Antonio Marras & Segno Italiano // MILANTRACE2015.

No other place in the world does courtyards like Milan. Gobsmacking beauty hidden behind sometimes unwelcoming facades are just some of my favourite moments in this special city. Which is why I practically lost my schnitzel after entering the incredible courtyard and the showroom of Italian fashion designer Antonio Marras – it had me squealing with excitement in an instant!

Antonio Marras made his mark for his ability to merge references from history and fantasy with superb craftsmanship. His showroom and courtyard are a synthesis of all of these values – whimsical and bonkers amazing is the only way to describe the experience of visiting.

Inside the showroom hang the lights made from full-length dresses with suspended bicycle wheels; a giant circular bookshelf constructed from stacked old drawers divides the space; vintage mannequins adorned in Marras’ outfits lend the space a unique character – everything about it is pure visual ecstasy!

Downstairs, in a separate space, Antonio Marras showcased a project with Segno Italiano (Signs of Italy) called ‘Il Sentiero dei Nidi di Ragno’, in which the designer presented a collection of woven baskets for Milan Design Week 2015. Marras reinterpreted the baskets by weaving into them fabrics from his own fashion collections.

Part of the project with Segno Italiano was an installation called “Spiders Nest Trail” – a huge 5m tall bird cage which was wrapped in tulle, with real birds flying within, and nests with suspended fabric strips on a rotating mechanisms inside it. It was bizarre, weird and wild!

Antonio Marras + Segno Italiano – Il Sentiero dei Nidi di Ragno – was the winner of Milano Design Award 2015 for its effective combination of storytelling, technology and artefacts. The installation has been described by the judges as showing an exemplary coherence of concept and execution, in a perfect balance between poetry and materiality. And I simply couldn’t agree more.