Bolon and Mac Stopa Create Energizing Flooring for Milan Design Week

Swedish design company Bolon and acclaimed designer Mac Stopa have together created unique flooring that will be exclusively presented during Milan Design Week. 



Stopa, who was asked to develop a creative concept for INTERNI magazine's Milan exhibit, produced "Energy for Creativity" - a strong, color and pattern based three-dimensional environment in which Bolon's flooring is an important element of the execution.



As founder and chief architect of Massive Design, Mac Stopa is globally recognised for his innovative, unconventional interiors and design style. With a portfolio and client list that includes many global brands, his work in creating unique public spaces and within industrial design has received widespread acclaim. In collaboration with Bolon, Mac has created his own unique interpretation of their product for the Energy for Creativity INTERNI Press Room.

Consisting of two areas, the INTERNI Press Room integrates visitors in a creative zone, conveying the energizing and creative concept of mixing together multiple colours and materials. In consultation with Bolon's design team, Mac designed tessellating three-dimensional trapezoid floor tiles to form a key visual element of the space. To further optimise the flooring's potential, the tiles will be rotated over the period of the installation, creating multiple geometrical layouts. 

Mac explains - "Energy for Creativity refers to innovation in design, which involves constant experimentation in order to bring new solutions to life. It ́s about challenging existing thinking and technology and enriching it with an alternative and often experimental way of developing new designs and products. Driven by passion, sensitivity, and imagination, Energy for Creativity cures boredom by fuelling the need to experiment and find new alternative solutions."

During Milan Design Week, Bolon will also be installed in a number of places during including the stands of Missoni, Cappellini and Blå Station. In addition Bolon will be seen at the Elle Decoration 25 years exhibition, the Missoni exhibition at Maga Museum and in Luceplan's showroom.

Bolon is a Swedish cutting-edge design company managed by sisters Annica and Marie Eklund, the third generation of the family to own the company. They have developed the company from a traditional weaving mill into an international design brand, with a focus on innovative flooring and creative interiors. Bolon's list of clientèle includes Microsoft, Google, Mercedes, Adidas, Reebok and Sheraton, as well as leading architects and designers such as Jean Nouvel and Cappellini. All development, design and production is 100% made in Ulricehamn, Sweden.

For more information, please visit: www.bolon.com

Salone del Mobile 2015: MINI and Jaime Hayon Present 'Urban Perspectives'

A Fantastical Installation on the Future of Urban Mobility

For this year's Salone del Mobile, MINI has teamed up with Spanish designer and artist Jaime Hayon to present an installation that conjures up visions of tomorrow's urban mobility in the form of an imaginary world.

The focus of the installation is the MINI Citysurfer concept, a flexible electric kick scooter that provides a smarter and more personalised way of getting around town. For Jaime Hayon it is the starting point of a fantastical journey through a modern metropolis, for which he is designing two variants of the MINI Citysurfer concept. He takes visitors along graphic paths and challenging routes through a surreal space, within which he applies his strikingly creative aesthetics to showcase the future of mobility:



"I wanted to create an incredible and immersive experience that pays tribute to MINI's sophisticated design developments for future mobility," says Jaime Hayon of his vision, which goes far beyond any fictional mobility scenario. He sees his installation as a collaborative design process that espouses the MINI claim to pioneering materials and high quality. For the execution of the overall concept, Hayon is working closely with the MIN Design Team and specialist craftspeople.

'Jaime Hayon Urban Perspectives for MINI' is a further highlight arising from the ongoing creative dialogue that MINI pursues with leading international designers. "For us, collaborating with creative designers from a wide range of disciplines is an important format that allows us to view automotive design from a different perspective," says Anders Warming, Head of MINI Design. "Jaime Hayon is a partner whose sheer inventiveness and unconventional formal language are inspirational."

In Jaime Hayon's illustrated urban jungle, progress is bright and colorful: the designer has dreamed up a road made of Carrara marble supported by luminous blue pillars, while shiny brass lamps point the way to an imaginary destination. Accessories specially developed for the installation, such as a helmet - part high-tech object, part playful mask - and a jacket likewise designed by Hayon, symbolize the fantasy realm in which the Spanish designer dismantles familiar perspectives. They are indispensable accoutrements on this dynamic ride into the future which Hayon imposingly visualizes through his personal play with functionality fantasy and creativity.

The installation 'Jaime Hayon Urban Perspectives for MINI' will be on show from 14 to 19 April 2015 at the Laboratorio Bergognone in Via Bergognone 26 as part of the Salone del Mobile in Milan.

All images copyright and courtesy of BMW Group - bmwgroup.com

Salone del Mobile - salonemilano.it