During Milan Design Week 2024, London design studio, BLOND, will host BLOND LABORATORY, its second consecutive exhibition in the Brera Design District during the Fuorisalone Milano. 

BLOND has brought together seven of the world’s leading industrial designers—people that the studio admires as sharing similar interests, values and exceptional work quality; achieving standards that are pushing Industrial Design forward as a whole. Hirotaka Tako (Sony), John Tree (John Tree), Jon Marshall (Pentagram), Form Us With Love, Julie Richoz (Julie Richoz Studio), Maddalena Casadei (Maddalena Casadei Studio) and James Melia (BLOND) have been invited to contribute designs in response to its ‘BLOND artefacts’ studio initiative—which involves creating new designs in response to ‘offline’ inspiration from real-world objects that are no longer readily in production.  

Each designer was asked to select an artefact sourced by BLOND’s team for under £20 from ordinary, everyday locations over six months; from inconspicuous items forgotten in lofts, to charity shop discoveries, and junk-shop curiosities. During the Fuorisalone, BLOND LABORATORY will showcase each contributing designer’s creative response to their artefact, tackled in their own signature practice/style. The exhibition will present each designer’s artefact inspiration, their process, and the prototyped outcome within a specially designed exhibition created by BLOND—set within a historic carpentry warehouse in the centre of Brera. 

BLOND believes that designers have the tools and inspiration for design around us—be it from existing man-made objects or the natural world—and does not advocate using internet search as a primary source of design inspiration. With the advent of advanced CGI tools and Artificial Intelligence, Melia believes there is a risk that AI, which is a benefit to certain parts of the design process—may start to be used for, or even replace genuine inspiration. The results of this shift in process, in the eyes of the studio, could be poor design, which lacks narrative, feasibility, and the human touch. 

“I am excited to see how our guest designers' contributions display the versatility of the BLOND artefact process—while staying true to each of their individual styles and approaches. I have no doubt that the contributions will push the process to new heights—showcasing the diversity of outcomes that originate from different minds and backgrounds—while approaching a shared challenge. Within the exhibition, visitors to the BLOND LABORATORY will revel in the process and explore the inventive, unexpected new designs that the expert designers have created in response to their chosen artefact.’’ James Melia, Founder and Creative Director, BLOND.