Working title has made the shock discovery that there are designers working collectively within the Designersblock show based in Thaon de Revel. Even more shockingly there are are at least 3 ‘collectives’ within the exhibition. The New Oxford school dictionary describes a collective as ‘adjective of a group taken as a whole, our collective opinion. Not a great definition, but it is after all it is a kids dictionary and was never intended or designed to be used at an event with the gravitas of the Salone Internazionale del mobile, but it will have to suffice.

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It is a well-known fact that the Japanese have got going to the loo sorted. And that the kings of toilet toilette are Toto.  And having pampered the bums of Asia since 1917, Toto are now touting their wares in Europe. Visitors to Via Solari 37/39 (Tortona District) can savour their latest product and first conscious attempt to woo a European market with a ‘washlet’ (i.e. robotic loo seat) designed by none other than Stefano Giovannoni.

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It is not an uncommon story to link the notion of the self to space. Many of us do it as very young children when writing our names and addresses, expanding the address locating us in our street, town, city and country, to encompass the world, the solar system, the Milky Way, the universe.

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Milan strikes me as a city not designed for rain.

The Chanel glasses that cover many fashionista’s faces are suddenly rendered useless and appear too posey, the miniature dogs found on the end of leads belonging to men who go for manicures look sad and grumpy and have wet feet. Street after street is dulled and appears a shadow of it’s former self with all the lure and colour washed down to halftones and quiet.

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Universally themed exhibitions always err on the side of risk.  When dealing with topics that affect such a wide audience, the element of danger lies in making assumptions about a global subject, especially one as personal and ambiguous as love.  It came as a welcome surprise to discover that Love Design, a celebration of intimate or heartfelt products curated by Exquise Design, part defied the romanticised normals and part treaded old ground.

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You know how it goes, you’re sat there listening to some young Shoreditch thing strum her out of tune guitar whilst shoving a vacuum cleaner down then microphone, ahem. When, just as you have turned your speakers up to maximum capacity Roberta pipes up and ruins it, ruins it all.

Yes Spotify, oh how great it was, and yes I’m cheap I could subscribe but I want to save my pennies, and just track her down and lodge the microphone so far down her throat that she can only mumble rhythmic static.

For those of you who are wandering what the hell I’m writing about, and whether I am slightly psychotic, fear not there’s a great new thing in Internet world, called Spotify. Hardly a justification for dismembering someone’s vocal chords, but wait…

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