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Issue 66 - Kitchen & Bathroom Issue

Issue 66

Kitchen & Bathroom Issue

Kitchens and bathrooms are, arguably, the most consequential rooms in the home — and almost always the first to be considered. Whether approached through renovation or new build, their design has the power to recalibrate how a home is lived in and experienced. For this issue, our guest editor, Mardi Doherty, principal of Studio Doherty, explores what it truly means to transform these pivotal spaces — and why thoughtful design in kitchens and bathrooms delivers dividends far beyond the purely functional. Her insights both as an architect and as her own client give an open and honest account of the thinking behind creating a home.

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Salone 2017: The Marni Playland
Design StoriesAndrew McDonald

Salone 2017: The Marni Playland

Just for the occasion of Milan 2017 Salone del Mobile, famed fashion-house Marni has transformed its space at Viale Umbria 42 into one big designer-heaven playground: The Marni Playland.


Don’t you just love it when fashion and design cross-over? Particularly at Milan where the spectacle factor is nice and high.

Reflecting on the concept of play, Marni invites the public to forget predefined rules and structures and interact with the surrounding space and the intriguing elements it contains.
The Marni Playland is a stretch of sand, which is the perfect backdrop for a series of extraordinary objects and furniture sculptures that have cast practicality aside to embrace their playful side, leaving them open to interpretation.

The playground features toys to be showcased and toys to play with, storage containers perfect for basketball, colourful cones to stack rings over and baskets with parts that are so out of proportion they highlight the irony of the creative approach.

Lying next to them is the new limited edition of Marni home furnishing accessories. This year, the collection features seats, stools, rocking chairs with holder armrests and chairs with roofs that create a comfortable haven to snuggle up in.

As always, Marni’s contribution to the Salone del Mobile is open to the whole city, being the public’s involvement integral to its story. Visitors are able to interact with the items on display, rest on picnic blankets especially designed for the occasion, devise their own interpretations of the furnishings and, of course, buy the products.

The Marni Playland reaffirms the brand’s commitment to children charity initiatives as part of the proceeds from the sale of the limited-edition design products will be given to the Only The Brave Foundation, owned by OTB group which supports numerous charitable institutions. This year the donations will benefit Associazione Piccolo Principe (www.piccoloprincipe.va.it ), that through its Orso Baloo center hosts children in need aged from 0 till 6 in the district of Milan.

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About the Author

Andrew McDonald


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Issue 66 - Kitchen & Bathroom Issue

Issue 66

Kitchen & Bathroom Issue

Kitchens and bathrooms are, arguably, the most consequential rooms in the home — and almost always the first to be considered. Whether approached through renovation or new build, their design has the power to recalibrate how a home is lived in and experienced. For this issue, our guest editor, Mardi Doherty, principal of Studio Doherty, explores what it truly means to transform these pivotal spaces — and why thoughtful design in kitchens and bathrooms delivers dividends far beyond the purely functional. Her insights both as an architect and as her own client give an open and honest account of the thinking behind creating a home.

Order Issue