STORYBOOK

VENTURA INDEX |

FOREWORD P. 4

VENTURA PROJECTS P. 6

VENTURA START P. 8

VENTURA LAMBRATE P.16 success stories P.20 food P.32 publishing P.34 themes P.38 platforms P.42 specials P.44

VENTURA ABROAD P.46 berlin P.48 interieur P.50 london P.52 x P.54

VENTURA MEDIA P.56

VENTURA FACTS & FIGURES P.62 VENTURA FUTURE P.64

VENTURA CREDITS P.66

VENTURA INDEX |

The first Ventura Lambrate event in Milan in 2010 was a breath of fresh air.

It was a compact, walkable district hosting a cluster of well-chosen exhibitions and with

the right mixture of seriousness and fun, with a good balance of upcoming designers and

established names.

Whereas other design districts in Milan have come and gone in recent years, Ventura

Lambrate has got better and better, broadening its offering to include street cafes and res-

taurants so the experience has become akin to visiting a lifestyle festival, while retaining

its offbeat spirit and resisting the overtures overbearing sponsors and bandwagon-jumping

corporations.

The organisers of Ventura Lambrate, Margo and Margriet of Organisation in Design, have

become great friends over the years and I deeply admire their straightforward and unflap-

pable yet warm and hospitable way of operating. Arriving at Ventura Lambrate always feels

like a family reunion and there’s always a hug, a cold beer and a bullshit-free conversation

waiting for me.

It’s great to see them successfully exporting their concept to other cities and design events

around the world can learn from their honesty and integrity. Design is an industry much like

any other but with Margo and Margriet, business is always a pleasure.

Marcus Fairs

Founder and editor-in-chief of Dezeen

FOREWORD

4

EVEN IN OUR MODERN TIMES THERE ARE TALES TO TELL ABOUT BRAVERY AND COURAGE, GUTS AND GLORY.

VENTURA PROJECTS |

This book narrates the glorious stories and depicts the wonderful faces and glistening places of the Ventura

Projects. The stories about the Ventura Projects are stories about pioneers. The Ventura Projects are pioneer-

ing exhibition areas dedicated to seeking out the most promising designers from over the world. Whether they

be individuals, studios, brands, galleries, institutions, academies or students, in the Ventura areas these prodi-

gies and virtuosos can reveal their creations to a broad and design-minded nation – in areas that are, at all

times, curated with the greatest care.

Over a brief few years, dozens of hands have constructed the Ventura Projects, hundreds of minds have in-

vented new designs and thousands of eyes have beheld the resulting works on show in the Ventura areas. The

Ventura Projects contain hundreds of thousands of stories: stories about the organisation, the exhibitors and

our visitors. With so many wonderful stories to tell, we felt it is about time to gather them together and put them

in writing. And that is exactly what this book is about to do.

EVEN IN OUR MODERN TIMES THERE ARE TALES TO TELL ABOUT BRAVERY AND COURAGE, GUTS AND GLORY.

VENTURA PROJECTS |

7

Ventura is the name of a quiet street in the Lambrate district of Milan. A street lined

with rusty car garages, an old radio station, white-painted galleries and gigantic, oily

factory halls once used for building snow ploughs. The area was a rough diamond,

which hardly anyone would have noticed a few years ago.

But some people did notice it. In 2009 it was here, in this very Ventura street, that

three people filled with dreams met each other for the first time. The first one was a

visionary Italian architect called Mariano Pichler who was working on the redevelop-

ment of the industrial Lambrate district. The other two were Margriet Vollenberg and

Margo Konings of Organisation in Design. Two adventurous Dutch women who knew

the design landscape like the back of their hands, on a quest to find a place to raise

their great idea: a new design district for the Milan Design Week – the biggest, most

important, design event on earth.

The first “Ventura Lambrate” project (named after the English word for adventure and

the Italian avventura) was to turn the quiet Via Ventura into a whole new and different

kind of magnet for the design community and ruffle a few of Milan Design week’s

glittering feathers in the process.

LET US TAKE YOU BACK TO THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE VENTURA PROJECTS.

VENTURA START |

‘WE LIKED VENTURA LAMBRATE’S DISTRICT APPROACH: THE IDEA OF SETTING UP A BRAND NEW EXHIBITION PLATFORM IN A FORMER INDUSTRIAL AREA, CONSIDERED TO BE OUTSIDE THE CITY.’

DAVID DE WAAL - CONSUL OF THE NETHERLANDS

8

LET US TAKE YOU BACK TO THE VERY BEGINNING OF THE VENTURA PROJECTS.

VENTURA START |

‘WE LIKED VENTURA LAMBRATE’S DISTRICT APPROACH: THE IDEA OF SETTING UP A BRAND NEW EXHIBITION PLATFORM IN A FORMER INDUSTRIAL AREA, CONSIDERED TO BE OUTSIDE THE CITY.’

DAVID DE WAAL - CONSUL OF THE NETHERLANDS

‘THE BRAVERY OF COMBINING THE YOUNG DESIGNERS WITH OLD EMPTY SPACES INSTEAD OF BLING BLING IS WHAT MAKES VENTURA.’

ANDRE AMARO - FOUNDER OF AMARO CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

10

‘THE BRAVERY OF COMBINING THE YOUNG DESIGNERS WITH OLD EMPTY SPACES INSTEAD OF BLING BLING IS WHAT MAKES VENTURA.’

ANDRE AMARO - FOUNDER OF AMARO CREATIVE INDUSTRIES

‘VENTURA LAMBRATE HAS BEEN DESIGNED WITH A SPIRIT WHICH IS DIFFERENT FROM THE ITALIAN ONE. ORGANISATION IN DESIGN REALISED SOMETHING I STRONGLY BELIEVE IN.’

MARIANO PICHLER - (ITALIAN) ARCHITECT

‘VENTURA LAMBRATE HAS BEEN DESIGNED WITH A SPIRIT WHICH IS DIFFERENT FROM THE ITALIAN ONE. ORGANISATION IN DESIGN REALISED SOMETHING I STRONGLY BELIEVE IN.’

MARIANO PICHLER - (ITALIAN) ARCHITECT

13

MILAN – Every April, for as long as many of us can

remember, day-to-day life in Milan makes way for the legendary

Milan Design Week, or the “Salone del Mobile”, to give it it’s cor-

rect title. Every year, the “Salone” is like the grand opening of the

new design season, one where the entire global design commu-

nity descends to share their projects, production and experiments

in selected districts across the city. During this festive season,

there is a unique district out on its own in the northeast that has

become essential visiting: the district now called

“Ventura Lambrate”.

SO, LET US START BY TELLING YOU THE STORY OF VENTURA LAMBRATE.

VENTURA LAMBRATE |

‘I THINK VENTURA LAMBRATE WAS NECESSARY, BECAUSE THERE WAS HARDLY ANY PLACE WHERE YOUNG DESIGNERS OR OTHER GOOD PROJECTS COULD PRESENT THEMSELVES WITHIN A REASONABLE BUDGET.’

JEROEN JUNTE - JOURNALIST & WRITER

Ventura Lambrate was the first Ventura Project, it is the gemstone and the foundation of all the other Ventura

Projects that have followed. On their quest to discover new places in Milan, pioneers Vollenberg, Konings and

their team crossed borders, moved mountains, conquered disbelief and travelled far throughout the design

landscape. The place they searched for had to serve a very special purpose: harbouring design exhibitions

during the Salone del Mobile. One might wonder, why this bold and daring quest in the first place? Well, it was

the designers themselves calling for change that started everything…

Some years ago, a group of designers got restless; they felt estranged in the hectic circus of the Salone. They

were longing for a new heimat where they could exhibit in a more creative and harmonious way. It was then

Vollenberg, Konings and their companions took it upon themselves to find this new home. And so it came to be

that in 2010, the Ventura epoch began, when the new design district was created at the Lambrate location. And

oh did it shake up the slumbering Salone giant: 20 major exhibitors moved away from the established districts

to a hitherto unknown industrial area on the outskirts of Milan.

The Lambrate district was not on the periphery for long. In the years that followed, Ventura Lambrate distin-

guished itself as a major alternative venue for contemporary design. The district reformed the Salone by open-

ing more factory doors, old printing factories and galleries to provide a new platform for designers and their

works, their concepts, their experiments.

SO, LET US START BY TELLING YOU THE STORY OF VENTURA LAMBRATE.

VENTURA LAMBRATE |

‘I THINK VENTURA LAMBRATE WAS NECESSARY, BECAUSE THERE WAS HARDLY ANY PLACE WHERE YOUNG DESIGNERS OR OTHER GOOD PROJECTS COULD PRESENT THEMSELVES WITHIN A REASONABLE BUDGET.’

JEROEN JUNTE - JOURNALIST & WRITER17

It was everything the design nation had never had before. When in

Ventura Lambrate, you leave the real world behind you and tumble into

another world where creativity fills the streets. Chairs, tables, lights,

clocks, textiles, ceramics, colours, materials, technical inventions and

ingenious ideas appear in their most glorious forms flanked by de-

signers, assistants, proud owners and representatives. In just six days

each year, hordes of producers, buyers, directors, collectors and ad-

mirers, journalists, bloggers, stylists and photographers fill their heads,

notebooks, contact databases and cameras here with the fruits they

gather in Ventura Lambrate. And what they find here during those six,

short days has a lasting effect!

18

‘VENTURA LAMBRATE IS THE PLACE TO BE IN MILAN DURING THE SALONE THE MOBILE’ JAIME HAYON - DESIGNER

And these are the stories we would like to tell you now. They are what defines the

raison d’être of our Ventura Projects. The Ventura Projects exist to bring different

worlds together in the same place at the same time. Worlds that have different land-

scapes, languages, rules and regulations. In the temporal Ventura haven, all travellers

come together for one and the same reason: to meet each other. Designers looking

for producers, manufactures for new prototypes, debutants to establish their names,

journalists for new style trends, gallery owners for new talents, new graduates for new

opportunities, museum directors for unique pieces, design studios for new commis-

sions, brands for new collaborations and so forth. The best things are the surprises:

an unplanned rendezvous between an exhibitor and a wandering visitor perhaps, that

creates an unexpected spark, a conversation, an exchange of business cards, email

contact, meetings, a proposal, a commissioned project or a collaboration.

Whilst it is we, the organisation, who create the scenery of each Ventura Project, it is

the exhibitors who are the main characters in our tales. So let us show you Ventura

Lambrate through the eyes of these main characters…

VENTURA | success stories THE STORIES WE ARE MOST PROUD OF ARE THE SUCCESS

STORIES OF OUR EXHIBITORS

It was at Ventura Lambrate that Peugeot’s design team

discovered the NewspaperWood material shown at a

joint exhibition by Vij5 and Mieke Meijer. Through this,

Vij5 and Mieke Meijer were commissioned by Peugeot

to create a complete interior for a new Peugeot concept

car in NewspaperWood. The Peugeot Concept Car was

launched during the Paris Motor Show. This gave Vij5

and Mieke Meijer the confidence to join forces and found

a new company, NewspaperWood BV, dedicated to the

production and development of their NewspaperWood

material. The collaboration between NewspaperWood

and Peugeot still continues.

VIJ5

20

VENTURA | success stories THE STORIES WE ARE MOST PROUD OF ARE THE SUCCESS

STORIES OF OUR EXHIBITORS

It was at Ventura Lambrate that Peugeot’s design team

discovered the NewspaperWood material shown at a

joint exhibition by Vij5 and Mieke Meijer. Through this,

Vij5 and Mieke Meijer were commissioned by Peugeot

to create a complete interior for a new Peugeot concept

car in NewspaperWood. The Peugeot Concept Car was

launched during the Paris Motor Show. This gave Vij5

and Mieke Meijer the confidence to join forces and found

a new company, NewspaperWood BV, dedicated to the

production and development of their NewspaperWood

material. The collaboration between NewspaperWood

and Peugeot still continues.

Several of the participants in the Danish Mindcraft exhibitions achieved great suc-

cess with their presentations in Ventura Lambrate as part of MINDCRAFT. The “Hai-

ku Sofa” by designer duo GamFratesi, for example, was discovered by Fredericia

Furniture and is now one of their bestsellers. The international design company Trip

Trap picked up Christina Liljenberg’s chair “Georg” during Ventura Lambrate, which

has since led to an entire collection of this series. And Eske Rex’s great Drawing

Machine was discovered by the Paris-based Gallerie Maria Wettergreen and later

shown in Basel as part of Design Miami/Basel.

The renowned Mint gallery in London visited the

exhibition space of AAAD Prague, a design school

from the Czech Republic that was part of the Ventu-

ra Academies venue. As a result, the gallery’s owner

invited some of the students to present their projects

at the Mint gallery during the London Design Festi-

val.

DANISH CRAFTS, MINDCRAFT

THE ACADEMY OF ARTS,ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN IN PRAGUE

22

‘I HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED TO MANY EXHIBITORS IN VENTURA LAMBRATE FOR THE FIRST TIME, WHICH SUBSEQUENTLY I HAVE THEN STARTED FOLLOWING UP FOR POSSIBLE COLLABORATIONS.’JANA SCHOLZE - CURATOR OF CONTEMPORARY FURNITURE

CARWAN GALLERYVentura Lambrate has been a total success story for the Lebanese gal-

lery Carwan. It was at Ventura Lambrate that they presented their first

ever exhibition abroad. The following year they returned to Lambrate and

affirmed their justly-earned success with an amazing press event that

gathered a prominent crowd from the design world. Launching their gal-

lery on the international stage at Ventura Lambrate was a turning point for

Carwan. After only four years they were published widely across a whole

range of different media and listed as one of the top ten design galleries

in the world.

The young Italian/UK studio Analogia Project was invited by Ventura

Projects to create a special project at one of the gallery spaces in Lam-

brate. Here, their poetic installation work was discovered by Hermès

Paris, which resulted in a commissioned project for the Hermès stores

in Milan, Tokyo and Dubai the year after. Analogia Project were also

scouted by many others and assignments for the Victoria & Albert Mu-

seum London, Design Days Dubai, M.A.D.E. Brazil, the London design

shop Mint and the London gallery 19 Greek Street quickly followed.

ANALOGIA PROJECTS

Debutant Hozan Zangana presented his work for the first time inter-

nationally at Ventura Lambrate, which brought him great recognition.

Thanks to his appearance in Lambrate, the Boijmans van Beuningen

Museum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, approached him and included

his “Haft Sin” collection in one of their exhibitions.

HOZAN ZANGANA

24

Dutch duo Studio WM has gained considerable recognition following

successive presentations at Ventura Lambrate for three years in a

row. Their chairs are now produced by, and part of the collection of,

MENU A/S, and a lamp will follow soon. They were also approached

to start teaching furniture design at the renowned Royal College of

Art in The Hague where they have been for three years now. In ad-

dition, they were contacted by several other brands to start future

collaborations and are now successfully selling their products under

their own label “Studio WM”.

STUDIO WM

25

Their first presentation at Ventura Lambrate 2015 brought LABEL/BREED a lot; over

40 publications, more than 200 press contacts and at least 10.000 visitors who visited

their stand. The impact of their presentation at Ventura Lambrate is immense. Milan

is the place to profile their selves and to gauge the response of an international public

LABEL/BREED

The renowned Mint gallery in London visited the exhibition space of AAAD Prague,

a design school from the Czech Republic that was part of the Ventura Academies

venue. As a result, the gallery’s owner invited some of the students to present their

projects at the Mint gallery during the London Design Festival.

HEAD GENÈVE

FORM & SEEK Ventura Lambrate has been a platform for Form & Seek to show their new ideas and

experiments to the world. Since their last two shows at Ventura Lambrate, members

of Form & Seek collective have had opportunities to take part in prestigious events

and exhibitions. Through their presentation at Ventura Lambrate, Form & Seek have

been commissioned to design their work for desirable clients and have been able to

build their reach to a wider audience.

Debutant Robert Sironi presented his work for the first time internationally at Ventura

Lambrate, which was the perfect context for him to tell stories made of materials,

craftsmanship and experimentation. Ventura Lambrate was the place for Robert Siro-

ni to meet and introduce his project to important journalist, critics, buyers and galler-

ies. With success, because his projects are now presented in design galleries and

concept stores. Ventura Lambrate has brought Robert Sironi successful chances in

the design world.

ROBERT SIRONI

Ventura Lambrate was a major transition in the lives of the designer duo Sayar &

Garibeh. Their participation at Ventura Lambrate brought them a lot of different op-

portunities. Beside the opportunities and the exposure, Sayar & Garibeh meet a lot of

designers. This convinced the designers that they were on the right track.

SAYAR & GARIBEH

‘IN 2011 I WAS PART OF VENTURA LAMBRATE FOR THE FIRST TIME. EXCITED THAT THE DRAWING FOR MY FIRST CITYLIGHT FINALLY

BECAME A PHYSICAL SCULPTURE, I PROUDLY EXHIBITED THIS BRONZE PIECE. THE RESPONSE WAS OVERWHELMING! BY

SHOWING MY WORK AT VENTURA LAMBRATE I DID NOT ONLY MEET INTERESTING PEOPLE IN THE FIELD OF DESIGN, IT EVEN ESTABLISHED THE COLLABORATION WITH THE GALLERY THAT

SUCCESSFULLY REPRESENTS ME TO THIS DAY’FREDERIK MOLENSCHOT OF STUDIO MOLEN

27

‘WHAT I LIKE THE BEST ABOUT VENTURA LAMBRATE IS THE DIVERSITY OF DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF DESIGN, HAVING THE BIG EDUCATIONAL ASPECT OF STARTING DESIGNERS, GROWING TO A COMPANY THAT GETS INVOLVED.’ JURGEN BEY - DESIGNER (STUDIO MAKKINK & BEY)

The “Viltplanten” (felt plants) by Wandschappen were discovered at

Ventura Lambrate by MAX&Co, a well-known Italian fashion brand. As

a result, Wandschappen was commissioned to create a special series of

the Viltplanten in colours connected to the current collection of MAX&Co.

These special editions of the Viltplanten were then shown in the flagship

store in the centre of Milan.

WANDSCHAPPEN

Instead of presenting a tangible object, Dutch designer Maarten

Baas left the beaten track at Ventura Lambrate to present his playful

“AnalogDigital” app. Priced at 99 cents this was probably the “cheap-

est” design ever launched in Milan! For the duration of the Milan De-

sign Week, Baas’ app was in the top three most downloaded utility

application in the world. And his downloadable app is still up and run-

ning!

MAARTEN BAAS

Belgian designer Jens Praet was scouted by Industry Gallery from

Washington D.C. in the USA at Ventura Lambrate and was invited by

them to do a first solo exhibition with the pieces he showed in Ventura

Lambrate. Ever since they have had an ongoing and fruitful collabora-

tion.

JENS PRAET

‘WHAT I LIKE THE BEST ABOUT VENTURA LAMBRATE IS THE DIVERSITY OF DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF DESIGN, HAVING THE BIG EDUCATIONAL ASPECT OF STARTING DESIGNERS, GROWING TO A COMPANY THAT GETS INVOLVED.’ JURGEN BEY - DESIGNER (STUDIO MAKKINK & BEY)

Dutch designer Jólan van der Wiel came to international atten-

tion with the launch of his Gravity Stool, which he produced in

situ with his Gravity Machine during Ventura Lambrate. He was

widely praised and, amongst other recognitions, nominated for

“Design of the Year” by London’s Design Museum and invited

to present his work at Mint gallery in London. His presence at

Ventura Lambrate boosted the sales of his pieces and brought

him a great deal of ongoing press coverage in popular maga-

zines such as Domus, Interni, Wired and Dezeen.

JOLAN VAN DER WIEL

Nobody can digest even the greatest designs on an empty stomach.

Without lunch, aperitifs or supper, a Ventura Project would be like a

machine without the oil. Luckily there are chefs and cooks on hand,

who are actually mostly designers in disguise with ladles in their

hands. Or at least, that applies to those chefs we found! In Ventura,

we have seen them working some amazing magic: transforming old

vans into food oases, mixing industrial quantities of pancake batter

in cement mixers, initiating potato-peeling competitions to keep up

with the demand for frites , serving espressos from an old pirate boat,

moulding skulls out of chocolate, spinning old records and dressing up

their guests in blue shirts before serving them food. And that is without

even mentioning the absolute deliciousness of their food…

VENTURA | food

32

Some of the Ventura Lambrate venues are still filled

with dusty old darlings. In a partly abandoned printing

factory – now one of our beloved exhibition halls – we

discovered some majestic Heidelberg printing presses

still tempting with their glory. As if the Heidelbergs were

a sign, it wasn’t long before a group of writers, editors,

graphic designers and photographers knocked on our

door and asked to create a temporary office next to

the old printing presses. It was from here that they

brought the “Ventura Lambrate Today” newspaper to

our exhibition area. The daily ongoings of the Ventura

event were now captured for both news and posterity

on 10,000 copies of the crisply printed paper: from

faces of exhibitors and visitors to funny incidents and

real conversations.

With its own daily newspaper, Ventura Lambrate felt

even more like a small peaceful town in the mornings

before the rush, where people picked up their coffee

together with the paper and started their day in one

of the courtyards reading about what happened the

day before and what the new day at Ventura Lambrate

would bring.

It is just such enterprise, enthusiasm and commitment

that has made the Ventura Lambrate such a special

time and place each year. Sometimes this commitment

has surprised even us: like when we saw the entire fel-

lowship tattooing the name of the newspaper on their

arms. It was a bold, tough gesture that was also heart-

warming!

VENTURA |publishing

‘AT VENTURA LAMBRATE THERE IS ROOM FOR EXPERIMENTS, ROOM FOR THE STORIES, ROOM FOR THE PROCESSES, ROOM FOR THE DESIGNERS THEMSELVES TO TELL THE STORIES, ROOM FOR CROSS OVERS.. INSTEAD OF ONLY SHOW, SHOW, SHOW.’

MARTIJN PAULEN - DIRECTOR DUTCH DESIGN WEEK

‘AT VENTURA LAMBRATE THERE IS ROOM FOR EXPERIMENTS, ROOM FOR THE STORIES, ROOM FOR THE PROCESSES, ROOM FOR THE DESIGNERS THEMSELVES TO TELL THE STORIES, ROOM FOR CROSS OVERS.. INSTEAD OF ONLY SHOW, SHOW, SHOW.’

MARTIJN PAULEN - DIRECTOR DUTCH DESIGN WEEK

37

VENTURA | themesLIKE EVERY FAIRYTALE, EVERY DESIGN PROJECT HAS ITS OWN THEME, A CONCEPT UPON WHICH THE PROJECT IS BUILT.

VENTURA | themesLIKE EVERY FAIRYTALE, EVERY DESIGN PROJECT HAS ITS OWN THEME, A CONCEPT UPON WHICH THE PROJECT IS BUILT.

And with hundreds of design projects submitted for selection for each Ventura Project,

we started to see certain patterns emerging with some projects. These are themes

that have taken shape against the backdrop of social and economical changes. Some-

times the tendencies among the submitted projects were so strong that we decided to

dedicate an entire building to the theme, to enhance the story of the selected projects.

In the year 2013, the “Ventura At Work” venue was dedicated to designers who showed

great courage by not following the standard production paths anymore. When these

designers drew a blank in their search for a good manufacturer, they decided to design

the machine or techniques they needed to produce their own products as well. Ventura

At Work gave them broader exhibition possibilities: to present their “behind the scenes”

endeavours, to work in situ and to show how they invented, designed and managed

their own instruments, machines, materials, tools and techniques.

A year later, in 2014, we created “Ventura Team Up” after receiving a staggering

amount of projects that we were accomplished via all kinds of collaborations. After

seeing more and more young designers teaming up with each other, we found we were

also seeing designers who had teamed up with scientists, with small-scale production

companies from their hometown, or with a group of refugees. Stepping outside their

discipline borders, these designers brought us new faces and approaches from outside

of the designers’ usual world.

39

‘VENTURA LAMBRATE VERY QUICKLY BECAME THE GO TO PLACE FOR CONCEPTUAL, EMERGING AND EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN.’

DAN RUBINSTEIN - JOURNALIST40

‘THERE IS A BREEZE OF FRESHNESS AND YOUTH AROUND VENTURA LAMBRATE AND THAT IS WHAT MAKES EVERYBODY HAPPY IN THE END.’

KIKI VAN EIJK - DESIGNER

The Milan Design Week is, as we mentioned, the giant of

all design weeks on earth. But how do you face this giant

when you just graduated from your design academy or just

finished your first prototype?

For a long time there was no space for this group, who were

trying to get a first foot on the ladder, since exhibition spaces

during the Salone were often too big and too expensive for

them. However, exhibiting at the worlds’ biggest design fair

– with all its design press, producers and prominent people

circling around – is the best place by far for designers at the

start of their careers to get noticed. And, on the other side

of the coin, having debutants showing their works is exactly

what the sultry air of the Salone needs in order to stay fresh.

So this is why special Ventura Platforms became a funda-

mental part of the Ventura areas: in consectutive years we

have built a runway, a warehouse, and even a beehive, in

order to offer the debutants just what they needed: a small,

readymade, affordable space to show their ideas, rubbing

shoulders with established design studios and the brands

exhibiting around them.

VENTURA | platforms

It is in the décor and the details we can captivate what makes Ventura

so special. Composing a design district is one thing, but to give it its

unique character you have to listen to your gut feeling and colour out-

side the lines. So that is what we did, without following any rules, just

because it felt good, because we know some things were just right for

our Ventura. There was this one time when we built an entire Ventura

Bar, decorated by DHPH with pieces by Maarten Baas, Bertjan Pot

and Fabien Dumas. Another time we threw an enormous dinner

together with Andre Amaro for 150 of our designer friends. Then when

Tobias Gutmann came by with his hand-painted portrait-making Face-

o-Mat or TaliaYstudio & Jonas Bohatasch’s Thermobooth that only

takes pictures when people kiss. Once we filled our press desk with

poetic “The Curator’s’ Choice” objects. And of course there was that

time when we presented Analogia Project’s experimental wire instal-

lation. And then all the other times when…

VENTURA | specials

44

THINK OF THE VENTURA PROJECTS AS A BIG FAMILY OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS.

VENTURA ABROAD |

‘FOR DESIGN IT’S ALWAYS VERY IMPORTANT TO EXPLORE NEW GROUNDS AND DEVELOPMENTS. AND I THINK VENTURA PROJECTS OFFERS A WELCOMING, CREATIVE REFRESHMENT COMPARED TO THE MORE OLD FASHIONED FORMAT OF THE FAIR PARTS. ’

LOWIE VERMEERSCH - DESIGNER & PRESIDENT OF BIENNALE INTERIEUR FOUNDATION

One year after our first Ventura Lambrate, we returned to Milan with our second edition. It was then that the

design nation understood that Ventura was not just a six-day wonder. Spurred on by the praise and the many

request for more Venturas, we started to imagine journeys to other places beyond Milan. Places where we

could unleash unpolished creativity alongside the flawless presentations of brands and labels at professional

furniture fairs – like the Salone. Could we do the same again? Raise a Ventura district beyond the borders of

our hometown Milan?

It did not take long before we took the second leap, and within five years Ventura had grown to be a real Ventura

Family. In our family, Ventura Lambrate is the big brother who clearly set the example, Ventura Berlin the baby

brother that dared to go abroad, Ventura Interieur the smart sister, Ventura London the family’s youngest and

Ventura X… well; she’s the rebel who likes to stir things up.

THINK OF THE VENTURA PROJECTS AS A BIG FAMILY OF BROTHERS AND SISTERS.

VENTURA ABROAD |

‘FOR DESIGN IT’S ALWAYS VERY IMPORTANT TO EXPLORE NEW GROUNDS AND DEVELOPMENTS. AND I THINK VENTURA PROJECTS OFFERS A WELCOMING, CREATIVE REFRESHMENT COMPARED TO THE MORE OLD FASHIONED FORMAT OF THE FAIR PARTS. ’

LOWIE VERMEERSCH - DESIGNER & PRESIDENT OF BIENNALE INTERIEUR FOUNDATION47

From Milan, we travelled northwards and slightly to the east

as our Ventura quest led us to wild and wonderful Berlin, to

the gates of the great former Tempelhofer Flughafen. Never

before had we entered such a magnificent building. In the

fall of 2011, it was here in this former airport, during the fur-

niture tradeshow Qubique, that we built our first Ventura Pro-

ject outside Milan: Ventura Berlin.

With Ventura Berlin we explored the versatility of the Ventura

concept. To counterbalance the tradeshow’s great line up

of labels and brands we chose to invite individual design-

ers and design galleries with projects that were not (yet) in

production. With all the single-project pieces we created a

“composed exhibition” that looked like a runway – the pre-

decessor of the Ventura Platforms we later introduced in

Lambrate. This approach became the gateway for visitors,

and even the labels and brands in the neighbouring halls, to

scout new design talents straight from our runway.

‘WE WANTED TO HAVE A MORE CREATIVE AND ART ORIENTED PART AT THE FAIR, WHICH WAS SOMETHING THAT WE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO CREATE AT THE FAIR WITHOUT VENTURA BERLIN.’

RUBEN HUTSCHEMAEKERS: COUNTRY MANAGER FOR GERMANY FOR HAY, CO-FOUNDER OF QUBIQUE BERLIN

VENTURA | berlin

After the autumn in Berlin and a third spring in Milan, we continued our

journey to the rather lesser-known city of Kortrijk in Belgium, where

the rather well-known Biennale Interieur holds sway in the even-num-

bered calendar years. The sleekness of this professional furniture fair

was a new landscape for our Ventura Projects that, until then, only

had taken place in abandoned factories, small galleries, garages and

airport hangars. Yet, for its 2012 edition, the Biennale created a shut-

tle passage from the fairground to Kortrijk’s historical city centre – the

“Buda Island” – to include the beautiful buildings of this island as ex-

hibition venues. With Ventura Interieur we started to understand that

established furniture fairs and their visitors were in need of an area

with fresh talent and pioneering thinkers within their overtly commer-

cial environments of the fairs. On the Buda Island and in the fair build-

ing itself, we dedicated areas to this need and presented individual

designers, small design studios, creative talents and fresh graduates.

In return, the Biennale proved to be a very fertile soil for our exhibitors

to meet producers, manufacturers, retailers and buyers. Yes, it was a

very wise decision to create an alliance with the Biennale.

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VENTURA | interieur

‘I SEE VENTURA PROJECTS GROWING INTO A TRAVELING DESIGN PLATFORM WITH A UNIQUE PROPOSITION IN THE FIELD.’

ANNE VAN DER ZWAAG - DIRECTOR OBJECT ROTTERDAM

An old 1950’s post office in the centre of London is Design-

juction’s fair venue during the London Design Festival. The

venue was not particularly charming at first sight, but its

walls contained such a strong industrial soul that we knew

at once: this is a Ventura venue. We had been longing to go

overseas, to the rich soil of the island whose designers are

often more experimental and conceptual than elsewhere.

And during the late summer days of 2014 we went to join

our new British ally.

With Ventura London we celebrated London’s wealth of ex-

cellent conceptual and experimental design that was often

buried beneath the strong presence of commercial design.

Every field needs its haute couture and without its experi-

mental pioneers the design field loses its sharp edges.

Ventura London might have been more abstract that Berlin

or Interieur, with its material tests, new techniques and work

still in progress, but our youngest Ventura was definitely the

most edgy one we have put up so far.

VENTURA |london

‘I SEE VENTURA PROJECTS GROWING INTO A TRAVELING DESIGN PLATFORM WITH A UNIQUE PROPOSITION IN THE FIELD.’

ANNE VAN DER ZWAAG - DIRECTOR OBJECT ROTTERDAM

In 2010, when our quest was just beginning, we made a promise to

ourselves: Ventura would never become sleepy; Ventura would never

become dry and boring. And so, in the spring of 2014, the “rebel” of

the Ventura Family made its first appearance. When the design nation

thought they finally understood the Ventura Lambrate concept, it was

Ventura X that made clear Ventura is always full of surprise – and this

time, it was show time! Ventura X took up residence outside its own

Lambrate borders in the cultural district 5VIE, once more leading the

design nation to a new and unfamiliar location in Milan. Upon arrival,

our guests were welcomed by Maarten Baas, the Dutch designer with

a love/hate attitude towards the Salone del Mobile. Dressed up as a

circus director (criticising the circus the Salone has become) he enter-

tained the design crowd at Milan as they had never been entertained

before. He gave them a bursting circus filled with abnormal and ec-

centric designs, roaring: “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s show time! Come

and let us entertain you with this year’s harvest of our finest products!”

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VENTURA X

‘VENTURA LAMBRATE IS THE PLACE FOR YOUNG DESIGNERS AND ACADEMIES, IT GIVES A CREATIVE ENERGY.’

MAARTEN BAAS - DESIGNER

A STORY ALWAYS NEEDS A NARRATOR TO TELL IT AND A PAINTER TO DEPICT IT.

VENTURA MEDIA |

‘IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN VERY GOOD AND FUN TO WORK WITH VENTURA PROJECTS, ESPECIALLY BEING A MEDIA PARTNER FOR VENTURA LAMBRATE. NO MATTER HOW BUSY THEY WERE, THEY HAVE ALWAYS FOUND TIME TO HELP ME.’

DAN RUBINSTEIN - JOURNALIST

A STORY ALWAYS NEEDS A NARRATOR TO TELL IT AND A PAINTER TO DEPICT IT.

Without newspapers, magazines, blogs, journalists, photographers or video makers,

no story would ever travel as far as they do now. It is the narrators and painters of today

that show the rest of the world the great things that they have discovered during their

visit to a Ventura area. Thanks to these modern media, the life span of the objects and

exhibitions on show are prolonged from six days of real time into the timelessness of

paper and online.

Over the years, the Ventura Projects have allied with great story makers; media part-

ners who communicate what happens behind the gates of the Ventura worlds. It is a

most welcome pact because, could a Ventura Project ever have better allies than the

print and digital platforms that fix all the magnificence of the Ventura exhibitors into

words and pictures for all to see?

VENTURA MEDIA |

‘IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN VERY GOOD AND FUN TO WORK WITH VENTURA PROJECTS, ESPECIALLY BEING A MEDIA PARTNER FOR VENTURA LAMBRATE. NO MATTER HOW BUSY THEY WERE, THEY HAVE ALWAYS FOUND TIME TO HELP ME.’

DAN RUBINSTEIN - JOURNALIST

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‘VENTURA LAMBRATE IS VERY STYLISH, ORGANISED, POLITE, ON TREND AND KNOWS WHAT´S IMPORTANT.‘

KATIE DOMINY- CO- FOUNDER & DIRECTOR AT ARTTHREAT.NET

EVEN FAIRY TALES CAN BE PRESENTED IN FACTS AND FIGURES.

VENTURA FACTS |

EVEN FAIRY TALES CAN BE PRESENTED IN FACTS AND FIGURES.

VENTURA FACTS |

VISITORS2010 | over 30.0002011 | over 60.0002012 | over 60.0002013 | over 80.0002014 | over 80.0002015 | over 100.0002016 | over 100.000

EXHIBITIONS2010 | 222011 | 482012 | 902013 | 662014 | 772015 | 1762016 | 161

DESIGNERS2010 | 236 designers2011 | 315 designers2012 | 600 designers2013 | 795 designers2014 | 600 designers2015 | 950 designers2016 | 935 designers

NATIONALITIES2012 | 332013 | 302014 | 39 2015 | 362016 | 29

LOCATIONS2010 | 82013 | 152014 | 19 2015 | 192016 | 20

REGISTERED JOURNALISTS2010 | 5002011 | 1.0002012 | 1.0002013 | 1.2002014 | 1.350 2015 | 1.5002016 | 1873

SPECIAL PROJECTS2012 | Analogia #32013 | Curators’ Choice2014 | Ventura X BAAS IS IN TOWN 2015 | Shop by CROWDY HOUSE2016 | Shop by CROWDY HOUSE

SQUARE METERS2010 | 5.000 m²2011 | 9.000 m² 2012 | 13.000 m²2013 | 10.000 m²2014 | 13.000 m² 2015 | 13.000 m² 2016 | 12.000 m²

VENTURA LAMBRATE

VENTURA BERLIN

| 15.800| 38| 800 m²

VisitorsExhibitiors

Square meters

2011

VENTURA LONDON

| 25.000 | 43 | 31| 14

VisitorsDesigners

ExhibitionsNationalities

2014

VENTURA NEW YORK THE DUTCH EDITION

| 16.000 | 14 | The Consulate General of the Netherlands and Creative Industries Fund NL

VisitorsDesigners

With the support of

2016

VENTURA INTERIEUR

| 24.000 | 70 | 140| 3 | Live Photobooth | 3.000 m²

VisitorsExhibitions DesignersLocations

Special Projects Square meters

2012| 25.000 | 76 | 120| 14| 2 | 3.000 m²

VisitorsExhibitions Designers

NationalitiesLocations

Square meters

2014

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A GREAT TALE DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN THAT THE STORY HAS ENDED INSTEAD OF GRACEFULLY SIGNING OFF WITH “THE END”, HERE IS WHERE THE FUTURE TALES OF VENTURA BEGIN!

VENTURA FUTURE |

A GREAT TALE DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN THAT THE STORY HAS ENDED INSTEAD OF GRACEFULLY SIGNING OFF WITH “THE END”, HERE IS WHERE THE FUTURE TALES OF VENTURA BEGIN!

VENTURA FUTURE |

‘VENTURA LAMBRATE IS JUST AN ENOURMOUS AMOUNT OF FUN. IT FEELS SO EXHAUSTING IN TERMS OF WORK BUT IN THE END IT´S WORTH IT IN SO MANY DIFFERENT WAYS. IT’S REALLY HARD TO THINK OF NOT GOING NEXT YEAR.’

SARAH K, - DESIGNER & CURATOR

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COVER Claudio Grassi

INDEX Claudio Grassi

FOREWORD Claudio Grassi

VENTURA PROJECTS Nicole Marnati

VENTURA LAMBRATE Nicole Marnati Lisa Klappe Claudio Grassi Chloe van Diepen Paola Amabile

SUCCESS STORIES Claudio Grassi Nicole Marnati Lisa Klappe Kaitey Whitehead Organisation in Design

FOOD Passi Carlotta Nicole Marnati Ilco Kemmere

PUBLISHING Nicole Marnati Claudio Grassi Chloe van Diepen DAILIESONTOUR

VENTURA START Organisation in Design Claudio Grassi Ilco Kemmere

THEMES Nicole Marnati Claudio Grassi Organisation in Design

PLATFORMS Nicole Marnati Claudio Grassi Organisation in Design

SPECIALS Lisa Klappe Tobias Gutmann NienAnn Organisation in Design

PHOTOS BY

DRAWING BYTEXT BYMILAN MAP Merel Boers

Lisanne FransenKatharina Böhler

VENTURA CREDITS |

LAY-OUT BYJanis Riekhoff

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VENTURA ABROAD Ilco Kemmere

BERLIN Organisation in Design

INTERIEUROrganisation in Design Giacomo Valentini

LONDON Nick Thompson

VENTURA X Kazoe van den Dobbelsteen Ilco Kemmere Organisation in Design

VENTURA MEDIA Organisation in Design Claudio Grassi Ilco Kemmere

VENTURA FACTS & FIGURES Nicole Marnati

VENTURA FUTURE Claudio Grassi

SPECIAL THANKS TOMargo Konings for being co-founder and co-curator of Ventura Projects from 2010-2015

All of the contributors who shared their stories, opinions and experiences with us about Ventura Projects and in doing so made this book possible!

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