MAKERS 2: Design That Deceives the Senses in Milan

The second chapter of the MAKERS exhibition series, MAKERS 2, is on view at Caselli 11-12, a young design gallery in Milan. The show features works by 39 international artists and designers who employ traditional materials like glass, ceramic, stone, and metal with experimental techniques, blurring the line between sculpture and functional object. Highlights include Illya Goldman Gubin's tables made from cardboard boxes reinforced with resin and fiberglass, appearing fragile but being solid; Heloïse Colrat's three-centimeter-tall sculptures mimicking chewed gum and deflated balloons; Maria Bang Espersen's 'minute sculptures' of folded glass; and Tejo Remy and René Veenhuizen's perforated benches that look inflatable but are made of concrete reinforced with metal fibers. The exhibition occupies two former tollbooths at Porta Nuova: Casello 11 with whitewashed walls and a modern look, and Casello 12 with raw walls and aged floors. The curatorial focus is on self-production and hands-on making, a trend popular among younger designers who increasingly blur the line between designer and maker. Gianmarco Guarascio presents lamps created by manipulating copper with fire, discovering colored shades on the metal surface. Tessa Silva uses milk proteins (casein) mixed with plaster to create vases, reviving a medieval English technique. WKND Lab from Seoul developed a sustainable material from eggshells.