Free your mind, listen to my voice and imagine what I’m going to describe you.
An interesting building, modern, all glass and metal, headquarters of the most important economical newspaper in Italy. A big hall, very airy and with loads of natural light. The opening of a little (very very little) exposition about ten “food bag” realized by ten young designers and (supposedly, as I haven’t seen any…) pictures of the new Ferran Adrià collection of tablewares. On the sides of the big hall two buffet station with some young chefs preparing, live, the buffet, a mix of wonderful little dishes, spoons and verrines.
And now fill all the big space, plus the big garden, with a crowd (between 200 and 300) of hungry people, elegant, chic, between mid forty and sixty, all well dressed, struggling to eat something free. People, judging by their dresses, that could pay a dinner at the restaurants of those young chefs with the blink of an eye, instead they were pushing and shoving just to arrive to the buffet, stealing non finished dishes, gulping down as much food as they could, as famine was just knocking at the door…
I was trying to make my way through when I realize that I was far too young and too polite to compete with those people, so I began to make my way to the backstage and take pictures… While I was there I distinctly heard one of the chef angrily saying to an old man (tie and jacket, very elegant, maybe in Armani or other expensive fashion stuff): “Could you please wait until I finish the dish before to take it? I’m just asking you to be polite” and the old man waited there, grumbling…
If you were able to imagine that, well, welcome to Milan during the Design Week!

Coming to the real purpose of my visit to this “show”: in the middle of the big hall there was this little stand with the ten creations, and I have to say that, despite the absolutely useless meaning of some objects (some were disposable bags made with environment unfriendly materials… Enough said), others were really interesting, like the vertical Bento… The long awaited pictures of Ferran Adrià new collection were unseen, as long as there weren’t the ones hanging from the high ceiling, so practically invisible to the human eye…

All this had at least two good points of view (and I assure that I went there will all the best intentions…):
1- I was able to meet a new Italian food blogger, Roberta, that I was checking out since some times, as she writes very clever (and ironic) posts. We strolled around Milan with some of my friends for the rest of the night!
2- The beautiful, wonderful, amazing bag containing the press kit: orange, leather (or something very similar!), perfect for carrying around papers: I love it!

After this “sociological study” (as Roberta called it) of rich people struggling for free food, we headed to the opposite part of the city, via Tortona, filled with studios and young artists. The amount of people there was this year was amazing (and frightening! Too many, too many!).
There we visited a very amusing and appealing exposition by Marti Guixé, a very wit Spanish artist: he reinterpreted food, transforming it in pieces of conceptual art, like the lollipop you eat and after you can spit the seed inside to let a new plant grow, or like serigraphed peas or olive atoms… That was fun and far more the most “design food” I’ve seen…

Disclaimer: this post, especially the first part, is intended to be read as an ironic piece. True, but ironic!