Milan in a Van

Plastic room divider by Tom Dixon

It’s glitzy, it’s glamorous, and it’s full of stuff by Twenty/20’s favourite designers. There’s only one problem with the Milan Furniture Fair: it’s in Milan. The V&A’s answer to this, and to the equally vexed question of what to stick in the shiny new Contemporary Space they’ve casually placed next to the front door to help remind everyone that the V&A isn’t boring any more, is Milan in a Van, a temporary collection of the top pieces from the show whisked over here as soon as it closes.

The biggies (Dixon), newbies (Bouroullec) and trendies (Droog) will be represented in various themed sections, forming a critical overview of this year’s products. And not only do you save the air fare, you don’t even have to pay to get in. Nice. But do they really go to Milan with a furniture van, or do they just ring up a bunch of manufacturers and request delivery to SW7? The number of pre-announced exhibits suggests the latter, but Twenty/20 clings to a fond belief in the former. In fact, we might even emulate the V&A’s laudable efforts.

Coming soon to MacUser: The RCA Degree Show in a Renault Clio. Well, we’re not all funded by the Government, you know.

First published in ‘Twenty/20’, MacUser, 3 May 2002

Tagged as: Design, MacUser