OEMs bring cars and installations to Milan Design Week 2024
Auto manufacturers such as Bugatti, Bentley, Porsche, and BMW, increase their presence at the storied Milan Design Week with cars and art installations
It’s not just a furniture fair anymore. Milan Design Week has long since outgrown its trade show roots at the Salone Del Mobile, and has embraced the whole of Milan in a multi-disciplined design extravaganza. Furniture and fixtures, yes, but also fashion and lighting and increasingly, automotive design. Here is a summary of the OEM exhibits and venues we visited during the 2024 Milan Design Week:
Porsche
Porsche used the occasion of Design Week to throw a birthday party for its bespoke houndstooth-like seat fabric, “Pepita”, which turns 60 this year. Installed in the courtyard of the Palazzo Clerici, the celebration installation included a three dimensional “Pepita” sculpture made of orthogonal frames supporting a flexible netting that supported the weight of the more agile attendees (perfect for that Instagram moment). Each night a dance troupe would ascend the sculpture for a 3D dance/acrobatic performance. Also present was an original 911 with the Pepita fabric and a couple of Vitra chairs covered in Porsche’s signature fabric.
Bugatti and Bentley
Bugatti and Bentley shared the historic Palazzo Chiesa, with an emphasis on their respective furniture collections. But Bugatti, which occupied the courtyard and the gardens, brought an actual car, the magnificent Bugatti Mistral roadster. Predictably stunning, the car is more than a convertible Chiron. It has been re-engineered with a new body and chassis created around the enormous (and enormously powerful) 1600 PS W16 engine. The Mistral is the swansong for that mighty powerplant, and we doubt that Bugatti could have chosen a better car for its farewell.
As for Bentley, their contribution to the automotive presence at design week consisted of a small fleet of Bentley Saloons shuttling VIPs through the heavily congested streets of Milan. Maybe not cutting edge, but the Bentleys made quite an impression in the tight confines of the center of the city.
BMW
BMW brought its Neue Klasse sedan concept to Milan. It was great to see the car in the metal, but it was placed in a glass vitrine, which seemed a sad fate for the next generation of “ultimate driving machine”. The rest of the exhibit was a large-scale video projection of Neue Klasse and BMW lifestyle.
Audi
Audi returned to the Piazza del Quadrilatero di Portrait , this time with an installation in collaboration the architect Bjarke Ingalls. Ingalls’ practice designed a cruciform installation of high walls covered in mirrors, which reflected a different function in each of the four quadrants. The principal quadrant, facing the entrance is the display of the Audi SQ6 e-tron SUV, two of which were on display, though reflections made the pair look like a small fleet. Other quadrants included a small amphitheater, a digital light display and a tree-lined courtyard space.
Toyota
We were walking along the Via Tortona near the Lexus, Italdesign, and GAC exhibits, when we spotted a small Toyota sign and ducked into a courtyard where Toyota had a small exhibition space. As it turns out, it was not about Toyota cars or trucks, but about Toyota Material Handling, a little-known division of the automotive giant. Toyota partnered with university students to imagine the future of material handling and logistics, with designs for both human- powered and autonomous vehicles and machines like palette handlers. AI and 3D-printed figure large in the entries, along with interesting variations. There were also environmental solutions, like a park with Amazon-like pick-up lockers. An interesting exhibit of ideas in typologies we do not often see.
