MILAN – Ventura Projects has long been involved with the future of design. With the first edition of Ventura Future – a stage for emerging designers in particular – we dedicated 3 unique locations to the ‘what’s next’ in design during Milan Design Week 2018. We provided a platform for 82 exhibitors from all over the world as they took up residence the entangled spaces of the newly introduced venues at via Paisiello, viale Abruzzi and via Donatello.
The importance of the event is marked by all the positive responses we have received from press, visitors and buyers. The Ventura Projects team is equally proud of the stories our own exhibitors shared with us, recounting how they have found at Ventura Future a safe haven in the hurricane of the design week, a laboratory where they dared to be bold and present new ideas.
Galleries, studios and collectives were either housed in Loft, a contemporary space in a typical Milanese courtyard, or in the main venue at via Paisiello, FuturDome — a Liberty style building which welcomed futurists in the 1940’s. FuturDome is currently a housing museum focused on bringing together the glory of times past with contemporary artistic currents within the domestic sphere.
The former Liberty house proved to be a great match for projects like Creative Chef's 'Future Food City', UM project's 'Patch', Skonne's 'Carpet Creator' and many other works inviting visions of technology. The 3D-printed floor by the Dutch brand Aectual brought the visitors closer to the future, while the Zuiderzeemuseum and design studio Foodcurators went back in time with new interpretations of the past foodculture of the Zuiderzee-region in the Netherlands.
In addition, University - a former pharmacy faculty - showed what the next-generation is up to at the forefront of contemporary design. 18 International academies gathered here to present their perspectives on the future. We saw new production methods, experiments with new materials, and ways of reusing residual materials in new applications. We even got a glimpse on how food consumption might be implemented in life on Mars.
Since the future of design is close to our hearts, we were thrilled to collaborate with Futurdome in order to bring into existence the FuturDome Prize, an award celebrating the future generation of designers supported by Knauf Aquapanel. The jury (headed by Atto Belloli Ardessi, FuturDome Artistic Director) was comprised of: Elena Braghieri, Paola Carimati, Marco Ferreri, Constance Gennari, Irene Kronenberg, Alon Baranowitz, Luca Nichetto, Angela Rui, and Paolo Ulian.
These celebrated designers, journalists, architects and curators were moved anonymously among the exhibitors to select the candidacies and, ultimately, to praise their favourite projects: • In the category 'Lifetime Achievement', Gianni Pettena received a prize for his career. • In the category 'Stabilizing Communities', Nienke Helder received a prize for her Sexual Healing project. • In the category 'Enduring Ambiances', Kodai Iwamoto received a prize for the Plastic Blowing project. • In the category 'Emotional Synthesis', Yoya Kobayashi received a prize for the Quiet project. • In addition, a Special Mention went out to Gerjanne van Gink for her ADS Mirror project.
