Milan Design Week 2021: Bvlgari recalling a Metamorphosis

 

For this year’s Milan Design Week, Bvlgari took visitors on a journey of Metamorphosis, supporting four international artists who interpreted the theme through the intuitive language of art.

Artists Azuma Makoto, Ann Veronica Janssens, Daan Roosegaarde, and architect Vincent Van Duysen filled the Gallery of Modern Art in Milan with their transformational works. Azuma Makoto also installed a work ‘Golden Eden’ at Bvlgari’s Milan Hotel, in honor of the Bvlgari Serpenti icon. The exhibition united natural materials, light and reflections, and technology to mesmerizing effect.

Continuing its support for the arts, Italian luxury house Bulgari is a constant presence at Milan Design Week events. For the September edition of the 2021 Milan Design Week, Bulgari teamed up with four artists proposing striking interpretations of the theme of metamorphosis in their personal creative language.

Bvlgari inaugurated the “Metamorphosis” exhibition for the opening of Milan Design Week. Under Alba Cappellieri’s supervision, Director of the Museo del Gioiello in Vicenza’s Basilica Palladiana, Italy’s first jewellery museum, Bvlgari recounted the story of the celebrated snake, a symbol of metamorphosis and emblem of the Maison since the late 1940s.

The exhibition took place in Milan at the Gallery of Modern Art and in the garden of the Bvlgari Hotel Milano. To help preserve the environment with a circular economy approach, all the installations were created with natural materials such as flowers, water and glass, and are designed for reuse.

Famed for his botanical sculptures, Azuma Makoto proposed two installations. His “Garden of Eden” is a copper tree with leaves crafted from plants and flowers, expressing metamorphosis through the changes of the natural elements in the sculpture. The living things change shape, color and smell as time passes. A second work at the Bvlgari hotel, “Golden Eden”, is an interpretation of the natural environment of Bvlgari’s Serpenti icon.

For “Lotus Oculus”, artist Daan Roosegaarde was inspired by Rome’s ancient Pantheon. The living artwork made from hundreds of light sensitive flowers unfolds to create a play of light and movement.

Visual artist Ann Veronica Janssens presented “Gam Gam Gam”, a series of minimalist works that contrast with the sumptuous décor of the site where they were displayed. Her work is based on the optical effects of reflection, which produces continually changing impressions.

With “Shelter”, architect Vincent Van Duysen invited viewers into a contemplative space. The installation emerged from the wood floor to create a labyrinth covered with metallic tones. The opaque surface of the sculpture evoked the iconic design of Bvlgari Serpenti creations.