To the edge of matter. An unforgettable journey

Project Details

Project Description

In the heart of the Porta Venezia Design District, NEUTRA, a historic company specialised in marble and natural stone manufacturing, presents “To the edge of matter. An unforgettable journey”, curated by the design studio Migliore+Servetto, Creative Director of the brand.
The installation represents a journey into matter, between the physical and the virtual.

“NEUTRA’s DNA lies in researching the highest expression of a precious, unique and innovative design.” – Emanule Chicco Busnelli, NEUTRA’s owner, declares – “Our releases for MDW 2024 are the result of the collaboration with designers and architects that have fully understood these characteristics by exploring new, contemporary, sculptural forms to inhabit the present and future”.

The set-up represents a further step forward for the Creative Direction by Migliore+Servetto for NEUTRA: an immersive story of matter – marble, stone, and metal – comes to life and transforms into a narrative landscape, giving shape to a perceptive journey that offers a new way of understanding materials, through a constant zooming in and out. The outcome is a synaesthetic experience where the uniqueness of each material becomes the narrative thread of NEUTRA's partnership with eight internationally renowned designers – atelier oï, Draw Studio, Foster + Partners, Gabriele e Oscar Buratti, Mario Bellini, Migliore+Servetto, Nespoli e Novara, Zaha Hadid Architects – who express the company's vision with furnishings for living and bathroom areas.

“The project is an immersion within these blocks of stones and marbles that the stratification of time makes unique and inimitable. By means of a zoom in and zoom out movement – which evokes the wonderful video Powers of Ten by Ray and Charles Eames – frames are crystallised like different moments of a journey to the edge of the material, a multisensory investigation carried out to explore and perceive its expressive qualities. Interacting with the sound and light, the matter vibrates and reveals visions on new narrative landscapes,” say Ico Migliore and Mara Servetto.

The new collection designed by Migliore+Servetto, marked by timeless elegance, is presented within this exhibition, an immersive journey that unfolds across five distinct scenarios, each offering a different perspective to delve into the unique visual and auditory landscapes embedded within matter. This marks a further step forward in the line of research carried out by the studio concerning matter and its vibrations, which began on the occasion of the previous Milan Design Week. The collection includes three new mirrors, Dima, Vivera and Cavo, with marble and metal elements, which augment the perception of the matter thought a play of reflections, enhancing the shapes and the surfaces of the environments. All the pieces of the collection are conceived not only as furnishing components but rather as fully-fledged installations that combine the functionality of the compartments and a strong aesthetic value, enhancing the living space by creating sophisticated and welcoming atmospheres. Alternating reflecting surfaces and backdrops finished with refined materials, the furniture dialogues with the tactile qualities of the components in a play of material and visual vibrations. Thanks to their versatility they can inhabit the different areas of the house: equipped with integrated lighting, they define a scenic style of illumination that creates calculated accents and pauses to build distinct fields of soft light. All this confers a new theatricality on different interior spaces.

As a further result of the research carried out by Migliore+Servetto as the Creative Director of NEUTRA, in the last gallery the studio has chosen to collaborate with the Sound Artist NEUNAU. He conceived a tailored sound system to create a highly sensorial experience within an environment which is perceived as infinite thanks to the unprecedented possibilities that multimedia offers. The aim is to give voice to the unique value of each material and to the uniqueness of each individual piece, and this is reflected in a design that can bring out every detail and feature, while always keeping sight of clear cultural sustainability.