Milan Design Week will open next week with a completely renewed district: Milano Design District. What we knew as Milano Durini District has been renamed Milano Design District to represent a category – that of design excellence – rather than an urban district. In fact, the association extends beyond the quadrilateral around Via Durini and the neighbouring streets and embraces some of the most prestigious spaces in the centre of Milan, extending towards Piazza Fontana, Corso Monforte and Foro Buonaparte.
The association was founded in 2016 by an initial nucleus of seven member companies (B&B Italia, Cassina, Interni, Meritalia, Luxury Living, Porro, Technogym) on the initiative of the then promoter architect Massimo Salamone, driven by the desire to bring added value to the city of Milan as the international capital of design, has seen an exponential increase in membership over the years and aims to cross the milestone of 50 associates by the end of the year located in various strategic arteries of the city centre.
Thanks to the collaboration between leading companies in the furnishing sector, the Milano Design District is working with the city administration to realise a project aimed at improving the usability of the design streets, making them pedestrianised, improving accessibility and intensifying green areas. One of these is the project to pedestrianise Via Durini. In this sense, the theme Urban Metamorphosis is intended to underline the association’s commitment to becoming a protagonist in the development of the city and its redevelopment.
“The design product is born from innovative ideas often linked to strong moments of interaction and
social change,’ says Massimo Salamone, President of Milano Design District, ‘a path of metamorphosis also dictated by external impulses that bring novelty and richness. This is where the innovative project of ‘giving shape to ideas’ takes shape in a process of positive metamorphosis aimed at sustainable regeneration, which the member companies of the Milano Design District are pursuing with commitment.”
The district presents itself this year with a renewed brand identity thanks to the logo designed by the Carvalho-Colid-Filder students of the Istituto Superiore ISIA di Urbino. IThe logo was, in fact, the winner of a graphics competition involving three Italian universities – ISIA di Urbino, IUAV Venezia and Politecnico Milano –, coordinated by the Italian Visual Communication Design Association (AIAP).
