For Salone del Mobile, luxury luggage stalwart Rimowa has asked rapidly emerging American artist and designer Dozie Kanu to create a multi-platform response to its intelligent travel archetype. His cross-discipline reply spans print, digital and installation, in a forward-thinking experiment fit for the grand (and jam-packed) stage of the most inspiring design fair in the world.
Created in collaboration with Milanese contemporary art magazine and creative studio Kaleidoscope, the event marks Rimowa’s Milan Design Week debut, in which three intertwining activations link to celebrate both Kanu’s unique point of view, and Rimowa’s longstanding commitment to design.
Dozie Kanu, holding a sheet of Rimowa aluminium
The first of which, a short documentary directed by British filmmaker Sam Hiscox, offers an intimate look at Kanu at work in his new Lisbon studio. It depicts the artist-designer crafting a new series of furniture from the aluminium sheets famously used to make Rimowa’s enduring luggage. This lightweight and flexible material has been a travel companion to the design-conscious since 1937.
In the film, we journey with Kanu across the city, in search of inspiration, through its brutalist landmarks, like the skatepark at Palacio de Justicia, and engineering masterworks like the Vasco da Gama bridge. ‘Frequent travel is my way of constantly evolving,’ he says.
The film is being premiered in one of Milan’s newest (and many) social-cum-cultural hotspots, Spazio Maiocchi, within an environment cast from Kanu’s imagination, and realised by Bureau Borsche. Alongside a photo-zine from Kaleidoscope’s new June issue, Kanu’s sculptural-functional works made from the Rimowa material palette are on display, together creating a multi-level experience of luxury travel and design prowess, in 4D.
Furniture from Kaleidoscope x Rimowa present Dozie Kanu, 2018
INFORMATION
Until 22 April. For more information, visit the Rimowa website
ADDRESS
-
The Subaru Forester is the definition of unpretentious automotive designIt’s not exactly king of the crossovers, but the Subaru Forester e-Boxer is reliable, practical and great for keeping a low profile
-
Sotheby’s is auctioning a rare Frank Lloyd Wright lamp – and it could fetch $5 millionThe architect's ‘Double-Pedestal’ lamp, which was designed for the Dana House in 1903, is hitting the auction block 13 May at Sotheby's.
-
Naoto Fukasawa sparks children’s imaginations with play sculpturesThe Japanese designer creates an intuitive series of bold play sculptures, designed to spark children’s desire to play without thinking
-
Eight designers to know from Rossana Orlandi Gallery’s Milan Design Week 2025 exhibitionWallpaper’s highlights from the mega-exhibition at Rossana Orlandi Gallery include some of the most compelling names in design today
-
Bentley’s new home collections bring the ‘potency’ of its cars to Milan Design WeekNew furniture, accessories and picnic pieces from Bentley Home take cues from the bold lines and smooth curves of Bentley Motors
-
StoneX partners with Wallpaper* for material alchemy at Milan Design Week and beyondThe natural stone purveyor teams up with Wallpaper* for a three-year partnership of material adventures, starting with an exhibition at Triennale di Milano
-
David Rockwell’s Milan Design Week presentation is a love letter to corkRockwell Group’s Casa Cork installation showcases this under-appreciated material, which is infinitely recyclable and sequesters carbon for decades
-
Emerging galleries to discover during Milan Design WeekWallpaper’s Milan editor has the inside track on the younger design galleries coming to town
-
Buccellati brings the forest and Furry Animals to Milan Design WeekThe jewellery and silverware maison falls back on tradition for its Milan showcase, presenting its now-emblematic collection of intricately crafted creatures
-
Where next for Salone del Mobile? Maria Porro on the future of the world’s biggest furniture fairAhead of Salone del Mobile 2025 in Milan, we sit down with its president to talk design, data and forging the event’s future in a fast-changing world
-
What to see at Milan Design Week 2025A guide to some of the events the Wallpaper* team is checking out at Milan Design Week (7–13 April) – from public installations and major launches to standout venues and must-see exhibitions
