Spazio Rossana Orlandi | Milan 2011.

Rossana Orlandi. Isn’t this such a wonderful photo? © Domingo Antonio Robledo. (Thanks so much d!)

Amazing taxidermy piece at the entry to the Spazio RO by French artists Frederique Morrel.

Detail shots of taxidermy by Frederique Morrel. Check out the wicked eyelashes on the skeleton dude!

Can you spot Rossana in the middle of the top photo being filmed for an interview? Bottom right – stunning patchwork sofa by Beirut based duo Bokja.

“Home From Home” by JamesPlumb.  Objects for this project were created during a 2 month residency at Spazio Rossana Orlandi at the end of 2010. Hannah Plumb & James Ruessll work together ‘with the overlooked and discarded, taking time, worn antiques & cast offs to produce one-off assemblage, lumiares, & interiors.’ Just stunning.

Top – Photos of the central courtyard. Bottom – Beautiful green 28 Series Bocci chandelier hanging above the entry.

More photos from the central courtyard. Top left image is also “Home From Home” project by JamesPlumb.

Animals throughout the courtyard. I have extreme love for the blue pig. Awesome.

Milan Design Week Pilgrimage simply wouldn’t be the same without (at least one) visit to the supremely cool Spazio Rossana Orlandi. You may recall my post from last year in which I was practically losing my mind over the extreme awesomeness of Rossana and her monster cool gallery and retail space. This lady is a true innovator on the queen of Awesome. Her ability to spot talent and curate design excellence is second to none. Rossana – I bow to you.

Similarly to last year, the central courtyard once again featured embroidered taxidermy by French artists Frederique Morrel – that piece in the shape of a giant horse-deer-type-animal-with-antlers and a skeleton with wicked eyelashes on it’s back. Crazy-town, although not quite as impressive as last year’s entire-wall-of-taxidermy (remember?) which completely blew my mind. Nevertheless, there was no shortage of brilliant things to look at.

Playful collection titled “Self-discipline” by Nika Zupanc. (Nika was hanging around the courtyard the day I visited and OMG, she is such a fox. I know, a bit off-topic here but I just had to say it. Ok, where were we?)

Truly beautiful work by students of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Top two images of ‘Animal | Mimeral’ pendant lights by Valerie DeKeyser. Valerie used materials  such as wild stallion horse hair, iridescent pelt of peacock, man-made sable from iron dust and powdered sugar. How incredible! Bottom left – ‘Cake’ by Brian Anderson.  “Part jail, part jewellery, part cloak, part cartwheel ruff, part affluence, part austerity, Cake imagines a world in which we have our cake and dare to eat it too.”

‘Kutani Choemon’ – Jaime Hayón‘s collaboration with Choemon, a Japanese ceramics manufacturer and Maruwakaya, a Japanese design firm. Delicious.

It’s Jaime Hayón again. This time for Metalarte.

More of Jaime Hayón for Metalarte. All-right Jamie. We get it mate… You CAN design!

Top – Seats made from reclaimed pipes. Bottom – collection of painted benches made from rough, uncut reclaimed planks (shown leaning against the wall). Both by Piet Hein Eek. That’s the man himself in top right image with his hands on his head. Yep.

‘Hexalights’ by Marcus Tremonto, a series of  two-dimensional pendant lights with playful cartoon forms. Love.

Top image – Studio Formafantasma were back at RO with another project this year titled “Botanica”. “These objects are designed as if the oil-based era, in which we are living, never took place.” Studio Formafantasma are “investigating the pre-bakelite period, discovering unexpected textures, feelings, and the technical possibilities offered by natural polymers extracted from plants or animal-derivatives.” Bottom right – Some of the objects Presented by Thomas Eyck. ‘Schwarm’ by RaR, a collection of 63 limited-edition beetle shaped vases in glazed porcelain. Also chair and chest designed by Christien Meindertsma.

‘Light Tray’ by Norwegian designers Andreas Engesvik and Daniel Rybakken. This incredibly beautiful installation consisted of compound of a powder coated aluminium tray, hand blown, coloured glass domes and fixed light sources.

When wandering through the many rooms of this magical design wonderland, it becomes very clear that Rossana is an individual with powerful, unique and well honed instincts. The work on display is vastly varied and seemingly unrelated – there you will find unorthodox design alongside traditional furniture and product; found objects, vintage pieces and extravagant one-off creations; emerging talent together with big names such as Jasper Morrison, Jaime Hayón, Piet Hein Eek, Campana brothers and the like. It’s practically schizophrenic in it’s more is more approach, yet it feels so natural, unpretentious, warm and social, with a truly refreshing spirit.

Ok, basically what’s I’m saying here is that Rossana rocks! I simply cannot explain the level of admiration I have for this woman.

Rossana’s retail space on top of the exhibition rooms is a collection of whimsical, beautiful, exquisite and curious objects of desire.

More images from the retail space. How friggin’ hilarious are the shiny objects in the top image? It’s Jojo The Sex Buddha. Hilarious!

And so the retail space craziness continues. Bottom image of Kyoto Lamp prototype (Copper, Oak, Brass and Glass) by Alvaro Catalan de Ocon.

Pendant lights above point-of-sale counters.

More retail space goodness. Bottom left – ‘Snout Cup’ by Dutch firmFreaks United. Bottom right – ‘Story Vase’ by Front and the Siyazama Project for Editions in Craft.

Ah! I love these wire animal sculptures. I totally wanted to buy the hot pink piggy in the bottom left. Alas, it was slightly out of my budget at €1,100. Oh and I have no idea who makes / designs them. Sorry.

Porcelain plate ‘collage’ by French porcelain manufacturer Bernardaud.

More stuff from Spazio RO corridors. Below is a collection of chairs from Bokja.

[Top image © Domingo Antonio Robledo. All other images © yellowtrace.]