Ospiti inaspettati | Case di ieri, design di oggi

Yesterday historical houses dialogue with contemporary design: light and surprising conversations between environments, arts, craftsmanships of the past and a collection of more than two hundred objects designed in the last ten years by some of the protagonists of international d

Yesterday historical houses dialogue with contemporary design: light and surprising conversations between environments, arts, craftsmanships of the past and a collection of more than two hundred objects designed in the last ten years by some of the protagonists of international design. In four Milan’s Museum Houses (Museo Bagatti Valsecchi, Casa Boschi di Stefano, Villa Necchi Campiglio and Museo Poldi Pezzoli), past and present objects reveal important and unforeseen consonance. First, the wide range of designed objects (carpets, stool, combs, centre-pieces, suitcases, watches, and many others) in comparison with previous design habits that dealt almost exclusively with armchairs, chairs and lamps. Also, the growing importance given to the decoration of surfaces, which is made possible in the very last years by the recent use of new materials and technologies also for small-scale productions. Far beyond the mere fascination of an aesthetic combination, new millennium design and excellence craftsmanship of the past discover thus unexpected consonances in their project and production methods. Among others, there will be on display (and also in the comprehensive register at the end of the book) objects by Ron Arad, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, Andrea Branzi, Fernando & Humberto Campana, David Chipperfield, Martino Gamper, Konstantin Grcic, Herzog & De Meuron, Alessandro Mendini, Jasper Morrison, Fabio Novembre, Gaetano Pesce, Ettore Sottsass, Philippe Starck, Patricia Urquiola. Texts by Giampiero Bosoni, Alessandro Mendini and Beppe Finessi describe the Unexpected guests from very personal points of view, and reveal their sensations in their new domestic landscape. The clear and brilliant layoutof the book is curated by Italo Lupi. The exhibition “Unexpected Guests. Yesterday’s houses, today’s design”, curated by Beppe Finessi in collaboration with Cristina Miglio, is organized by the Association of Milan’s House Museums together with Milan’s culture department and Cosmit, and is on display from March 11th to May 2nd at Museo Bagatti Valsecchi, Casa Boschi di Stefano, Villa Necchi Campiglio and Museo Poldi Pezzoli. Beppe Finessi is architect and professor at the Architecture design department of the Politecnico University in Milan. He is author of several books about design, architecture and contemporary arts such as, for Corraini, books dedicated to Angelo Mangiarotti, Alessandro Mendini, Bruno Munari, Vico Magistretti.