Milano Design Week 2012 Fuorisalone Part Two

Day two in Milan was very full on, it was a matter of squeezing in as much as possible. After Breakfast I headed towards Tortona. Overwhelmed to say the least, there were just too many things to see and take in. Here are a few snaps of my journey...

Heading towards Tortona.

 Fab fab wall clocks from Doppel designed by Bruno Novo Verschleisser.

 Drip Lights by Gemma Fabbri for ex.t

Cool installation at ex.t

I also enjoyed the installations at Wrap spaces - so fun!

 Funky pouffes from 13 Ricrea.

Bead heaven at Atelier Del Cima... Look at the gorgeous array of colours!

These pretty letters by Chiara Bet Decoration caught my eye

An absolute classic! Love the old fiat 500!

Next stop was Superdesign and Most! Part three to follow...

Milano Design Week 2012 Fuorisalone Part One

What a couple of days it has been in Milan wow! Too much to see in so little time. I was blown away by so many fab installations... Here are just a few highlights of mine...

It wasn't the best of days and thunder was well on its way, but that was going to dampen my spirit. Off I went to Ventura Lambrate..

My first stop was to Lee Broom's Public House. It was lovely chatting to the man himself and I absolutely love his new lights, Crystal bulbs. Available to order from his website at £109 each.

I am a big fan of Jaime Hayon so a stop to see his work was an absolute must for me. 

His new chair design was on display, designed for &tradition.

How cute are these Bazkit chairs by Fermetti? Very handy to say the least, perfect for picnics I say...

Colourful Polyfloss was fun to see... It is basically a common waste material called Polyprpylene which is transformed into an easily transformable recycled material known as Polyfloss. This allows any skilled maker to create fantastic objects from a free material!   

Chairs by Maarten Baas, downstairs by Bertjan Pot, lights by Fabien Dumas.

Again downstairs by Bertjan Pot - absolutely love these!

Love this courtyard in Lambrate.

 Blub Lights by Fermetti, love the shape and wood finish of these.

Lots more to come in the next few posts and some really fun installations & products. You have been warned...

Fatto Storico 28.4.45: Death of Mussolini

Back from a holiday on Lake Como, Italy. One of few things that I knew about the area beforehand was that Mussolini, the Italian fascist dictator, had been captured there by Communist partisans and shot in the village of Mezzegra along with his mistress, Clara Petacci. It was only a few days before the end of the War as he was trying to flee to Switzerland. His body was later hung upside down in a public square in Milan, together with other executed fascists.  

I was staying only 2k away and walked through Mezzegra on route to a day out in the mountains. You cannot miss the “Fatto Storico” signs in the village centre (see photo below double click).

Which is not a slight on Mussolini’s size but Italian for “historical event”. It is some 10 minutes walk from the village square, in what is
now at least a quiet and prosperous looking suburb, overlooked by a large Catholic Church.

There are conflicting accounts on what actually happened but it is on this spot (or thereabouts) in front of the gates of Villa Belmonte that Mussolini was taken out of a vehicle and machine gunned to death by "Colonel Valerio". “Valerio” was a former accountant and civil servant whose real name was Walter Audisio.

I was not sure what to expect but all you get at the scene is this simple cross with “Benito Mussolini 28 April 1945” outside a gate. There was some long dead, dried out flowers on the wall above - and that was it. I suppose in one way, such a squalid and banal end was fitting for one who thought he was one of Nietzsche's supermen. 

It would have been better for him to have been tried as a war criminal but those who had suffered so much and for so long were entitled to deal with him in a way he had dealt out to so many others. The square he was hung up after death had been used for public executions of civilian hostages and antifascists.

I hadn’t twigged before that the anniversary of his execution (28 April) is now remembered as “Workers Memorial Day”. So – it is a day to remember Sic semper tyrannis as well.  This is I think quite fitting.

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