Courmayeur Design Week-end takes “a step forward”: what’s new in the 2024 edition
Intellectual curiosity, exploration and entrepreneurial courage are at the heart of the new edition of Courmayeur Design Week-end, scheduled for February 1-4, 2024.
Design at high altitude
Courmayeur is getting ready to host events and workshops. From the city center to the summit of Mont Blanc, from lodges to gondola lifts, from villages to squares, the focus will be design at high altitude.
The theme of this edition is “Un passo avanti” (“a step forward”): an invitation to leave the perimeter of what is known in order to venture farther and anticipate the future; to lead change instead of merely chasing it, to share a path, to be part of a collective evolution. The exhibitions and talks of Courmayeur Design Week-end 2024 will take shape from this thematic core.
Among the novelties is the main keynote speaker for the main conference held in the unique setting of Skyway Mont Blanc: Patricia Urquiola, winner of major awards such as the Wallpaper Design Award, Elle Decor International Design Award, Chicago Athenaeum Good Design Award. She joins the main keynote speakers of the previous editions: Michele De Lucchi, Carlo Ratti, Piero Lissoni.
Click here for the program of the Courmayeur Design Week-end 2024
Courmayeur Design Week-end: a successful event
Lots of content concentrated in a small and intimate place with a cosmopolitan vocation and international scope: this is the formula that has decreed the success of the event conceived by art director Paola Coronel in partnership with Courmayeur Mont Blanc, under the patronage of ADI – Association for Industrial Design, Fondazione Altagamma, and with the collaboration of Courmayeur Mont Blanc Funivie and Skyway Monte Bianco.
Not-to-be-missed events
Courmayeur Design Week-end is an event that spreads in many different directions, thanks also to the Dolonne ski gondolas, decorated with polychrome graphics dedicated to historical and innovative products and, starting this year, also to the faces that have made the history of Italian design and architecture.
Another new feature the 2024 edition is the Courma Beach, an authentic mountain beach on the tennis courts of the Courmayeur Sport Center: large surfaces become the stage for exhibitions of outdoor furniture, but also playful and informal spaces where to enjoy the snow. The offering includes an Oysters&Champagne area, a real snow-beach volleyball court and wooden deckchairs from Versilia to relax in the sun.
Courmayeur Design Week-end 2024 exhibitions
Among the exhibitions hosted in the Courmayeur Sport Center is “Le idee geniali,” a selection of cult products curated by Giulio Cappellini. Previously proposed during Pietrasanta Design Week-end, the exhibition is being reworked in Courmayeur with a different purpose. Participating companies will offer their pieces for a timed auction lasting the four days of the event. Proceeds will be donated to the project of Elisabetta Andreis, a gynecology resident from Milan who traveled to Sierra Leone to support local women’s right to health.
On the other hand, at the Conference Center in Piazzale Monte Bianco, the lounge designed by Fabric with Ditre furniture and Luceplan lamps will host an exhibition celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Alessi Museum through 25 stories and innovative projects. An opportunity to retrace some memorable moments in the brand’s history 102 years after its birth. The installation, designed by A4Adesign, is made entirely of recycled corrugated cardboard.
Top installations
In Courmayeur’s Piazza Abbé Henry, a light installation designed by 967Arch and made in collaboration with lighting brand Telmotor stands out, while in Piazza Brocherel Studio Giuseppe Tortato Architetti presents furniture by Kindof, a Swiss brand that transforms the rebar used to reinforce concrete by bending and curving it into an armchair, bench, table or chaise longue.
In Piazza Petigax, in the outdoor and indoor spaces of the Waldensian Church, a project inspired by 2023 events brings forward the contamination between art and design. On display are the most interesting sketches from the Museo dei Bozzetti in Pietrasanta, a priceless heritage of plaster models, which precede the creation of works of art in marble.
Click here for the program of the Courmayeur Design Week-end 2024
Moreover, many storefronts in the city center are participating in the “Un passo avanti” exhibition, which showcases female designers and architects, selected by word of mouth by professionals, journalists, PR people and industry managers. An invitation to discover strongly inspired and inspiring faces, stories and reflections through a series of red design objects, including small handicrafts and iconic products in production.
Another initiative starting in 2024 involves Courmayeur’s specialized antiquarian bookstores that host spaces dedicated to historical volumes of architecture and design, including rare ones, related to the territory and to the history of Olivetti, graphics and product design, from an Italian and international perspective.
