The Royal College of Art Design Products Department literally pitched their tent(s) in the Ventura Lambrate district of Milan for Design Week this year.

(Click the images below for full sized images)

Based around the concept of camping, RCA Intent was housed within and around five colourful tents in a large industrial space off Via Ventura. Danish textiles company Kvadrat donated the materials for the exhibition, which was curated by designer and RCA tutor Onkar Kular.

The tents included designs by more than 40 RCA Design Products MA students and graduates as well as the recently launched Design Products Collection, a new initiative set up by Head of Department, Professor Tord Boontje and Senior Tutor, Gareth Williams. There was also a small selection of work by RCA Textiles students showing interior design products.


Amongst the work by recent graduates,

Plytube stools by Seongyong Lee

Seongyong Lee's lightweight Plytube stools constructed from innovative tubes of wood veneer, recently nominated for the Brit Insurance Design of the Year Award

Plastic Gold by Florie Salnot

Florie Salnot's technique transforms discarded plastic bottles into beautiful pieces of jewellery. A craft she created to empower Saharawi refugees.

New Blossom Bulbs Forest by Pierre Ospina

Pierre Ospina's Blossom Bulbs are "a mirror image of Nature's ways of diversification through growth. Rubber shoots spread in various widths and heights."

Autonomous Work Place no 003 by William Shannon

William Shannon's AWP 003 is a "mobile workshop facility. It is the most recent in the series of mobile industrial units, designed in response to the diminishing presence that industry has in the city. In an attempt to revise the trend of urban de-industrialization, my work explores the city as a resource that can provide the raw materials for the production of goods. It proposes ways in which local materials and localized manufacture can allow new, lightweight industries to be reintroduced to the city. Exhibited alongside the project are examples of furniture pieces, made from locally sourced materials."

Remade by William Shannon

William Shannon's Remade is found furniture remade.

Nomadic Sound Systems by Benjamin Newland

Benjamin Newland's Nomadic Sound Systems are a family of objects that explore new ways for sound to interact with people and space. "Together, they harness the emotional and behavioural powers of sound to create and consolidate groups, seeking to enhance these powers by making the infrastructure of sound reproduction mobile, interactive and participative."

Rope Bench by Yoav Reches

Yoav Reches' Tensile Furniture consist of wooden elements that are held together by rope tension. The rope is guided through a pattern of grooves which cross over the different faces of the furniture and lock the elements into a rigid structure.

Long Table by Harry Thaler

Harry Thaler's Long Table is a dining table that can be extended to different lengths.

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