REPORTAGE: Mirabilia

The "Mirabilia" exhibition is displayed at the Milan Triennale, extended until April, belonging to the "Mestieri d'Arte" & Design cycle, with which the Triennale and the Cologni Foundation wish to give due recognition to a selection of masters of Milanese art.

About forty contemporary artefacts, unique pieces or limited edition series are on display, representing the secrets of the trade of as many artisan ateliers. This wunderkammer represents a trend of the new design.

Returning to the atelier means to contemporary designers to rediscover the possibility of overcoming the limits of standardization and freeing themselves from the constraints of feasibility connected to serial goods' market values. It means stating the importance of handmade over industrial production. Artistic design is the expression of a new humanism. It is a Leonardesque attitude that gives back to the craft the role of a creative act in its primordial meaning: giving shape to things, transferring them, through manual modelling, a vital inspiration.

Designers who live their profession as a mission,  see no contradiction in it. Still, they find artistic design preparatory to industrial design and practice it in parallel to reach new heights in experimentation, drawing on Italian territory ancient crafts' knowledge and techniques.

Among the creations on display, there are virtuous examples of jewellery, such as the collier signed by Antonini; spectacular evening dresses, such as the red dress of 2014, with precious decorations embroidered by Pino Grassi Ricami Alta Moda, by Armani Privè; the revolving bookcase in pearwood by Cini Boeri from 1989, produced by Bottega Ghianda; the Argesh bust in the paper, tissue paper, silk paper, Japanese handmade paper and vinyl glue by Caterina Crepax; the low table "Fifteenth-Century Facade" in wood and metal, silk-screened and hand-lacquered, designed by Barnaba Fornasetti in 2020; the "Double blu," a vase made of cardboard’s strips, cotton gauze and vinyl glue by Daniele Papuli; the Legnamè Kit, a carpentry toolbox in Canaletto walnut and olive, designed by Giacomo Moor and made by the master Giordano Viganò.