The 7th edition of Isola Design Festival, organized by the digital and physical design platform Isola, April 18 to 23, 2023, provides more than 40 exhibitions and installations, lively events and a series of talks, involving almost 300 international designers, design studios, creators, and manufacturers. The events will take place in a multitude of venues within and beyond the Isola Design District.

The 2023 theme of Isola Design Festival, “Nothing Happens if Nothing Happens”, delves into the realm of regeneration. The manifesto is the following: What has happened? Earth is deteriorating. Humans have progressively used and consumed our planet’s natural resources while leaving a giant, hollow footprint. What have we done? Countless solutions have been proposed. Within the design community, focus has shifted towards sustainable and circular design, to reinventing outdated processes. But designing sustainably means actions, not just words, restoring hope for new generations. What can happen? We must shape new guidelines for the design industry by rethinking the processes and production systems, regenerating natural resour- ces and waste, and remediating the harm we have done to our planet. The next step must be taken now, because Nothing Happens if Nothing Happens.

Collective exhibitions, special collaborations, and events will invigorate the district in parallel with seven shows curated by Isola’s curatorial team, mana- ged by head scouter and curator Juan Torres, and guest curators.

Circolare - The Circular Village
Piazza Città di Lombardia, 20124 Milano
Hosted in the scenic 4.000 m2 covered square of the Regione Lombardia, the exhibition showcases natural raw materials, biomaterials, and products made with natural resources or industrial waste, with a minimum environmental impact in terms of production. The layout of the space, designed by Amsterdam based Studio Mast in collaboration among the others, with Fiction Factory, Interface, and The Good Plastic Company, is completely zero waste, giving new life to discarded furniture materials, which have been reused as displays, bases, and dividers that will have a third life once the exhibition comes to a close.

Take Care! Of your mind, body, and environment
via Gaetano de Castillia 26, 20124 Milano
The project, curated by the multidisciplinary design studio Tellurico, at Stecca3, is an immersive show exhibiting projects focused on tackling contemporary issues that cover both the social and individual spheres, the very first event to highlight individual and collective wellness, stated in all its meanings.

Tools & Crafts
via Gaetano de Castillia 28, 20124 Milano
The exhibition, at Fondazione Riccardo Catella, hosts young talents and a new generation of artisans that combine traditional expertise with innovative and experimental techniques to create contemporary and collectible design pieces. From the application of AI, coding, and 3D printing to glassblowing, casting, and molding techniques, the projects involved will show how design can cherish tradition, and honor ancient and new techniques while fostering innovation.

Isola Design Gallery
via Pastrengo 14, 20159 Milano
The 4th edition of Isola Design Gallery celebrates unique and handcrafted products, collectible design that tells a story, customizable pieces that grant an experience, and contemporary products inspired by everyday life. The project is the product of a four-way collaboration between Isola’s creative director, Elif Resitoglu, and Stephanie Blanchard, co-founder of Iammi studio, the scenery space, inspired by metaphysics and Giorgio De Chirico's work, and it will create a scenery space, inspired by metaphy- sics and Giorgio De Chirico's work. Included within the exhibition is The Dutch Corner, curated by Wisse Trooster and supported by the Netherlands consulate-general in Milan, presenting a selection of Dutch talents and established design studios.

Under Design Lebanon
via Farini 35, 20159 Milano
Curated by Ghassan Salameh and hosted by the association Viafarini, the initiative shows a realistic mapping and projection on the currently still functioning bodies under the exceptional conjunction of social, political and economic crises that Lebanon is undergoing, dropping the aspect of design as a commodity that is dissociated with its local and global contexts and responsibilities and saving what is important.

Rising Talents
via Federico Confalonieri 21, 20124 Milano
For this year’s edition of Rising Talents, Isola hosts a selection of five young alumni from Design Academy Eindhoven, with the curation of Wisse Trooster.

Innovation for Living
via Varesina, 20156 Milano
Isola enlarges its borders reaching a new area of Milan, the Certosa District, in collaboration with Designtech and DesignWanted, with the project Innovation for Living, an exhibition hosted in a 3.000sqm industrial space and dedicated to design technology. The exhibition promotes projects that investigate the integration of advanced technology into furniture and architecture to bring innovative solutions to life. The set-up has been designed by the Italian leading design studio Pininfarina with the goal of revolutionizing the rigidity of the space, to make it fluid, flexible and harmonious with the artworks.

Isola Design Festival
April 17-23, 2023
www.isola.design