“Diamoci del tu. Dialoghi fra arte e design”: is the theme of the second MILANO DESIGN WEEKEND, the extraordinary event jointly organised by Mondadori and RCS Group to support companies in the furniture business, an Italian industrial sector well known for its excellence. Also dedicated to Milan, a design capital, the event, which after the huge success of the first edition, is back this year from 6 to 9 October; four days of shopping, with integrated features of design, art, architecture and music.
An exciting occasion, open to everyone, which aims to spread a contagious desire to discover, learn and explore that will transform the city into an exemplary catalyser of creativity.

MILANO DESIGN WEEKEND has also obtained the patronage of the Culture, Expo, Fashion and Design Department of the City of Milan and the Architects’ Association of the city and province.
The event also has the support of some of the city’s most significant cultural institutions, including the Triennale Design Museum, the Museo del Novecento and the Case Museo di Milano circuit. Also taking part for the first time is the Conservatorio di Milano.

MILANO DESIGN WEEKEND is an event that brings together the worlds of production, distribution and media to create an extensive communication platform able to respond to the demands of increasingly well-informed and demanding consumers. It is also a unique initiative in Italy involving the joint participation of the Mondadori and RCS groups, with their large networks of titles dedicated to interiors, working together on a project in support of the market and distribution.
The event also provides a big boost to the growth of the culture of living, a perfect demonstration of a new way of thinking about publishing and communication.

With a full programme, the MILANO DESIGN WEEKEND draws together into a large network branded showrooms, multi-brand furniture shops, museum bookshops and department stores. Also involved are museums, architectural firms and the main bookstores in the city of the two big publishing groups.
All of these will remain open on Saturday 8 October until 10 pm during the NOTTE DEL DESIGN (Big Design Night) that will enliven the city with special events and initiatives.
An invasion of creativity that will take over and infest the city, making it even more lively.

THE THEME: Diamoci del Tu. Dialoghi tra arte e design (On first name terms. A dialogue between art and design).
The second edition of MILANO DESIGN WEEKEND is focused on the idea of greater familiarity, with the aim of making the relationship between the sales outlets for design and the final consumer warmer and more engaging.
During the whole period of the event, participating shops will become the locations for events aimed at creating a new type of dialogue with consumers, providing not only a selection of products but also a unique experience.
In fact, sales outlets will be asked to interpret, with dedicated layouts and activities, the theme that gives the title to this year’s edition that suggests an open, closer encounter between the city, design and art. A perfect symbol of a new desire to be more open to the world.

Triennale Design Museum
The Triennale Design Museum, a point of reference for the enhancement and promotion of design excellence in Italy and around the world, is a partner of the MILANO DESIGN WEEKEND with a series of proposals aimed at bringing the world of design to a wider audience.
From 6 to 9 October entrance will be free for the fourth edition of the Triennale Design Museum’s Le fabbriche dei sogni and Vitality. Korea Young Design, an exhibition in the MINI & Triennale CreativeSet space.
And for kids, on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9, the Triennale Design Museum will run its TDMKids project, aimed at children between the ages of 4 and 10.
The TDMKids teaching laboratories have been conceived to involve a number of designers in efforts to attract children to the beautiful, the useful and the world of materials with an approach related to the design methods used by individual designers. On this occasion the labs will be offered at the special price of €5 (rather than the standard €8) for each child, including a guided tour of the museum, laboratory activities (which will last 90’) + an educational materials kit with the book Frisello al Triennale Design Museum. Il mistero dei sette semi.
In addition, visitors who present the Design Card, with the full complement of stamps, at the booking desk will receive a coupon with a discount for admittance to the exhibition O’Clock. Design del tempo, tempo del design (€4 rather than €8) which will open on 11 October.
The offer will remain valid for the first two weeks of the exhibition.

Info Point and BookStores
Distribution of materials prior to the event will be made through Info Points and bookstores in Piazza San Babila, Largo La Foppa, at the Mondadori and RCS stands at the MADE EXPO and the Mondadori Multicenter stores in Piazza Duomo, Via Marghera and Corso Vittorio Emanuele; the Electa Bookshop at the Museo del Novecento and the Skira bookstores at the Pinacoteca di Brera, the Castello Sforzesco, the Triennale, La Rinascente Design Supermarket, La Scala Shop, Palazzo Reale and the showroom at Palazzo Stampa.
 As well as the Rizzoli bookshop in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele.
During the event Electa and Skira, two of the world’s most prestigious publishers of art books, will offer a selection of specially priced architecture, design and art titles.

Cult products
To mark the MILANO DESIGN WEEKEND, the sales outlets and companies involved will welcome visitors with a special surprise: a selection of products – including discontinued lines and limited editions – that will be available only for the four days of the event at a special 30% discount.

Competitions
Two competitions will also be launched during the MILANO DESIGN WEEKEND.

For the first, the public can vote, on the web site WWW.MILANO-DESIGNWEEKEND.IT, for their favourite CULT product. And a prize draw will be made from all of the voters with the prize of a weekend break for two.

For the second, the protagonist will be the Design Card, a sort of on and off line design passport that should be stamped at each location in the MILANO DESIGN WEEKEND circuit.
When visitors have accumulated ten stamps the card can be put into one of the urns located at the sales outlets, info points and other locations involved in the event. Also here there will be a prize draw with another weekend break for two as the prize.
The only obligatory stop to be able to take part in the draw is at the Triennale Design Museum.

Prizes will also be awarded to the producers of the three most voted cult products and an authoritative jury will select the best interpretation of the theme of the event in two categories: branded showrooms and multi-brand stores.

Cultural attractions
A number of initiatives will be staged during the event – art, design, architecture and music – to attract and involve the entre city in support of the design system.
These will include:

MUSEO DEL NOVECENTO
During the MILANO DESIGN WEEKEND, the Museo del Novecento – taking part for the first time in the event – will offer 300 free tickets. The visits, organised by Electa (booking essential), will offer a fascinating chronological journey, starting at the beginning of the twentieth century, through the most important movements and tendencies in Italian art. Visitors will be accompanied by exceptional guides, such as critics and art historians.

THE CASE MUSEO ITINERARY
Electa will also organise free visits (booking essential) to some of the cities most impressive museum houses: the Museo Bagatti Valsecchi, the Casa Boschi di Stefano, Villa Necchi Campiglio and the Museo Poldi Pezzoli. On this occasion, critics and art historians, architects and archaeologists will be the ‘special’ guides who will accompany visitors, highlighting and explain architectural and design features and stories about masterpieces and artists.

THE MILAN MUSIC CONSERVATORY
The Conservatory – which is also taking part for the first time in the MILANO DESIGN WEEKEND – will be open to the public on Saturday 8 October for the final concert of the Festival named in honour of Nino Rota, and organised to coincide with the hundredth anniversary of the composer’s birth. Three hundred seats will be available for the concert in the Sala Verdi. Also on Saturday 8, an exclusive concert will be held at the Villa Necchi featuring students of the Conservatory; a meeting of art and music in an extraordinary location, excitingly brought to life by the young musicians of the city’s most prestigious school of music.

SECRET MILAN
A series of architectural and design visits to discover some of the city’s lesser-known locations, open exceptionally to the public during the event. These include an open day at architect’s and designer’s studios, to encounter the private places of Milan’s design professionals.

The following visits are part of the “Secret Milan” initiative:
A POSTWAR TOUR AMONG CULTIVATED PROFESSIONALISM
(organised by the Architects’ Association of the province of Milan)
Put together by Maria Vittoria Capitanucci and dedicated to the profession in Milan during the fifties and sixties, this initiative will concentrate on the architects to contributed to the wide spread of the culture of modernism, with visits to some of the residential buildings created by the architects of the so-called second generation of Lombard rationalism, including buildings by Giulio Minoletti, Luigi Ghò, Vito and Gustavo Latis.

THE VICO MAGISTRETTI TOUR
(organised by the Architects’ Association of the province of Milan)
Put together by Fulvio Irace and Federico Ferrari, this is a presentation of the work of the great Milanese architect and designer, demonstrating his desire to represent the city in buildings such as the Santa Maria Nascente church at QT8 and the Torre al Parco in Via Revere.
An architectural approach that moved away from sterile theoretical constructions to reach for an original “theory of praxis”. This tour will also take in the Piazza San Marco complex, the residential building in Via Conservatorio, the headquarters of the Fondazione Magistretti and the office building in Corso Europa.

The four tours (two for each itinerary, lasting around two hours) are on foot and tickets can be booked (a maximum of 30 people for each) at a cost of €10.
The tours will begin at the headquarters of the Ordine degli Architetti in Via Solferino 17 at 6 pm on Thursday 6, Friday 7 and Saturday 8 – after an aperitif – and at 11 am on Sunday 9, with a welcome coffee.
For information and bookings: tel. 02 62534390 – email: fondazione@ordinearchitetti.mi.it

MILANO DESIGN WEEKEND will be supported by an important communication campaign on Mondadori and RCS media.

The web site WWW.MILANO-DESIGNWEEKEND.IT has a full list of activities and other information about the event.