New images from Rick Owens Milan store | Milan design week

I never leave Milan without visiting my favourite stores and Rick Owens is certainly one of them, not only the store, but also the changing collections and the people working at Rick Owens are just amazing. Unfortunately the furniture collection is way above my budget but one can dream right! Here are a few snapshots of how the store looked during Milan Design week.

pictures ©vosgesparis

Interlude by Apparatus Studio | Milan Design week 2019

Last year's exhibition at Apparatus studio in Milan showed beautiful raw walls, lots of smaller accessories and a focus on the different light fixtures, definitely worth having a look at if you missed it: Apparatus Studio store 
This year, deep green and brown walls, benches that remind me of the telephone benches we used to see last century, tables, folding screens and cabinets in leather and brass. Interlude is a rather 'heavy' collection if you ask me, but I still wanted to show a few images of it.

Previous posts about Apparatus on the blog can be found here: Apparatus 

pictures ©vosgesparis

Mosa at Masterly Milano | w/ Style

Hope you enjoyed my previous stories about Milan Design week, there is a lot more to come as I enjoyed a good seven days in Milan this year. Like most years I shared an apartment with Iris and Wen and we had a fantastic week in our favourite area which was a great starting point for most exhibitions and area's we wanted to visit.

This year I did not work on the actual fair, as I mostly do every year for a day, collaborationg for an Italian magazine, together with a group of friends. This year I sticked to the Dutch and got the opportunity to work with Wen and our w/ Style agency together with Mosa, you might have seen our Instagram Stories over the last weeks. The Dutch tiles manufacturer returned to Milan this year with their installation ‘Reflections’ to be part of ‘Masterly - the Dutch in Milano', a major and well known event during Milan Design week.

Every year the Dutch change 'Palazzo Francesco Turati', located in the upcoming art and design district 5vie, into a Dutch Pavilion where some of the Netherlands best designers, company's and young talents present their work. While the court yard is turned into a colourful flower bed of 15.000 tulips that are hand out to the inhabitants of Milan on the last day of the exhibition.

Drawing on Dutch culture and tradition, this year's Dutch Pavilion in Milan is aligned with this year’s celebrations around a key anniversary linked to iconic painter Rembrandt van Rijn - 2019 is ‘Rembrandt Year’ in the Netherlands, marking 350 years from the great master’s death. The Dutch Pavilion features a carefully selected constellation of the Dutch craft, design, and art professionals, touching upon themes inspired by Rembrandt’s legacy.

'Reflections' | Mosa at Masterly
Mosa took the visitors on a journey through space and time with ‘Reflections’ Their installation, used mirrors as a reference to Rembrandt’s famous self-portraits, in combination with Terra Tones floor tiles and the elements of light and perspective.

Sharpness and elegance defines Mosa ceramics and this was clearly translated through a calming, modern exhibition with a strong theoretical base. A beautiful minimalistic room with tactile ceramic surfaces featured warm colours and an easily legible, minimalist design that kept the overall aesthetic clean and sophisticated.

In Milan Mosa introduced three new warm colours to the Terra Tones collection. Mosa scenes floor and wand tiles were used in combination with the portrait of Rembrandt at the entrance of the room, the tiles are available in eight colour groups, in four different nuances and textures for a perfect mix and match.

Mosa w/ Style
We always love to add a personal touch to each w/ Style collaboration by using the clients products and giving it our own twist. For this we styled some stills with a mix of tiles from the Mosa scenes collection and a beautiful Rembrandt self portrait. By creating a table setting, using dark colours, glass and linen, we gave our own take on the Rembrandt theme.

Written in collaboration with Mosa

All pictures © w/ Style | Photography Wen van Woudenberg
with thanks to Emma B. & Studio Ro Smit

Rolf Benz showroom & factory visit in Nagold

With a trip to Milan and a kitchen renovation that is still going on, I almost forgot to show you some images of my trip to the Rolf Benz factory and showroom earlier this year. I always enjoy getting to know a brand better than just at the fair, in January I visited the huge stand where Rolf Benz presented their new collection, when taking over the imm instagram account. You can still see a selection of my posts here at the #immspired highlighted album

A beautiful stand and the located opposite Rolf Benz cafe was a welcome spot for meetups and a break during the long days at the fair. The showroom is located in Nagold, a small town in southwestern Germany, bordering the Northern Black Forest. During lunch I had the opportunity to get a glimpse of the beautiful city centre with it’s half-timbered houses and modern architecture. 

Rolf Benz stand at imm Cologne

Rolf Benz has been producing sofas for more than 50 years, since young upholsterer, Rolf Benz from Nagold founded “Rolf Benz” in 1964. With the addiform elements he made a radical break from the traditional, conventional arrangement of sofa, two opposite facing armchairs and a coffee table. The elements of the addiform are flexible and combinable in their arrangement something quite revolutionair that time. The first editions and famous sofa’s, used in tv shows, are real style icons and showcased at the entrance of the showroom, pictured above.

Our visit started with a small tour through one of the workshops, where young students are educated and taught every single detail of the machines used in the factory, and the process from a piece of fabric to complete upholstery. We had fun following a small class with the solid machines used.

Next a tour through the factory where each year several hundreds of thousands of square metres of fabric and leather are turned into covers by specialist employees who have a huge know how about the fabric and leather they work with, helped with technologies that have been specially developed for Rolf Benz.

The employee scans, checks and touches each meter of fabric by sight and by hand. It was good to see nothing is waste as the scanner and the employee’s trained eye divide the leather up into different zones that are used according to their suitability for conspicuous surfaces such as seat cushions and rests, or for less visible parts underneath the sofa.

A visit to a factory lead you through the whole process from selecting material, to the department where carpenters prepare and assemble the frames manually and the upholstery of every single piece of the sofa or chair. Apart from supplied parts such as injection moulding, foam and metal feet, Rolf Benz create everything themselves, often by hand and no piece of furniture leaves the factory before a final inspection

At the 3,800 square metres showroom the complete collection is on display, visitors can test and try out the functions of every single piece and select their favourite covering from the extensive collection of fabrics and leathers.

Rolf Benz produces everything for the home, next to the collection of sofa's there are several coffee tables, carpets and accessories for the sitting area and complete dining solutions, remember the video's I made at imm about the marble table with wooden inlay? It can still be found at my own imm stories, including a demonstration of their Aura sofa! 

I made a few snapshots at the showroom, can you believe me if I tell you we tested every single sofa which resulted in messy pictures of us not wanting to get out of the sofa's and happy faces. For more pictures of the showroom and products I would recommend to visit the Rolf Benz website and have a look and read into their rich history and huge collection. 

This post is written in collaboration with Rolf Benz who kindly covered my travel costs

pictures vosgesparis | 2nd picture by Rolf Benz

Les Arcanistes by Studio Pepe | Milan design week 2019

Studiopepe’s Manifesto Project for Milan Design Week 2019 took place in a beautiful former gold manufacture dating back to the 1900s. After last years small exhibition, have a look here at my impression of Club Unseen this year's exhibition was overwhelming. It was large, lots to see and discover and I must admit I skipped a few rooms, maybe it was just a bit to much for me.

'Les Arcanists' as the project was called were ante-litteram chemists, who held the arcane and secret knowledge of formulas able to create porcelain and to work with materials such as glass and metals. 

Studiopepe, in collaboration with their partners, designed a path through design and bespoke pieces, re-editions of historical pieces, art pieces and installation rooms in which the connection between matter, archetypes and the power of symbols is deepened. The experience of Les Arcanistes translates into a sequence of spaces: the Source of the Vibrational Water, the Materioteca, the Alchemic Laboratory and the Mantica Society. Next week more of Milan Design week! 

pictures ©vosgesparis