Architonic was founded by the architects Tobias Lutz and Nils Becker in 2003. Architonic is the world’s leading research tool for the specification of premium architectural and design products. The curated database currently provides information about more than 200.000 products from 1.500 brands and 6.200 designers.
Nowhere else you have such a dense programme. Design is all over the city.
— Tobias LutzFor me it’s the place to be after a long day at Salone. I enjoy hopping from event to event, discovering new brands and amazing projects and meeting people in a more relaxed atmosphere. I am happy that things are becoming more clustered around Brera, as it's impossible to travel from one corner of the city to the other. Fuorisalone is great the way it is, but days should definitely be longer during Milan Design Week.
Fuorisalone really is the point that differentiates Milan Design Week from any other design week or fair. Nowhere else you have such a dense programme. Design is all over the city. Because Salone is owned by the Italian association of furniture makers, it is still very focussed on Italian brands. Fourisalone – as a melting pot of many international brands and young design – offers a nice contrast to this.
It’s a love hate relationship: Great evenings often end at Bar Basso where everyone comes together to share their thoughts and impressions after a long day. The morning after I often regret that I went there. What and where to eat during the week? I tend to grab something on the go. Thanks to the quality of Italian food you can actually do this for an entire week without having to worry about malnutrition.
In all the years lots of strange things have happened to me at Milan Design Week – usually after 2am and memories are rather blurry…
My biggest learning is that you can’t stick to a fixed schedule during Milan Design Week and you can’t see everything and meet everyone in just one week. At the fair I usually plan my meetings, at Fuorisalone I just let it flow.
Many years ago we met Birgit and Massimo from Designboom. We stayed in touch and our personal relationship grew into a great business partnership.
