Fashion in search of sustainable solutions with Yves Salomon, Dolce & Gabbana and Benetton

This ultra-creative week in Milan offers more than just a concentration of sleek objects and prestigious collaborations! Design Week, which runs until April 21, is also an opportunity for fashion and luxury brands to showcase sustainable development solutions, while enjoying unhoped-for visibility. Among the most interesting and seductive projects are those by the luxury houses Yves Salomon and Dolce & Gabbana and the Benetton brand.

 
Parisian furrier Yves Salomon made his debut at this year’s Furniture Fair, and for the first time he scored a major coup by teaming up with Chapo Créations, a company set up by renowned French designer Pierre Chapo, known for his sophisticated work with wood. Above all, his project was presented at Dimorecentrale, the new space of the DimoreStudio design agency, one of the leading names in the sector. Architects, interior designers and even the heads of luxury houses, always on the lookout for the latest innovations, flocked to the premises.
 
“I have a culture of special projects,” says Yves Salomon, the label’s president, with a smile. “I’ve been collecting vintage furniture for years, particularly by Chapo. So we developed this project with his heirs, combining our two areas of expertise. I thought it would be interesting to mix the hardness of wood with softer materials, while at the same time showcasing the expertise of our two houses,” he explains.

The result is five pieces of furniture that are emblems of Pierre Chapo (a bed, an armchair, a chair, a stool and a lampshade) made from wood by hand, without glue or nails, and covered with upcycled woollen intersias. The particularity of these skins is that they come from scraps and pieces of hide that could not be used in the furrier’s workshops. This reuse practice was initiated in 2018 through the “Pieces” concept dedicated to creating coats and other pieces from recycled material. “We’re trying to bring creativity by showing what can be done with upcycling. It allows you to create very special objects,” says Yves Salomon, delighted with the success of the Milan event.
 
“We’ve already had a few sales, with pieces going for around 11,000 euros. For our image, it’s fantastic to be in Milan at the moment, and especially in this Dimore gallery. It’s an exceptional opportunity to get started in this segment, and it’s made us want to go all the way,” he says, noting that compared to Fashion Weeks, this Milanese event has “far more energy and enthusiasm. It’s a place where we can meet and exchange ideas, and perhaps prepare other projects for the future.”

 
Benetton, which launched its Casa line last year, returns to Milan Design Week, this time with a special project entitled Telare la Materia, hosted by Alcova, another of the event’s most popular destinations. Always offering a cutting-edge selection of brands and designers in original settings, this year Alcova set up in the Milan countryside, in Varedo, taking over two historic residences, such as the nineteenth-century palazzo Villa Bagatti Valsecchi and the 1940s Villa Borsani.
 
The Italian fashion group presented its installation unveiling an original project for transforming textile waste into compost for plants. The process was developed by multidisciplinary designer Davide Balda, aged 25, during a six-month residency at Fabrica, Benetton’s communications research centre.

With the help of the company’s sustainability department, the young inventor recovered defective and unsold garments from Benetton’s Green B line, made from cotton, linen and synthetic plant fibres, which he cut up and then crushed until they were reduced to fibres and raw material that could be reused in two ways. Firstly as a plant substrate, known as technosol, and a fertilising substance, enabling plants to grow, then as a building material. Using clay waste from the river Sile, near Treviso, where the brand is based, Davide Balda has succeeded in creating vernacular bricks and architectural elements.

 
“Design has to help change things to make the world a better place,” explains the young man from Genoa, who has a degree in product design from the IED in Turin and a master’s degree in design, creativity and social practices from the Pistoletto Foundation’s Unidee Academy in Biella. To help get the message across, Davide Balda is handing out a kit so that visitors can try out the process at home.
 
“This way, people can see that a simple gesture can prevent this waste from ending up in a landfill in Africa. The important thing is to act at source, where the waste is produced. I’m currently refining my research to understand which fibre is specific to which plant. I’ve discovered, for example, that flax fibre is perfect for growing beans,” he confides enthusiastically, hoping that his process, which is quite simple to implement, will appeal to as many people as possible.

 
Riccardo Cendella, aged 29, one of the ten young international talents selected by Dolce & Gabbana for “GenD”, has a different project, but the same concern for preserving our planet. Launched last year, this project aims to support young creative talents in the field of design and furnishings, giving them carte blanche and the support they need to create design objects that highlight the skills of the Italian fashion house’s craftsmen.

“I work with waste or unused products, which I try to transform into functional objects, because I think it’s important not to generate overproduction. Inspired by Dolce & Gabbana’s jewellery and one of their Alta Sartoria collections, I created a chandelier based entirely on recycled materials,” explains the designer, who graduated from Turin Polytechnic and holds a master’s degree in Material Furtures from London’s Central Saint Martins.
 
He created a chandelier with an organic yet contemporary style from pieces of bronze slag, which he collected from the Battaglia foundry in Milan, then polished and welded. He then incorporated shards of cotisso glass, which he obtained from the kiln of Murano glassmaker Mian. “It’s a classic chandelier but revisited according to the materials found, with the idea of raising public awareness of the themes of overproduction and sustainability,” he sums up.