It’s always a pleasure to see anyone celebrate their own Birthday with such exuberance as 5.5 Designers have done this week in Milan. Upon entering the French cultural centre you are greeted by an array of bright colours, helium balloons and party-time confetti so it seems markedly clear that over the past five and half years since their inception, 5.5 designers have had a lot fun… and what a way to celebrate.
Once again 5.5 present their “Save a product for 1 Euro” project, driven by a failure of the client to go through with the sale of 5.5’s, already produced products and deciding to buy the stock and sell it themselves. In these wobbly times 5.5 seems to have nailed it on the head, connecting both their previous works and this particular project with our current economic situation. “Save a product” really feels all the more sincere now it’s been placed in this context where people, including myself, just feels enticed to buy into the idea, not just the products. It’s inspiring to the think that these designers have gone to such lengths, both financial and time consuming, to keep a product alive when it’s previous destiny was to be destroyed.
In an equally enticing show full of colour and vibrancy it was exciting also to see such depth of concept and idea throughout their brief retrospective. They continue to address serious and current issues in focused, genuinely interesting and very accessible ways.
Their continuing battle to produce products, serious in their agenda and fun in their outlook, have only strengthened their prominence within the industry – may their balloons not pop to soon.
Centre Culturel
Francais de Milan,
Palazzo delle Stelline,
Corso Magenta 63,
20123
Text & Images : James King