Founded in Milan in 1990 as ‘Galleria Carla Sozzani’, 10 Corso Como – shop and exhibition space – was, it is said, the world’s first ‘concept store’. Certainly, this former garage, located in a popular area far from the city’s most important addresses, immediately became a crossroads for fashion, art and design. In constant evolution.
Today, the space is experiencing a new season under the direction of Tiziana Fausti, the name behind several high-end boutiques in Lombardy and Switzerland. And in February, on the occasion of the Women’s Fashion Week, it will inaugurate the Galleria and the Project Room – a prelude to a general rethinking of all its spaces, redesigned by the interdisciplinary agency 2050+, led by Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, former partner of OMA (the studio founded by Rem Koolhaas) and President of the International Architecture Jury of the Venice Biennale 2023.
The entire first floor of the store retains its early 20th century industrial feel and rethinks its pathways, making the connecting spaces the protagonists of the architectural narrative. By removing unnecessary elements that have accumulated over time, the space opens up to light and air. An opening that is also conceptual, encouraging the communication of ideas and the crossing of boundaries between disciplines.
The Galleria and Project Room are flexible spaces, capable of changing shape and configuration, where everything is mobile and modular. The Project Room is occupied by large tables, while the Galleria is occupied by a series of self-supporting mobile walls. Elements designed to allow for ever-changing configurations or, if necessary, to disappear altogether.
For the opening, the Galleria presents an exhibition by the American artist Roe Ethridge, curated by Alessandro Rabottini. The Project Room will host an exhibition (curated by Alessio de’ Navasques) dedicated to the jewellery designed by the sculptor Pietro Consagra, told through preparatory sketches, writings, publications and a series of photographs by Ugo Mulas.
In addition, the Project Room offers rare books, cult magazines and a selection of designer objects developed by Domitilla Dardi, former curator of design at MAXXI museum in Rome, and dedicated to the concept of the “Alchemic Space”: decorative objects, tableware, furnishing accessories and small interior objects.
