10 Highlights From the Lake Como Design Fair
For its second edition—taking place September 20-22—the Lake Como Design Fair continues to push the boundaries between fair and exhibition through an event where design and architecture meet. This year, the main theme is color and the design selection of around 150 works—including installations of a 13-meter multifunctional object by Marco Balzarotti and a polychrome fabric created by Karol Pichler with recycled materials—is presented at the Teatro Sociale Como. A new section dedicated to architecture—with drawings, models, photographs, and artistic works, among others—is showcased for the first time at the Palazzo del Broletto.
Curated by Margherita Ratti and Andreas Kofler, the Italian fair is part of a cultural initiative from Wonderlake Como Association. Its objective is supporting and promoting the beauty and heritage of Lake Como through publishing projects and cultural events. Here are our top 10 highlights from the 2019 show.
1. Circle Game by Michele Seppia
Presented by Nero Design Gallery, Circle Game by Michele Seppia is mostly made of marble, which is combined with burnished iron and enamel painting. Each handmade piece is unique and creates both contrast and harmony through shapes and colors.
2. Belvedere by Inessa Hansch
Built on a former industrial site, the Belvedere of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Luxembourg invites visitors to enjoy the outdoors from varying heights. Designed by Belgian architect Inessa Hansch, the structure—seen in photographs in the new architectural showcase—features pink benches to create a contrast between colors and materials.
3. One Giant leap by Matteo Pellegrino
Showcased by Camp Design Gallery, this rug, which evokes the galaxies and photos by space telescopes, is made of epoxy resin and was created by Matteo Pellegrino in collaboration with Gobbetto Company. “Too often the word and the concept of border are abused, creating confusion and an exaggerated run-up to define everything that is different from criminalizing it and making it automatically an enemy,” Pellegrino says. “I always thought it would be nice that everyday objects could talk to us, and maybe inspire our ideas and consciences, a bit like a warning for the future so that mistakes from the past would not be replicated.”
4. Turborama n°4 by Emma Cogné
Through her textile creations, Emma Cogné develops craftsmanship techniques and studies the relationship of colors and patterns with the urban space and contemporary architecture.
5. Splight by Matali Crasset
Presented by Galleria Luisa delle Piane, this table lamp in metal and glass by French designer Matali Crasset—named after the combination of a mathematical function used for interpolation (“spline”) and light—was inspired by the interconnected nature of the world.
6. Les Couleurs du Ciel by Laurent P. Berger
This artwork created by visual artist Laurent P. Berger (cofounder of Paris-based Berger & Berger with architect Cyrille Berger) evokes a cyanometer, an instrument for measuring degrees of blueness of the sky.
7. New Nature by Mia E Göransson
This series of objects by Swedish ceramist Mia E Göransson was inspired by shapes from the natural environment, such as rocks, leaves, or moss. “My work, a kind of depiction of nature, has increasingly come to be characterized by anxiety and threat,” the artist says. “ I constantly want to keep moving, find new ways and shapes for my art, but with a strong faith in the material possibilities and significance of the season.”
8. Happy Collapse by Roger Coll
Based near Barcelona, Roger Coll studied architecture, sculpture, and ceramics. “I believe that working in ceramics is a captivating form of art with potential to unleash creativity,” he says.
9. Corner Splat by Jimenez Lai for Urban Fabric
Jimenez Lai is the founder of Los Angeles-based Bureau Spectacular, which imagines other worlds and engages culture through art, architecture, history, politics, sociology, linguistics, mathematics, graphic design, technology, and graphic novels. This rug was designed by Jimenez Lai for Urban Fabric.
10. Senza Titulo by Marco Cappelletti
For the first time this year, Lake Como Design Fair includes a section entirely dedicated to architecture with a selection of drawings and photographs—among other formats—including this piece by Marco Cappelletti.
