About
the Event




Dates

From 12.10.19 to 04.11.19


Location

1 Chome-7-1 Shinsaibashisuji,
Chuo Ward, Osaka

The collaboration

The OSAKA×MILANO DESIGN LINK took place between October and November 2019. This event is a collaboration between Fuorisalone.it (the official reference for the world’s greatest design event held in Milan) and Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores, with the support of the creative agency Drill Inc.
The collaboration is one of the events promoted in occasion of the Grand Opening of the Main Building of Daimaru Shinsaibashi Store, in Shinsaibashi, Osaka, which took place on September 20, 2019.


What it is

OSAKA×MILANO DESIGN LINK is a design festival that took place in the streets of Shinsaibashi, aiming at a long-term cultural growth of the district. In this first edition, Fuorisalone.it and Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores welcomed nine special design micro-exhibitions in different areas of the just renewed department store and in some local showrooms. The Daimaru Shinsaibashi store’s exclusive contents, that merge fashion and design, mixed with Fuorisalone’ installations to bring uniqueness and excitement to the building and the district.






daimaru




A bridge between Milan and Osaka

The festival has been conceived by Daimaru Matsuzakaya Department Stores to create a link between Osaka and Milan through design as a strategic, commercial and cultural lever. But also to celebrate Fuorisalone as the most important and representative moment for Milan, the world’s design capital.


The aim has been to establish a long-term partnership between Italy and Japan, developing formats for events and activities to be held in Japan, in collaboration with Studiolabo and Fuorisalone.it. "Local marketing" and "Design" are the two strategies Studiolabo has developed in its Fuorisalone.it and Brera Design District projects. These same strategies have been the drivers for the development of the collaboration with Daimaru, together with the valuable support of Drill, a Japanese production agency and partner of the project.


Design installations

During Fuorisalone 2019 we started by identifying 30 different design exhibitions which mixed materials and processes (from ceramics to light, from high craftsmanship to mass production). We then short-listed and selected nine installations based on the dimensional and spatial limits defined by Daimaru Shinsaibashi Store. We thus searched for small installations that could be replicated in another context while maintaining their expressive power and evocative value. As a result, the festival has been necessarily a very partial synthesis of what Fuorisalone 2019 has to offer, but it aimed to be a good business card to tell the story of Milan Design Week.


Visual display designers

For the shop windows at the entrance of the Daimaru Shinsaibashi Store we decided to engage Elena Salmistraro and Matteo Cibic, two of the most interesting and eclectic young Italian designers on the international scene. Their works are inspired by different disciplines, from art to graphics, from product design to handcrafted production. Studiolabo teamed up with both to define visual projects specifically dedicated to Daimaru, emphasizing the two designers' ability to create iconic imaginations and special worlds. With the constant support of Daimaru Shinsaibashi Store, Elena and Matteo have developed four site-specific projects, reinterpreting Japanese tradition and culture through their new and playful languages.