the other. The piece hopes to make people realise that all aspects of life depends on our own perspective.

There are two projects could maybe be considered as linked with fashion: "InsideOut" by weaver and craftswoman Rosa Tolnov Clausen, and "Umspiral" by artist and fashion and costume designer Henrik Vibskov.

Clausen's wall hangings fuse present-day graphic materials with classical traditional Scandinavian weaving techniques. The wall hangings deviced for this showcase recreate traditional fabrics in materials suited for the outdoor exhibition venue. The weaving was indeed done with polyurethane yarn on a basic foot-powered loom and, in a second stage of production, spray paint was added.

"Umspiral" is instead a sculptural object characterised by multiple layers in a spiral-shaped system with obvious visual references to the DNA double helix. In its red/white colour scheme, the resulting shape also hints at Tintin's iconic moon rocket.

The most exciting thing about Mindcraft remains its spirit and the hope – nurtured by the various curators throughout the years – that more designers will be inspired through this showcase to reuse traditional craft skills as the foundation for a contemporary design aesthetic, injecting in their projects conceptual principles, cultural values and inovative approaches and processes.