During Milan Design Week 2022, the Japanese design brand Ariake presents Cipango, an exhibition set in a private residential apartment at Porta Venezia. The apartment was recently redesigned by the Italian architect Francesco Rota and showcases new furniture designed by Inga Sempé, Norm Architects, Neri & Hu, Keiji Ashizawa, Zoë Mowat, Note Design Studio, Francesco Rota and Gabriel Tan. The Cipango exhibition marks Ariakes debut at Milan design week and introduces their 2022 collection, made in Italy for the European market. Cipango is curated by Hanna Nova Beatrice / The New Era together with Ariake creative director Gabriel Tan. They have invited a number of design studios and artists to be part of the exhibition, including handcrafted design collectibles brand Origin Made, American lighting maestros Ladies & Gentlemen Studio and Japanese sound artist Yasuharu Okochi. It also features work from Scandinavian studios Folkform and Cappelen Dimyr. The common denominator for all friends invited is an appreciation for craft and quality. The exhibition is styled by Norwegian-Italian duo Kråkvik & D‘Orazio. The first contact between Japan and Italy can be traced back to the 13th century when Marco Polo learned of the existence of Japan, which he called Cipango. He is credited as being the first person to introduce the "island country" into the European imagination.
| Hours | Press Preview June 6 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM9:00 AM - 7:00 PM |
| Venue | ARIAKE Exhibition Pop Up |
| Type | Design Exhibition |
| Duration | 9:00 AM - 7:00 PM |
| City | Milan |
About
Ariake
Ariake is a furniture brand founded by Legnatec and Hirata Chair, two furniture factories from Morodomi in Saga prefecture, Japan. Named after the nearby Ariake Sea, Ariake also means ‘daybreak’ in Japanese. The collaboration started in 2016 when the owner of Legnatec, Takehiro Kabashima and the owner of Hirata Chair, Shoji Hirata, met Singapore/Porto based furniture designer and creative director Gabriel Tan with an ambition to export their furniture to the world. A long term vision was established and with the involvement of Zurich-based graphic design studio Anner Perrin and Swiss-Finnish photographer Sebastian Stadler, the Ariake brand was born. Gabriel Tan invited Japanese designers Keiji Ashizawa and Shin Azumi, Nordic designers Staffan Holm, Anderssen & Voll, Norm Architects and Note Design Studio, as well as Canadian designer Zoë Mowat, Brazilian Architect Marcio Kogan and Portuguese designer Rui Alves to design the first three collections for the brand.
