Volume, surface, trajectory and form combine in Formations’ main room
During Milan Design Week 2019, Tarkett joins forces with Note Design Studio to explore the creative possibilities of its new collection iQ Surface – due to launch in the UK this Summer. Designed by Note, and supported by Magis, Formations is an exhibition that questions notions of scale by taking architectural archetypes and turning them on their head. Owning the space of the historic Circolo Filologico Milanese, the installation is a celebration and homage to how design language can be twisted into new creative phrases.
Cones, rings, cubes and spheres adorn the columns of the main installation
A new design language
Milan Design Week enables dialogues and narratives to be developed between concepts and their audiences. A starting point for new ideas, an inspirational springboard and catalyst for work to come. As one of the oldest centres for the research and study of language, Circolo Filologico Milanese is the perfect backdrop to spark discussion around the infinite design possibilities presented by Tarkett’s new homogeneous vinyl collection.
Surface matters
Formations explores the creative potential of iQ Surface, the new collection codesigned by the Tarkett design team and Note, with architects and designers in mind. Flexible, durable and sustainably sound, this new generation of industrial and creative surface material is equally at home whether wrapped around objects, climbing across walls or forming patterns in combinations. Seemingly small in the context of the great human architectural history, today it is considered a true and honest material, standing alongside those considered more traditional and noble, such as granite, marble or stone. If these represent the past, then vinyl is the future.
At the centre of Formations, a stage showcasing a selection of Magis’ timeless iconic pieces provide the perfect viewing point for visitors to sit back and enjoy the installation
Owning the space
In light of this contrast between modernity and tradition, Formations takes staples of design principles and transforms them into oversized shapes and flowing forms that dress the different spaces of the historic Circolo Filologico Milanese. The installation uses iQ Surface in ways that aim to shift even the most stubborn of preconceptions about the possibilities of vinyl, seeing it as a design material with its own identity. In the main hall, the high glass ceiling and open balconies of the Circolo Filologico Milanese create depth and shed changing light on colour blocking and hues of iQ Surface throughout the day.
Formations of 24 assorted sized columns – the largest towering at 5m – challenge perceptions of the building’s architecture, space and volume, inviting visitors to weave in and out and forge their own path. Repeated geometric objects balance carefully on top of round ended columns in a daring and playful construct that quite literally turns pillars from the history of architecture on their head, reinterpreting them with a contemporary twist.
A shared design vision
Two companies with a shared set of values and a design approach that pushes boundaries and challenges codes, Tarkett has chosen to team up with design brand, Magis. A dynamic family-run entrepreneurial business with an industrial culture and a rich heritage of pioneering timeless products, the furniture brand works with a swathe of internationally renowned designers, to create quality collections that showcase highly functional and technological quality products. During Formations, carefully chosen iconic pieces – such as Konstatin Grcic’s Brut sofa, with its cylindrical back – echo the installation’s forms while reflecting iQ Surface’s colour palette. With such design chemistry, Magis is the perfect pairing for Tarkett to communicate the full potential and beauty of its materials to a wider audience.
Meeting Room created with Tarkett iQ Surface, DESSO carpet and furniture from Magis
Sustainably sound
Sustainability, circular economy and recycling are at the heart of Tarkett’s design vision. Tarkett is driven by the principles of the circular economy and strives to close the loop in everything it does – from the material chosen, right down to post-use recycling. The story of Formations won’t end in Milan. Elements of the installation will be reused for future exhibitions and waste materials will be collected through Tarkett’s ReStart takeback program. That is how Formations will become Re-Formations.
The upstairs library is at the heart of the building’s history. Visitors are invited to interact with a selection of objects carefully curated on a 6×3 m open table – small prototype arches, curves, rings, cylinders, stairs made from a mix of contrasting materials that serve as samples and mini tools for visitors, architects and designers to examine close up, test and touch. Here, grid vinyl flooring exemplifies the collection’s creativity, with each square clearly defined by contrasting lines made from coloured welding rods.
Two meeting rooms
Pick out the different hues of iQ Surface through a harmonious association of materials. The Magis seatings, combined with DESSO carpets, the iQ Surface partition wall and table covered with iQ Surface, create a cosy and welcoming boudoir atmosphere that encourages discussion.