O! Newsletter #111

NL111

See You in Milan?

Right now, over dinners between creative people, the ritual question is always the same when the conversation reaches a blank: 'See you in Milan. When will you be there?' Which brings us to two implicit basic premises:
1/ Travelling to Milan in April, it is not to treat yourself with a few farniente days in a nice industrial design capital, visiting the Duomo di Milano and enjoying gelati-al-limone basted with Spritz all the while listening to Paolo Conte, no! Milan in April is the Design Week and the Salone del Mobile, of course!
2/ You cannot escape from Milan when you are a self-respecting designer, it is in-es-ca-pa-ble. As certain as paraplegics will visit Lourdes, as financiers will visit Davos, as night-clubbers will meet in Berlin, as trees bud in spring when skirts get shorter and parade at cafe’s terraces and as certain as sheep start their seasonal move to summer pastures… designers DO Milan in April, of course!
Because you actually ‘do’ Milan as you ‘do’ the Everest… You need to physically prepare as for a crazy trek in order to cover all the events, all the ‘offs’, all the streets that matter (or not). It is a real hunt for invites to hype parties, gregarious meetings and socialite happenings, and a constant quest to find a place where to sleep that will not be an outrageously expensive 2.5 sq.meter closet. In short: Zeplacetobe for the idle designer elite.
   Yes, I know, we will once again suspected of snobism of doubtful worth, sprinkled with a touch of bitterness and cynicism… but no! No, matériO will not ‘do' Milan, however matériO will ‘do’Techtextil in Frankfurt, Zeplacetobe in April for anyone interested in innovation in the technical textile field. I am in the mood to banter, I think that next October during a swanky opening, I will throw a short and mysterious ‘See you in Düsseldorf?’ just for the pleasure of seeing the reactions. As ‘doing’ Düsseldorf in October implicitely means you are visiting the Große Messe Kunststoff, the global fair about polymers. This holiday spot is probably less glamorous, the saffron risotto there is definitely less tasty but the materials you find during the event are far more rich and inspiring for your future projects.

Quentin

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