We Will Design: We Have an I.D.E.A.
From April 17 to 23, 2023, during Design Week 2023, BASE presented the third edition of We Will Design: a showcase of original projects and a residency program exploring a new concept of democratic, inclusive design, capable of reaching people of all ages, abilities, genders, and cultures.
At BASE for We Will Design 2023 –– We Have An I.D.E.A.:
Analogique –– Atelier Ad Hoc –– Ava Asaadi (The Vanity Table) –– Greta Ballschuh –– Matilde Brizzi –– Central Saint Martins –– co.arch studio & Endelea & Equilibri Forniture –– Despise Design Group –– Agnieszka Cieszanowska –– Hyukjoon Choi –– Margarida Coelho –– collettivo AAA –– Simon Dogger –– Boey Wang –– Festival Divercity –– Guus Hoeberechts –– Adi Hollander, Andreas Tegnander e Ildikó Horváth con Otherabilities –– Eungyun Kim –– Eva Lotta Landskron –– Mancdesign – Manchester School of Art, Scuola del Design – Politecnico di Milano con Giulio Ceppi –– Miocugino e Alvar Aaltissimo –– Tec de Monterrey – Scuola di Architettura, Arte e Design (EAAD) al Tecnológico de Monterrey –– Ecole Supérieure d’art et design SaintÉtienne con Ernesto Oroza, Matteo Proietti, Newcomer Society –– NID Nuovo Istituto Design –– Onomatopee, Sohye Shin (Shi Soh) –– Studio Sophia Schullan (Sophia Schullan) –– Subin Seol –– Emma Sfez –– Standard404 & Eretico –– Bruno Szenk –– Juliette Vandermosten –– Maria Varela –– Sanne Visser –– Louisa Wolf –– Xi’an Jiaotong–Liverpool Universit (XJTLU).
EXHIBIT
A space dedicated to research and experimentation in democratic, inclusive design. Exhibit is the main exhibition of We Will Design, bringing together works from academies, universities—such as Politecnico di Milano School of Design, Université Saint-Étienne, Manchester School of Art, Tecnológico de Monterrey—design studios, emerging designers, and exclusive outcomes of residency programs developed at BASE in the preceding months.
Matilde Brizzi: Broccoli Bar
A convivial corner that invites everyone to sit down and engage in discussions on social phenomena that affect them daily—topics often confined to exclusive academic tables.
Simon Dogger, Boey Wang, Matteo Proietti: Design Beyond Vision 2.0
Design Beyond Vision is an intuitive design approach that uses touch to bridge visual and non-visual worlds. During Milan Design Week, Simon Dogger, Boey Wang, and Matteo Proietti will showcase version 2.0 of DBV, an installation that engages visitors through sound, touch, and sight. For example, it seeks to instill a deeper understanding of the value of cooperation.
Sohyé Shin: Inside-Out
A game, an exploration of how eating habits reflect social pressure.
Hyukjoon Choi: Where positivity is plugged in
A performative installation,
an invitation to reflect on the consequences of mandatory happiness and the need for a positive mindset—enforced by contemporary standards—to boost productivity.
Ava Asaadi (The Vanity Table): Cosmetic Footprints
Through the physical and online format The Vanity Table, Ava Asaadi presents Cosmetic Footprints, a series of objects capturing the value of discarded cosmetic items collected by the designer over the years.
Greta Ballschuh: Question of Matter
Designer Greta Ballschuh offers a reflection on the reciprocity between the body and nature.
Newcomer Society (Design Academy Eindhoven)
Four designers from different parts of the world converge in the Netherlands. Their projects span from digital to material media, mapping a sociocultural landscape shaped by consumerist attitudes.
Miocugino + Alvar Aaltissimo: Case Milanesissime in 3D
Miocugino and Alvar Aaltissimo, in collaboration with Corraini Edizioni, HPO, and The Digital Circle, present a depiction of temporary Milanese living in our time.
Festival DiverCity: Costitüire materiali, design, diritti
The winning proposals of the Costitüire call reinterpret the concept of assistance and care—through design or its absence—as a counterweight to the systemic aggression against the rights and health of marginalized, racialized, and migrant communities. In partnership with the Department of Architecture of the University of Florence.
Studio Sophia Schullan: My Dream Bunker
Studio Sophia Schullan reimagines toys to provide new generations with narrative tools to understand the critical context in which they are growing up.Amor? Luta!
A necessary reversal of political propaganda through gender equality. Traditional Portuguese folklore costumes are redesigned with feminist messages and symbols in collaboration with local artisans.
Margarida Coelho: Amor? Luta!
Amor? Luta! is a necessary reversal of political propaganda through gender equality. Traditional Portuguese folklore costumes are redesigned with feminist messages and symbols in collaboration with local artisans.
Subin Seol: Remembrance
Exploring ways to memorialize demolished architecture by recycling materials into everyday objects.
Tecnológico de Monterrey: Office Futures
Where Are We Heading?
Tecnológico de Monterrey critiques the cult of hyper-productivity through tools that, if things go wrong, could genuinely be part of the offices of the future.
Standard404 + Eretico: Cinema Parentesi
A tribute to the moving image, increasingly prevalent in design and architecture. Cinema Parentesi is a ritual, a deliberate experience, a moment where anything can happen—everything is possible and probable.
CyDRe, Université Saint-Étienne & Ernesto Oroza: manger, dormir, communiquer
Not just an exhibition, but a foyer where visitors can eat, sleep, and communicate, challenging the apolitical solutions of design and resisting through these three simple human acts.
Analogique Studio: ＊FR＊OG＊, una collezione di OGgetti FRugali
Experimenting with interactive touchpoints, analog and virtual bridges. A catalog of objects and possible connections for BASE and the city’s inhabitants.
CENTRAL SAINT MARTINS: MATERIAL FUTURES
WHERE SCIENCE, DESIGN, AND TECHNOLOGY COLLIDE.
Students from the Material Futures course create alternative narratives around the pressing issues of our time. Current and former students explore beyond existing disciplines to anticipate future needs for the 21st century, united by the belief that our world is at a breaking point and that traditional systems of management and control are outdated and insufficient.
DESPISE DESIGN GROUP: DESPISE DESIGN, ALL BLESS THE FAIR!
A project resulting from discussions, arguments, and collaborations. This work reflects on and challenges the participation economies and expectations shaping design events.
TEMPORARY HOME
Once again, for this edition of We Will Design, casaBASE—our guesthouse —served as a Temporary Home: an unconventional residency for five designers and artists from France, England, the Netherlands, Greece, and Germany. Five rooms became both home and a space for experimentation, where the designers developed, exhibited, and shared their projects with the public.
ROOM 01: BDSM, Feminism, and Botany
Louisa Wolf
Botanical Role Play
Project supported by Goethe-Institut Mailand
Botanical Role Play by Louisa Wolf—backed by Goethe-Institut Mailand—explores non-normative human-plant relationships in the face of a looming planetary extinction. Gender studies, feminism, and BDSM intersect with botany and gardening through an array of tools, garments, and objects. Visitors are invited to rediscover and rethink their relationship with plants in an environment that feels more sensual than scientific: discussions on ecological consent, mass extinction, and queer ecologies take place amidst liquid latex leaves and provocative gardening tools.
ROOM 02: Gender Equality and the Algorithm
Maria Varela
Butterflies of the Beautiful
Project supported and commissioned by the British Council and Onassis Stegi, in collaboration with Stathis Mitropoulos and The Sustainable Sequin Company
With Butterflies of the Beautiful, Maria Varela—commissioned by Onassis Stegi and British Council and created in collaboration with Stathis Mitropoulos and The Sustainable Sequin Company—translates United Nations reports on gender equality into butterflies using an algorithm. Inspired by the protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Artist of the Beautiful, the project offers a contemporary perspective on the battle between aesthetics and practicality, blending art, science, and technology in the creative process while reflecting on the global status of women today.
ROOM 03: Experiencing a Concert Through the Body
Adi Hollander, Andreas Tegnander, and Ildikó Horváth with Otherabilities
Haptic Room Study #2: Traveling Tactile Concert
Supported by the Embassy and Consulate General of the Netherlands in Italy, Creative Industries Fund NL
Adi Hollander, Andreas Tegnander, and Ildikó Horváth, together with Otherabilities, present Haptic Room Study #2: Traveling Tactile Concert, with support from the Embassy and Consulate General of the Netherlands in Italy and the Creative Industries Fund NL. This sound installation and traveling haptic concert invites visitors to “listen with their bodies.” The installation features tactile surfaces, including vibrating floorboards, soft surfaces, and porcelain tiles, where the audience can sit, lean, or lie down to feel sound through touch.
Music by: Annea Lockwood, Claudio F. Baroni, Phill Niblock, Yanis Kyriakides
Film by: Sebastián Diaz Morales
ROOM 04: A Lock of Your Hair
Sanne Visser
LOCALLY GROWN
In collaboration with British Council as part of the Circular Cultures program
Sanne Visser, in collaboration with the British Council as part of the Circular Cultures program, presents LOCALLY GROWN. This project engages hairdressers, with live haircuts performed on a redesigned barber chair, and involves the audience in an interactive installation. It showcases hair as a recyclable resource, fostering a broader dialogue about a sustainable future using a reusable material like hair.
ROOM 05: Structures and Narratives of the Education System
Emma Sfez
Queering School/s
In collaboration with Institut Français Milano
With Queering School/s, designer, artist, and curator Emma Sfez—in collaboration with Institut Français Milano—challenges and reflects on the languages, representations, images, structures, and narratives entrenched in the education system.
MUSIC
Responding to Visions of Future Society Through Music
We Will Design 2023 was also about MUSIC: a music series that enlivened every evening during Fuorisalone 2023.
Underground artists presented live sets and performances each evening, from sunset to late at night, featuring vinyl records and experimental sounds.
CLAIRE FOINTAINE
Claire Fontaine’s installation includes two works: Patriarchy kills (love) and We are all clitoridian women. These illuminated LED phrases question our usual emotional and social context, bringing intimate issues into architectural spaces. They materialize words and, through interaction with the body, transform our perception of reality. A tribute to Carla Lonzi—feminist, art critic, writer, theorist, and poet—these luminous statements provoke questions rather than deliver answers, giving words a tangible form and enabling them to engage with the external world, altering our interpretation of the surrounding reality and, with it, our understanding of the world.
PUBLIC PROGRAM
Stories, projects, opportunities for growth and change
With the experiences of designers, institutions, foundations, and Italian and international organizations, the Public Program of Design Week 2023 at BASE was born. It included three meetings to explore and experiment with concepts of accessibility, the future, collectivity, creative cities, movement, and change.
KIDS
A special moment of Design Week at BASE Milano, dedicated to children: We Will Design KIDS is an event for young visitors, offering them the opportunity to reflect on values of accessibility and inclusion through playful design activities.
In 2023, we collaborated with Ludosofici!
WE HAVE AN I.D.E.A.
Inclusion. Diversity. Equity. Accessibility:
Throughout Design Week, we presented new projects, exhibitions, workshops, and events encapsulated in the acronym I.D.E.A.:
↘ INCLUSION: Creating an environment where everyone feels welcomed, safe, respected, valued, and supported, enabling full participation and contribution.
↘ DIVERSITY: Recognizing the uniqueness of every individual. This includes ethnic backgrounds, gender (identity, expression), sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religion or personal beliefs, marital status, age, and disabilities.
↘ EQUITY: Identifying and removing barriers, especially economic ones, to ensure the full participation of all people and groups.
↘ ACCESSIBILITY: Designing products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. A range of solutions that enable the greatest number of people to participate effectively in activities.
Four dimensions and countless intersections and nuances intertwining the lives of nearly eight billion people on the planet. People of every gender, race, age, ability, and culture—the plural design addresses them all. This plurality also reflects the co-ideation and co-design process ↗ that we pursue with stakeholders typically excluded from the conversations and tools of contemporary design.
We Will Design 2023 in a nutshell:
Design as a Tool to Understand Our Present and Shape Our Future.
We Will Design is a year-round initiative with residencies and international exchanges, where design practices and experiences serve as tools to interpret—and sometimes resolve—the contradictions of our time.
