Gubi Make a Splash with a Sensory Design Spectacle in Milan.

GUBI staged a sensory design spectacle at Milan’s iconic public landmark the Bagni Misteriosi for Milan Design Week 2023.

In what was universally considered one of Milan Design Week 2023’s highlights, GUBI took over the city’s iconic public landmark, Bagni Misteriosi, to stage a sensory design spectacle. Unfolding in one of Milan’s most magical places in the heart of Porto Romana, the show marked the ‘mysterious baths’ debut as a design venue, sending visitors on a flowing, multi-layered journey of discovery.

One of the brand’s grandest Milan events to date, GUBI’s Salone showcase brought together multiple design stories under one vast roof—and beyond. In addition to GUBI’s expanding alfresco universe of furniture and lighting through the indoor/outdoor theme ‘Under the Sun’, Bagni Misteriosi also played host to TEN: Beyond the Beetle, a special exhibition curated by Marco Sammicheli as a creative tribute to an iconic GUBI piece, unveiling 10 multi-disciplinary artistic responses to the Beetle Chair by GamFratesi.

Alongside exciting new launches from contemporary design studios, the presentation also marked the official return to production of masterpieces from two of the luminaries of 20th-century lighting design: virtuoso Italian designer Gianfranco Frattini, and ‘the man who illuminated Finland’, Paavo Tynell.

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Making a Splash at Bagni Misteriosi

From outdoor terraces overlooking the epic poolside, to atmospheric interiors, via canvas-covered spaces in between, GUBI unveiled a playful and daring vision of elegantly laid-back summer living, seamlessly flowing from inside to out, and back again. A network of indoor spaces and pool-view terraces, following the path through the complex.

The set design juxtaposed the raw and rugged textures and concrete finishes of the Bagni Misteriosi’s interiors with soft drapes, tented canvas ceilings, and translucent fabric partitions. Across the diverse settings of the baths—from indoor chambers to orangery to poolside terrace—different zones told distinctive style stories. One space evokes the low-slung, leisure-loving 1970s, another the safari sophistication of luxury life under canvas, and a third the leafy eclecticism of a bohemian sunroom.

Gubi 3-Seater Pacha Sofa Designed by Pierre Paulin.

The Obello table lamp by Bill Curry.

MR01 Initial Lounge Chair Outdoor by Mathias Steen Rasmussen.

Tropique Dining Chair by Mathieu Matégot.

Under the Sun — Elevated Alfresco Living

Building on the success of GUBI’s outdoor debut last year, the ‘Under the Sun’ theme takes GUBI further alfresco to new levels of luxury and leisure. The breakthrough collection of works by the likes of Gabriella Crespi, Joe Colombo, and Pierre Paulin is enriched and expanded with vivid new designs, alfresco reinventions of GUBI favourites, and portable and outdoor lighting, offering everything needed to shape one’s space for the summer.

With their beautifully glazed, organically shaped ceramic tabletops, OEO Studio’s new Carmel Tables bring a colourful energy into both interior and exterior spaces. Alongside, Mathias Steen Rasmussen’s breakthrough design, the MR01 Initial Lounge Chair makes its alfresco debut at Salone with a specially developed outdoor variant in iroko wood.

In addition, GUBI’s relaunch of Mathieu Matégot’s Tropique Collection of dining chairs gets a material makeover with Riviera-chic new fabrics and nautically inspired stripes. Another Matégot classic of the 1950s, the Satellite Lamp, steps out into the open air with GUBI’s first-ever outdoor-specific lighting collection. Joining the Satellite, a new, portable edition of Space Copenhagen’s Seine lantern allows summer lovers to bring long-lasting light wherever it’s needed.

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Arthur Arbesser’s Beetle Chair for TEN, the exhibition.

Chair by Simon Wick.

Chair by Frank Maria.

Ten: Beyond the Beetle

When it was first presented in Milan, the Beetle Chair by GamFratesi was never intended to be a commercial product; it was a creative experiment in a new design language. In the decade since, the category-defying piece has become one of the most important, influential, and successful designs for both GamFratesi and GUBI. Now, a decade after it hit the market, the Beetle returns to Salone with a dedicated, one-of-a-kind exhibition.

Conceived with curator and design critic Marco Sammicheli, TEN hands the Beetle’s design over to 10 global creative minds who let their imagination run wild with the chair’s unique, nature-inspired form, extraordinary versatility and pioneering spirit. Spanning multiple disciplines, from sculpture and ceramics, to installation and illustration, to lighting and sound design, this extraordinary collection offers a breadth of perspectives on every aspect of the Beetle’s design identity.

“Going back to the Beetle’s origins as a creative experiment rather than a commercial product, these artists, architects, fashion designers, and musicians take an element, a detail, or a quality, and transform it into a story in the form of a soundscape, an installation, a typological alteration, or a narrative transposition,” said the curator Marco Sammicheli. “Key to the project is the absolute expressive freedom, playful use of scale and the range of creative languages and media chosen by each of the contributors.”

GUBI is available in Australia exclusively through Cult Design. For more information, head to gubi.com and cultdesign.com.au

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[Images courtesy of Gubi.]