‘Generazione D’ champions the bridge between creativity of emerging talents and the rich tapestry of Italy.
Milan Design Week kicked off with an early preview of Dolce&Gabbana’s second season of the Generazione D project, an exhibition of global, emerging talents. Curator and design advisor, Federica Sala selected eleven designers and furniture-makers, under the age of 40, who have engaged in meaningful dialogue with the brand whilst integrating their unique cultural perspectives.
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana’s mission to foster fresh talents has inspired the project that blends history and culture, emanating from Italian artisans who have sustained traditional craft and redefined it using innovation. Hence, this year’s edition focuses on the designers’ connection with materials and craftsmanship, reminding us of the significance of artisanal craft but also exploring the possibilities of new perspectives, woven with the designers’ respective cultures.
Displayed in an exhibition, each of the Generazione D designer’s pieces showcase the intersection of heritage whilst reinventing the future of design.
Starting with Seoul-based Byungsub Kim who created ‘Ceramic Nacre’. Taking Italian mosaic crafts and Korean wood and lacquerware techniques, he digitally redesigned the technique’s patterns. London-based Chinese designer, Jie Wu explores the perceived values of materials in the anthropocene era (when human activity became the dominant influence of the world’s climate) which has transpired in ‘A Journey’: merging Chinese symbols of luck such as lotus flowers, bronze artifacts and Chinese knots with Sicily’s pinecone, told to bring good fortune.
‘Mare Nostrum Fantasia’ by Mexican-based Mestiz (Daniel Valero) takes the filmmaker, Federico Fellini’s dreamlike style and visuals and merges this with pre-Hispanic elements of design where the ancient merges with the surreal. Also inspired by Italian cinema is Austrian Laurdis Gallee whose project ‘Arcadia’ presents the dichotomy of Fellini’s ‘La Dolce Vita’, an idealised notion of Italy, compared to the gritty, masculine and heavy aesthetic of mid century CEO desks.
In ‘My Magical Home’, London and Accra-based Ella Bulley explores the spiritual connection to the Ghanaian landscape through encounters where natural elements come into contact with eachother and uses materials that reflect narratives surrounding the land and indigenous understanding of the mineral resources. Singaporean and British Hannah Lim’s ‘Chest of Flames’ references the mythology of fire in connection to Mount Etna, the active volcano in Sicily, and takes designs of Cassone and Cassapanca chest-benches which were often carved or painted with stories, symbols and mythologies.
The cultural bridge nurtured in the Generazione D project is explicitly demonstrated by Thabisa Mjo from South Africa and Mingyu Xu from China who both divided their production between their home countries and Italy. Thabisa Mjo’s chair designs ‘Dynamic Tension’ takes the essence of the opposing force of feminine versus masculine to signify a dynamic dance of wholeness where the chairs are one and the same. Mingyu Xu’s ‘Wonderland’ culturally fuses Chinese bamboo objects, Sicilian plants and Venetian glass, highlighting the visual charm of traditional techniques.
‘Whatever is at hand’ sees Italian Riccardo Cenedella taking by-products from production processes and transforming them into a chandelier inspired by Dolce&Gabbana’s jewellery presented at the Alta Sartoria Collection, whilst opening a conversation about sustainability and resourcefulness in the realm of goods production. Touche-Touche, the duo comprised of Carolin Gieszner and Théo Demans from Brussels, similarly ignites a conversation about the power of transformation, to listen to a story of resilience or tell a tale of balance in their sculpture ‘Me Terre Or’, informed by the elements that play out cycle of life and death, continuously transforming our planet.
Delving into the diverse range of artisanal crafts explored in regions across Italy, the designers have an unbound connection with thoughtfully chosen materials and techniques that resonate with their own heritage and practice. It is a reminder of the importance of cultural exchange and how each unique, creative mind can develop a network of new possibilities across the world. Federica Sala concludes, “the designers ingeniously engage with archetypes, playfully transforming stereotypes, while skillfully transmitting our inherent sense of comedy. This culmination gives rise to a new season of connections, all under the auspices of design.”
The pieces will be exhibited in Via Broggi 19 in Milan. The exhibition will be open to the public from April 16th to 21st from 10am to 7pm, upon registration here.
Homepage image; Ella Bulley and Laurids Gallee moodboards; homepage feature image; Thabisa Mjo and moodboard. Inside image; Mingyu Xu and his mood board. All imagery courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana.
