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A Day In The Life: Ambra Medda in Milan

April 21, 2009  5:44 pm

Each year the first days of Salone del Mobile are always the most captivating. The design community trickles into Milan for the setup of their shows. I usually come as a spectator to do research, but for the first time this year I’m working on a show called Craft Punk with Fendi in their space in Via Sciesa. [The project, which launches tomorrow, features the work of 13 industrial designers and several truckloads of scrap materials from Fendi’s Florence factory.] The last three days have been really crazy—dealing with shippers and electricians and then running to openings and meetings. Intense, but fun for sure.


The sun finally came out today, which certainly gave a spark of energy to us all. I’m staying at the Straf Hotel in Piazza Duomo, where my window is basically under the Madonnina…very Milano. I woke up early to run some errands in the city center. Then I had breakfast over at Barnaba Fornasetti’s. He’s hosting very chic breakfasts in his gallery space in Via Manzoni with classically wonderful Fornasetti tea sets, and at night he’s a DJ in some underground exhibition space. No clue where, must find out. Afterwards, I headed over to Spazio Fendi to check up on the Craft Punk installation. Next came lunch with the Craft Punk designers as well as the architect for the venue, my good friend Serena. Today is her birthday so we downed a couple of bubbles and a sandwich, then off for a radio interview with Giusi Ferré for Radio Montecarlo.

After lunch, we received Nacho Carbonell’s pieces for the show, “the Beasts” from Eindhoven. Scissors in hand I dove into the bubble wrap to unleash the pieces. They looked great! I went to see Rossana Orlandi’s magnificent space and previewed her show (which I loved), and then headed straight to Nina Nilufar’s gallery in Via Spiga to meet some of the new designers she’s working with.

After a few more meetings, I checked my e-mail while heading straight into a photo shoot for Vanity Fair Italy with all the designers. We are all wearing matching Fendi aprons. Hysterical! My stops around town this evening will kick off with drinks with my good friend Stefano Tonchi, Alice Rawsthorn, and Pilar Viladas. Together, their contributions have made design culture what it is today. Following drinks, I’m off to Nadja Swarovski’s dinner in a great Italian restaurant—really good food to be expected! I will no doubt collapse in bed by midnight and get some rest for another big day tomorrow.

It’s great being in Milan: old familiar faces, friends, schoolmates, my mother, and all the young international design hipsters!

tags: Alice Rawsthorn, Ambra Medda, Fendi, Nadja Swarovski, Pilar Viladas, Stefano Tonchi, Straf Hotel

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1. that sounds like a lovely time
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   By loveismontreal on 04/21/09 at 6:58 pm

2. i have done a painting, commensurate with `art beyond aesthetic value only`, THE SOUND OF MUSIC COMMENSURATE WITH THE HOLIDAY INSTINCT…You may be interested in exhibiting it in art Miami:). Also i have decorated my apart. in Pefki, in line with your wordings on `art design`, displacing and intertwinning concepts, between the fields of fine art, and interior design, respectively. Ambra, massive congrats on your successes, Wholeheartedly, jonathanX

   By vudas on 04/23/09 at 1:32 am

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