Nina Yashar’s Nilufar Gallery & Depot Bringing the Goods to Milan Design Week 2021.

Andres Reisinger’s Bold Chair at Nilufar Depot.

Khaled El Mays’ Snake Foor Lamp at Nilufar Depot.

Nanda Vigo, 2006. Photo: Ruven Afanador.

Sun-Ra by Nanda Vigo, on show at Nilufar Depot.

Hands up if you’re in Milan right now? What do you know – virtually nobody’s there from Australia. While we remain in hard lockdown over here, the global design community is congregating in Milan this week after an extended break, for what’s sure to be a very special gathering.

The doyenne of rare vintage and collectible design, Nina Yashar, has assembled an impressive group of creatives, exhibiting across three locations for Milan Design Week 2021 – the famed Nilufar Gallery at Via della Spiga 32, the impressive Nilufar Depot at Viale Lancetti 34, and small but significant presence at Alcova, at Via Simone Saint Bon 1. The shows present an electrifying selection of projects and unique pieces, discovered through Nina’s meticulous research and a keen eye for beauty, design and contemporary art.

“I’m very fond of this year’s edition of Design Week: it marks a new beginning and is an occasion to meet after a long time and discuss the latest trends and discoveries in the industry, as well as new ways of collaboration,” says Nina. “The past few months have given us the opportunity to reflect on our work, delve into our projects, and conduct research together with designers.”

Consagra Installation at Nilufar Depot. Photo: Mattia Iotti.

Nina Yashar. Photo: Mattia Iotti.

Pietro Consagra, 1972, Consagra. Photo: Enzo Sellerio.

The main atrium of the Depot plays host to the major contemporary art exhibition dubbed Matacubi by Pietro Consagra. The show, curated by Nina together with Luca Massimo Barbero, was organized in collaboration with the Pietro Consagra Archives and installed by Ruggero Moncada di Patern. The exhibit features a selection of unpublished works by the eclectic artist who was born in Mazara del Vallo in 1920 and who is internationally recognized as the most prominent figure in the new Italian contemporary sculpture scene.

Depot’s Palcoscenico area is dedicated to Odyssey, Andrés Reisinger’s first solo show in Italy, where the designer speaks of the connection between the digital and the real world through a dialogue between furniture and NFTs. The Caveau space hosts the solo exhibition Jungle by Khaled El Mays featuring a site-specific intervention by Federica Perazzoli.

The collection of unpublished lamps, Sun-Ra by Nanda Vigo, graces one of the 30 stages set up at Depot. Made in collaboration with JCP Universe, this is the last project by the celebrated designer who recently passed away.

Bethan Laura Wood, Ornate. Photo: Angus Mills.

Bethan Laura Wood, Meisen Cabinet. Photo: Emanuele Tortora.

Bethan Laura Wood Portrait. Photo: Mark Cocksedge.

Bethan Laura Wood, Meisen Desk. Photo: Emanuele Tortora.

Analogia Project.

Analogia Project, Arcoiris Collection.

Over at Nilufar Gallery, the Ornate exhibition celebrates the first 10 years of the collaboration between Nina Yashar and Bethan Laura Wood. Alongside a number of iconic pieces the designer has created exclusively for Nilufar over the past decade, a new collection of mirrors, lights and cabinets speaks of the designer’s different cultural influences.

The show Some Vibrant Things by Audrey Large, curated by Studio Vedét, is on display at the Nilufar 25 mq project room. The Senato exhibition space houses an original selection of historical and contemporary pieces as part of a site-specific installation designed by Federica Perazzoli. Chez Nina, on the first floor of the Gallery, hosts the new series Arcoiris by Analogia Project and two projects by Filippo Carandini, as his first collaboration with Nilufar.

Far Brassless at Alcova. Left: Objects Of Common Interest, Daydream Freestanding Shelving. Right: Antonio Barone, GR8 Chair. Photos: Mattia Iotti.

At Alcova, the collective show Brassless, forming part of the FAR program curated by Studio Vedèt, was initially presented at Nilufar Depot in 2020. The exhibition features a selection of unique pieces by international designers including Objects of Common Interest, Simon Ballen, Odd Matter, Older and Carlo Lorenzetti among others.

For more information, visit nilufar.com.

Related: It’s All About Colour: Studio Nucleo’s Solo Exhibition at Nilufar Gallery.

[Images courtesy of Nilufar Gallery. Photography credits noted.]