Narcissus is the most well-known, but there are many myths and symbolisms linked to the mirror. Dionysus, Medusa, Perseus. In Chinese Feng Shui, it is considered a tool to protect the home from negative energy; in African tradition, it becomes a status of power due to its rarity and value. Art and literature have remained bewitched by it, producing immortal works, both pictorial and novelistic. Not to mention psychoanalysis and the correlation with the deepest part of the self, such as the theme of the double addressed by Jacques Lacan. The recent Milan Design Week also saw many installations inspired by this archetypal object, the act of mirroring, the fascinating game of reflection, extrapolating scenic effects and emotional suggestions.
In the spaces of Palazzo Durini, Edra staged its collections in dialogue with the refined historical context, emphasizing the refraction of the material. In the frescoed rooms, antique mirrors on the walls amplified the three-dimensional texture of the Gems sofas, in which the brilliant yarns, inspired by the purity of precious stones and inserted into the fabric of the upholstery, are mixed with a precious palette of colors. While the Cicladi tables, designed by Jacopo Foggini, emanate delicate reflections from the base, in gold, palladium, and ruthenium colors, which support the top with irregular edges in gold and carnelian-colored alabaster.
The Nilufar gallery intertwined set design and theatre, presenting Repertorio, an exhibition curated and supervised by the founder Nina Yashar, located between the Nilufar Depot in Via Lancetti and the showroom in Via della Spiga. Developed as a journey in five acts, the installation elegantly traversed the contrasts between craftsmanship and art, past and future, natural and artificial.
With a masterful use of mirrors, Nardi dilated and fragmented the stand at the Salone del Mobile thanks to the curator Raffaello Galiotto, who managed to multiply products and settings, drawing inspiration from the optical illusion of ancient green labyrinths, with an intriguing garden – Trompe-l’œil – that played with the perception of space and time.
And always between reality and imagination, the 16 borosilicate glass objects of the Magician exhibition at the Triennale were highlighted by the engaging installation of the duo Domenico Rocca and Alberto Nespoli of Eligo Studio. Designed by the students of the Richemont design school, the Creative Academy, and created by Master of Art Simone Crestani with the support of Cartier, the works seemed to transcend the physical limits of reality in a metaphorical dreamlike dimension made of lights and reflections.
The Belgian Luc Druez created Golden Cage at Palazzo Litta, a psychedelic cage created to disorient, a witness to the fragility of our time and made with LcD Textile Edition fabrics, created by the designer by recovering semi-precious metal threads.
