Spazio Rosanna Orlandi

Piet Hein Eek's installation and exhibition at the Spazio Rosanna Orlandi

More from Piet Hein Eek - really love the timber basket/bowls... and of course the brilliant light installation!

Spazio Rosanna Orlandi retail store

Spazio Rosanna Orlandi retail store - beautiful vaulted ceilings and aged walls - the perfect backdrop for Maarten Baas' Burnt Furniture range... I truly never realised how beautiful this collection was until seeing it here!

OMG so excited to see Christien Meinderstma's oversized knitted rug in the flesh after falling in love with her work so long ago!

In addition to all the Salone del Mobile official events, many Milan retailers and galleries collaborate with independent designers to host separate events around town as part of the Fuori Salone (literally translated 'outside the showroom'? or something like that). These satellite events are so much fun to attend... (probably even more interesting than the main fair!) - and one showroom that was top of the list after many recommendations was the Spazio Rosanna Orlandi!

Spazio Rosanna Orlandi is like a magical little design wonderland, tucked away down a sidestreet, away from the busy design hubs where most design week events are concentrated. The Spazio (space) is a rabbit warren of separate exhibition rooms, each one leading on to the next, surrounding a beautiful green central courtyard. I am not sure what goes on here when it's not design week, but when I visited, each room played host a different design exhibition / installation, with a brilliant mix of emerging designers and more established names such as Piet Hein Eek and Maarten Baas. As often seems to be the case during design week, the central courtyard also doubled as an eating/drinking area - this fair seems to be as much about eating, drinking and socialising as it is about design!