Tom Dixon in conversation with Rossana Orlandi
Tom Dixon and Rossana Orlandi discuss furniture and collectables, art & fashion, the use of plastics and the Italian design scene.
As part of our latest part-virtual, part-real life adventure, 24 Hours in Milan, Tom Dixon’s Hologram spoke to Rossana Orlandi, Italian designer and gallerist.
In 2002, Rossana decided to abandon the fashion world that had been her domain for 30 years, to open an art and design gallery. Rossana explains that although “design and fashion have a lot of connection”, they’re also very different realms.
“Fashion is super interesting… it’s dynamic, it’s a crazy world, and I loved it for a certain time but then I was really tired of fashion, so I decided to work in design which was more patient.”
“Deciding to do what I love, what was really my hobby, to be a collectionist, has been a fabulous discovery.”
From the moment Rossana opened her gallery – Galleria Rossanna Orlandi in via Matteo Bandello 14 - it became a mecca for Design, and what the international press now name one of the eight most important in the world. She began her gallery with small pieces that were presented as an aesthetic dialogue where objects communicate with each other outside of place and time.
Rossana also speaks to Tom about launching the ‘Guiltless Plastic’ in 2018 – a project aimed at promoting the use of recycled plastic, amid growing environmental concerns. With millions of tonnes of plastic leaking into our oceans every year, Rossana encourages us to consider plastic waste as a valuable resource and to use it in design work before it reaches the ocean. In this way, she advocates the power of design as part of the solution to plastic pollution. Read more here.
Watch the full conversation below.