© FREITAG / Photography: Claudia Zalla

This year'[s edition of the Salone del Mobile is once again brimming with noteworthy showcases from across the planet, tarp bag manufacturer FREITAG is one of dozens of brands that seize the opportunity to step into the limelight. The Zurich-based truck tarp bag manufacturer has teamed up with Swiss artist Georg Lendorff and the scenographers at Ortreport to present a project that aims to be food for thought and discussions. Entitled UNFLUENCER – De-sinning the Designer, it’s held at one of Ventura Centrale‘s warehouses in Milan, the goal is to whimsically stimulate discussions about lousy design and other crimes. The very core of the showcase is formed by Lendorff’s immersive, walk-in video and light installation. Projections onto thousands of threads hanging from the ceiling cause visitors’ and observers’ sense of space and time to dissolve and are a refuge for a brief but contemplative respite from the six-day hustle and bustle in Milan, freed of all external influences.

In the midst of all this, visitors to the installation can admit their design and consumer sins, either alone and anonymously or in a confidential dialog. And for questions regarding what constitutes bad design and consumer habits, the FREITAG Cyclist Manifesto provides some useful guidelines. FREITAG‘s fraternal founders Daniel and Markus Freitag plea for a cyclical economy, quality and longevity initially resulted in an exhibition hels in 2015 at the mudac design museum in Lausanne, but is in fact, as this exhibition in Milan proves, an ongoing manifesto for new consumer attitudes in the 21st century. To ensure that the discussion regarding defective design and unacceptable consumer habits doesn’t fade after seeing the show, all designers and other visitors leaving the vault can identify themselves as de-sinned, and are thus instantly recognizable not only as trustworthy individuals to talk to but also as fellow-offenders (open through Apr 14).

Ventura Centrale
via Ferrante Aporti 23 (Ponte Seveso)
20127 Milan
Tue-Sun 10-6

© FREITAG / Photography: Claudia Zalla