house of switzerland milano 2024 celebrates the nuances of joy through design

house of switzerland milano 2024

In a collective exhibition bringing together emerging designers, studios, universities, brands, and galleries from across the country, the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and Presence Switzerland are once again showcasing a wealth of Swiss-related talents from the world of contemporary design. With a new theme each year, House of Switzerland Milano is the physical culmination of the project, taking residence in Milan’s iconic Casa degli Artisti in Brera. Split across three floors, with indoor and outdoor installations, the House draws from the country’s design heritage while addressing themes through a current lens and a future-focused vision during this year’s design week.

Hosue of Switzerland Milano 2024 | all images © DSL Studio

exploring the nuances of joy and its connection to design

Addressing this year’s project with an intrinsic curiosity, creatives are invited to explore their emotional connection to the design process. In contemplating the sentiments and feelings experienced on a collective and individual scale, immersive installations within the house and its surroundings invite us to reflect upon the contentment found through our connection to design topics like circularity, wellness, and nature. Eventually, each project at House of Switzerland Milano offers a unique interpretation of the joy found in ingenuity and innovation. ‘In exploring the nuances of joy and its connection to design, we hope to re-establish its importance more than ever within today’s world while focusing on the need to encourage a culture which allows it to be distributed in equal measure,’ share the organizers.

ropes, swings, ladders, and seesaws invite us to stay in the moment

This immersive experience guides visitors through all three floors with the help of interactive graphics, objects, and instructions that encourage us to lose track of time and find ourselves absorbed in the house’s contents. Two and three-dimensional works appear through distinct interpretations of the theme; some with a touch of joy while others address thought-provoking concepts that may challenge our discernment of joy. Ropes, swings, ladders, and seesaws invite us to stay in the moment while games and amusements stimulate childlike curiosity. Often associated with a severe and rigid aesthetic, this experience also revokes the singular perception of Swiss design by highlighting its playfulness. ‘And, embracing the spirit of the playground allows us to step outside of our own worlds for a moment before revisiting them with a fresh, albeit more joyful, perspective,’ reflects the team at House of Switzerland Milano.

guiding visitors through all three floors with the help of interactive graphics

GROUND FLOOR at house of switzerland milano

ECAL / University of Art and Design Lausanne × FREITAG present: Access Over Ownership

Led by one of the guiding principles of the FREITAG manifesto, we prefer access over ownership, this project focuses on having access to products versus owning and maintaining them. This model makes perfect sense with travel bags, and FREITAG is continually experimenting with different loan offers. For this year’s Milano Design Week, the Zurich-based brand has come together with ECAL Bachelor Industrial Design students, under the guidance of designer Christophe Guberan, to create a series of enjoyable yet practical product cases that embrace those values of sharing and community. This project also addresses broader issues of our consumption habits and concentrates on solutions that contribute towards a more virtuous circular economy. In responding to the theme, it reflects on the circularity of joy and how it is passed on from creator to its users, altering the consumption experience.

Sula × Micasa present: SOLE

In an immersive installation titled SOLE, Zurich-based design studio Sula is collaborating with Swiss homeware and furniture retailer Micasa, transporting viewers to lakeside summers. By depicting the beauty of the sky’s colors reflecting on the water’s surface, a magical moment of wanderlust fills us with optimism and positivity. Resulting in a textile and tableware collection that radiates such happiness, the two brands invite us into a joyful world, celebrating the natural beauty in such locations. Presenting design as a transportive medium to help us lose track of time or place, this is a sensory moment that draws viewers in to appreciate and admire the collection on display.

House of Switzerland Milano 2024 in the iconic Casa degli Artisti in Brera

Karimoku New Standard × BIG-GAME

Specialist in contemporary wooden furniture, Japanese manufacturer Karimoku New Standard has refurbished the House of Switzerland’s restaurant Degustazione utilizing a collection of furniture designed by Swiss studio BIG-GAME. Partnering with each other since 2009 symbolizes the successful crossover between the two groups, merging the heritage and expertise of Japanese craft with the dynamism of Swiss design. The Castor series, exhibited here, is crafted from sustainably sourced Japanese hardwoods, while the aesthetic of the Castor chair is based on the ergonomics of traditional Swiss café-style furniture. This cross-cultural collaboration blends the unique perspectives of Karimoku’s craftspeople with an international group of designers, presenting new standards in Japanese furniture design.

HAY / New Works / Vero × Hannes & Fritz present: The Joy of Being Outside

With the three outdoor furniture collections — designed for HAY, Vero, and New Works — the Swiss-German studio allows visitors a moment of conviviality and joy as they convene outside. With the designers finding joy from working outside, they hope to translate this happiness through the pieces created. The duo wants to reflect on how their design practice takes them outside of their individual social and professional spheres and outside of their own country. With fresh air, sun, the scents of Spring, and the sound of glasses clinking and laughter, the duo is excited to bring people together outdoors as a reminder that good design can facilitate joyful moments. After meeting during their studies at ECAL, Johannes Breuer and Fritz Gräber set up their design studio, working across the designer’s two resident cities, Stuttgart and Zurich.

the exhibition expands across three floors

FIRST FLOOR

4321-Market presents: Swiss-Korean Souvenir Market

4321-market, launched by ECAL alumni in Seoul in 2020, is a market that opens yearly around the holiday season, where the public meets new products designed by emerging designers. In 2023, for the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Switzerland, 20 designers collaborated and contributed by crafting unique souvenirs that symbolize both countries around the theme of blooming friendship between Switzerland and Korea. These souvenirs serve as tangible reminders, capturing the essence of joyful moments experienced during travels in each other’s country. Swiss-based Designers: Victor Moynier & Amandine Gini, Anne Bachmann, Nina Treichler, Kevin Dizami, Anthony Guex, Eva-Maria-Beer & Flavia Brändle, Laurin Schaffner & Kosha Ahmadi, Milagros Rodriguez Korea-based Designers: Chelsea Jihong Park, Yesul Jang, Mingoo Yoon, Minoh Song, Yeyeon Park, Youjeong Jeong & Jakob Reuter, Soyoung Kim, Seungmok Lee.

HFTG Zug — The School of Technology and Design presents: Taking Joy in Responsible Design

The School of Technology and Design (HFTG) is working with its students to find innovative ways to cool public spaces. Under the project title Taking Joy in Responsible Design, they are configuring an urban cooling system that can capture wind, provide shade, or disperse water. Using new technology, the project aims to create a space where visitors can feel comfortable under intense sunlight to continue enjoying the city. In a world where climate patterns are becoming more extreme because of human impact, projects like this seek to find a balance between the environment and human comfort. Students showcase their innovative research and development by addressing issues surrounding public spaces and simultaneously demonstrating the joy found in responsible design.

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NOV Gallery presents: Out of the Woodworks

Seeking to restore the balance between people and the planet, the Out of the Woodworks open call by NOV Gallery challenges designers and makers to demonstrate a new appreciation for the value and role of timber in today’s material world. While wood is placed as a sustainable material option when sourced from responsibly managed forests, this project invites us to look at its reuse by using an existing wooden object as the starting point. In reimagining the objects and reinventing their aesthetic or function, it blends craft and high tech with each project underpinned by a circular mindset. And, in exploring more meaningful methods of creation, joy is experienced in the knowing that it contributes to a positive and more sustainable future. Participating designers: Elsa Audoin & Robin Delerce, Renaud Defrancesco, Georg Foster & Leonard Kraettli, Amandine Gini & Victor Moynier, Gabriel Hafner & Alex Nguyen, Valentin Dubois, ScheideggerPauli, Noelani Rutz and Aleksandra Maria Szwec.

CLAIRE+LÉA presents: Anima IV

In a partnership with Workshop 4.0 from Valais, CLAIRE+LÉA is exploring the visual and emotional potential witnessed in a robotic arm. Taking a functional and industrial tool, the design duo are connecting it to the realm of design and art by using it to elicit various emotional reactions from viewers through elements of surprise, amusement, apprehension, and joy. The project, which is possible thanks to democratizing such technology as the KUKA robotic arm, hopes to redefine our relationship with new technology through a poetic and sensitive format. Enveloped in a paper structure, the installation explores a new perspective on the interaction between the robot and the material and its response to air resistance.

Ground Floor

Estelle Bourdet presents: La Cordée

Transforming discarded climbing ropes into handwoven rugs, this project is the embodiment of joy through the act of repurposing and giving new life to such materials. Resulting in functional and decorative pieces, they add a vibrant ambiance to interior spaces while telling a story of resilience and adventure by evoking memories of past climbing experiences. Hoping to resonate with those who enjoy outdoor activities, the project embraces traditional craft and the beauty found in handmade creations. With its implementation of up-cycling, the project also exudes a sense of hope through its environmental responsibility while allowing the user to experience joy as much as the creator did in making them.

Luc Reinacher presents: OruBench

In the quest for more design-led, adaptable furniture solutions, the OruBench is a grid-like seat comprising three individual stools. Seamlessly integrating to form a bench, the stools remain hidden until they are removed, increasing the seating capacity to accommodate up to six people. With its unexpected functionality, the OruBench addresses the challenges of everyday life with a playful perspective. Users can take apart and reconnect the stools with ease, resulting in a transformation that not only changes its silhouette but also reveals new patterns on the seats — another unexpected joyful element. Through moments of discovery, the designer allows users to feel a sense of contentment while subsequently providing solutions to everyday problems.

First Floor

NEUNOI presents: NEUNOI

Sneakers Approaching every aspect with a circular mindset, the NEUNOI sneakers can easily be repaired and repurposed, ready to be passed onto the next child once they have grown out of them. With replaceable soles made from biodegradable KUORI materials, the shoes can safely and efficiently have multiple lives after being repeatedly repaired. The playful palettes the brand uses add to the joy it exudes, centering its focus on the most joyful members of our society today: children. And, thanks to its continual repair service, each shoe becomes unique.

SALIENTI presents: Seilinee

An edition of glass vases, Seilinee evolved as a playful game with innovative outcomes. Working with Murano-based artisanal experts and glass blowers, the intricate process needed them to break free from tradition as the shapes were conceived through unique, modular wooden molds. Handmade by a specialist carpenter, the unfamiliar molds led to interesting results that make up the collection displayed today. Finding joy through such compositional possibilities, the duo emphasizes the importance of fostering ethical collaborations to ensure growth for all while exchanging a wealth of knowledge and expertise.

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ScheideggerPauli presents: Vidy Chair

An outdoor seating solution designed for the terrace of Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, the Vidy Chair is composed of a canvas seat and a tubular galvanized steel frame. The terrace, which overlooks Lake Léman and the Alps, is a place where one can sit and absorb the breathtaking vista, all from the comfort of the Vidy Chair. Taking inspiration from Swiss garden furniture and the theatre’s architectural details, the chair is designed to encourage playful interaction with its bespoke castor rolls and versatile configurations. When not in use, the chairs can be stored in a nest-like arrangement, offering added practicality for the venue. The chair also has detachable tables and parasol holders, making it applicable to multiple scenarios. While centred on functionality and form, it allows guests to enjoy the cultural settings of the region in style.

Tabea Wschiansky presents: Para

Seeking to raise awareness of how people with disabilities are rarely considered by major brands when developing sports and outdoor clothing, Tabea Wschiansky is on a mission to disrupt the sector. Designing solutions that marry desirable aesthetics with adaptable functionalities, the visionary creative has conceived Para — a rain cover for people in wheelchairs, allowing them to enjoy the outdoors in style. Designed to be easy to use even with limited mobility, the cover also has a leg protector, which can be folded into a small package and taken with you to be used as and when needed. Helping people in wheelchairs to dress optimally for outdoor activities, Para also allows them to do so independently without the help of others.

First Floor

Varia Instruments presents: RDM40

Joy being a key element driving dance culture for decades, Varia Instruments aims to contribute to extending such happy moments on the dancefloor by creating mixing consoles of superior quality. Transferring the joy from the DJ directly to the club-goers, the brand is ensuring its superior sound quality and allows such states of enjoyment to thrive. With all the devices handcrafted in Bern, Switzerland, the in-house production team prides itself on meticulous attention to detail. Once built, each unit undergoes an extensive measurement routine before leaving the workshop and taking residence in living rooms, bars, and clubs all over the world.

First Floor

SECOND FLOOR

Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW presents: The Factory of Joy

The Institute of Contemporary Design Practices (ICDP), as part of the Basel Academy of Art and Design, is exploring the notion that joy is essential to design practice and a vital ingredient to creativity. With students approaching each project positively, they continue to implement joy while critically analyzing their working methods and the paradigm of design with its linear problem-solving approach. Conceived within a cabinet of wonders that plays with the perception of space, this exhibition showcases a diverse collection of objects alluding to such emotions that lay the foundation for many art and design projects undertaken. The work has been created by Bachelor and Master students who address questions of technology, culture, and sustainability, with the installation inviting visitors to engage in thought-provoking narratives.

MUDAC, PLATEFORME 10 presents: Back to the source

Could miracles be a design project? The Museum of Contemporary Design and Applied Arts in Lausanne has initiated a project centered on Switzerland’s natural springs and their extraordinary properties. Led by Colombian designer Felipe Ribon, the project explores the stories, rituals, and customs associated with the miraculous spring waters and their connections to redemption, healing, purification, leisure, and fertility. By emphasizing the link between natural elements, faith, and joy, the project proposes objects designed to enhance and facilitate contemporary rituals and the uses of these waters. Offering magical experiences within the House of Switzerland, it provides a unique retreat for visitors, reconnecting them with the irrational yet effective joy and hope felt in its presence. In a time when eco-anxiety can feel overwhelming, the project also highlights the solace and harmony found in connecting with water.

First Floor

Dimitri Bähler presents: Factor Light / DB20

Developed with flexibility in mind, the Factor Light has a rotatable core that can be positioned to provide 360° of infinite movement, enabling users to create an environment personalized to their needs. Crafted from extruded aluminium, with an integrated LED bulb, the lamp can be used alone or grouped alongside others by implementing bridge connectors. Designed for HAY. Echoing the design approach behind the Factor Light, the DB20 ceramic tableware collection plays with light and shadow through two- and three-dimensional patterns. Glazed on the inside, the seven pieces have a raw exterior finish, giving them a softer tactility. It also alludes to the contrasting emotions surrounding joy and how joy is experienced through such distinctions.

Hannes & Fritz presents: Weekday / May / Hongkong

Presenting three products as part of the exhibition, each piece represents one of three outdoor furniture collections with a core focus on the joy felt from being outside. The duo wants to reflect on how their design practice takes them outside of their individual social and professional spheres and outside of their own country. Utilizing the language of design to cross geographical borders and connect cultures, the Swiss-German duo collaborates with companies from Italy and Denmark that have a strong and established design heritage. Designed for HAY, New Works and Vero.

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Sébastien El Idrissi presents: Stack

Nature fills us with joy, and this project intends to allow this concept to propagate within urban environments. By creating stackable pots and frames that come together in a versatile system, El Idrissi hopes it will encourage users to grow almost anything within the urban areas and gardens they have access to. With planters made today often rotting or rusting after a short period, he is presenting a solution that integrates well into the architectural setting and offers increasing durability and, subsequently, more appeal. Through such a system, people can enjoy and interact with nature wherever they are and receive a glimpse of the liberating feeling of wandering through a park or forest. Designed for Swisspearl.

Super150 presents: Berninox

Founded on a passionate commitment to sustainability, Berninox is seeking to disrupt the oral hygiene sector with its future-focused design sensibilities and attention to detail. Without any compromise on quality, the Berninox toothbrush is made from a stainless-steel handle and an ocean plastic replaceable head with recycled bristles. All components are manufactured in Switzerland, and an integrated clip mechanism allows for simple head replacement. With its conscious creativity at the heart of its operation, the studio is helping us make better choices through a responsible design approach.

Second Floor

All exhibitors at House of Switzerland Milano 2024 were nominated by an independent jury made up of renowned specialists: Johanna Agerman Ross / London, United Kingdom — chief curator design museum, founder and director of Disegno. Alessio Ascari / Milan, Italy — founder and creative director of Kaleidoscope magazine and Capsule, curator of Spazio Maiocchi. Wataru Kumano / Miyota, Japan — founder and designer of the design office Kumano. The projects and design ideas involved reveal essential qualities of functional aesthetics and also contribute to the design of a more resilient and sustainable world.

Second Floor