The official opening of the Milan Design Week 2016, began with Fuori Salone in the prestigious location of Via Durini. Here, the installations and projects by Cassina, B&B and Porro were introduced to the public in a lavish display of exciting colour and energetic forms.

Cassina chose to showcase the work of the brand’s new artistic director. Patricia Urquiola, whose redesign of the store is marked by a radical, yet unassuming contemporary transformation. The harmonious combination of materials, textures and surfaces produces a warm ambience which the designer entitles ‘no afraid of colour’. In the Cassina showroom, one’s attention is drawn to an ‘art installation’ of pieces by an impressive list of world famous designers. The Gender armchair with Pouf by Urquiola, Marble table 10 by Piero Lissoni, Ico Chair by Ora Ito, the new EXS Voltage Sofa by Philippe Starck and the props dividing panel by Konstantin Grcic. An emotive tribute to the Iraqi British architect Zaha Hadid, who recently passed away, and as a reminder of her extraordinary talent, is her armchair, the ZH One.

B&B Italia celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the brand by introducing the new Edouard Sofa by Antonio Citterio, together with Cozy small tables, it shows a ‘capsule collection’ by Duo Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien which includes the Tabour Pouf, Do Maru armchair and the Maru tables. The pieces exhibit distinctive contrasts of forms, materials and usage.

Porro showroom is all about the client’s needs. Through a palette of 24 colours and 16 wood finishes, a bespoke service promises to create a personalised solution to individual specifications. The elegant space in which the brand’s storage solutions are displayed was designed by Piero Lissoni.