Mr.Lawrence: “Instinct, Experience, and Balance”

These are the three facets that guides one of Milan’s most forceful design consultancy agency: Mr.Lawrence, according to its creators, Francesco Mainardi and Annalisa Rosso. “Finding the right balance, mixing established and emerging new markets and historical productions, different industries, collaborators and clients coming from all over the world,” they say are the main ingredients of their successful stint in design.

When Milan erupts with design celebrations during the Milan Design week, it is difficult for enthusiasts to get their head around the plethora of events, all of which continues to grow, each year…

Mr.Lawrence, a Milan-based contemporary design consultancy that works with both public and private international clients, with the aim of bridging the gap between collectible and industrial design was deeply involved in many curatorial directives around Milan.

Perhaps this classifies them as the best people to ask whether the design world is on the way to be too crowded and over populated with products and entities that the consumer might not always use.

Francesco Mainardi and Annalisa Rosso, together in life as in design, creators of the strategic design consultancy, Mr.Lawrence, say, “There is overabundance of pieces of furniture, compared to demand, is endemic to our industry and, in part, makes it unsustainable in general terms (not only environmentally).

Francesco continues, “The solution, in my opinion, lies in an outlook of all the aspects of the design system. I mean a reasoned and conscious consumption/purchase of products, a production of valuable projects, and finally the evolution of the design discipline, which should aim to the innovation of meanings rather than just the aesthetic.”

SCALE engages with Francesco Mainardi and Annalisa Rosso of Mr.Lawrence to know more about the design consultancy.

SCALE: Take us through the formation of Mr.Lawrence, the intent behind it, and the initial projects.

Francesco Mainardi: Annalisa Rosso and I form a couple in life as well, and after many years of informal collaboration in which we helped each other on our respective projects, in 2018 we decided to join forces and create our own studio: a Milan-based strategic design consultancy. Thus Mr.Lawrence was born. The name is a quote from the movie Furyo (with David Bowie, 1983) but also represents our “fake boss”: the one who embodies the synthesis of our two backgrounds, the one related to collectible, research, and a more curatorial aspect; and the other related to industry, design strategy and a more managerial aspect.

Right from the start, Mr.Lawrence’s signature projects stood out for this peculiar multifaceted vision, building bridges between different cultures, countries, brands and disciplinary approaches.
The studio’s early projects include Glass Utopia (2019) a collective project putting in dialogue collectible design and industry from Italy and Australia around the discipline of contemporary blown glass.

Another one of Mr.Lawrence, Perfettooo! a digital exhibition by Objects of Common Interest co-curated with Maria Cristina Didero in 2020, in which again various disciplines and backgrounds are mixed – 3D modelling, gaming, product design and graphic design.

SCALE:  How have the projects you have completed informed the practice? Take us through some of your important projects and the value they have added to the practice?
Annalisa Rosso: In more than 15 years as design professionals, individually first and as a studio now, exchange has always been the base of our daily practice. Exchange of information, of points of view, of expertise. All our projects are born and developed from a systematic exchange, which is also very useful when it comes to collecting and comparing data.

We’d like to mention the long-term project we are carrying on with Irthi, Contemporary Crafts Council in Sharjah, with the aim of building a bridge between UAE and Mediterranean culture. And the collaboration with art and design collector Silvia Fiorucci and her La Società delle Api: an international community of thinkers, artists, designers, and curators. Among the latest achievement: site specific projects, books, and artists’ residencies in Grasse, France, and Kastellorizo, Greece.

SCALE: How has the Milan Design Week 2024 been for you? Tell us about the various projects you were involved in?

 

Francesco Mainardi: As Mr.Lawrence studio during last Milan Design Week 2024, we collaborated on several projects both at the fair and the city.

Among the most exciting ones, the curatorship of a small and very significant exhibition entitled Shadows & Poems by the Spanish duo Eliurpi, which represents our research project (we plan to sign at least one project devote to pure exploration per year) in which we experiment with emerging design studios on projects slightly out of their comfort zone. This project by Mr.Lawrence was hosted in Palazzo Litta and produced by 5Vie Design District.

Another interesting project was bringing into dialogue two very different realities which, at the same time, share a common sensory language: lighting and fragrance. The project, entitled Scent of Light was created for the Japanese nomadic lamp brand Ambientec along with the Argentine perfume brand Fueguia 1833, which hosted a site-specific installation in its Milan store.

Lastly, our design week agenda included a series of collaborations and activations made for our established clients with whom we provide strategic and targeted consulting services such as Etel (Brazilian designer furniture brand), Nemo Group (Italian lighting brand) and EMU (historic outdoor furniture brand).

SCALE:  What are your thoughts on the design trends this season of MDW?
Francesco Mainardi This year, I have four points to underline:

1. One of the common denominators of the furniture sector was certainly, or at least confirmed to be, outdoor. Almost all mid- to high-end brands presented or outfitted their spaces with collections designed for outdoor living (both in the contact and residential segments).
2. From the point of view of the products, and especially the materials, “exposed metal” is a transversal trend, used both for fittings (see Zanotta or Living Divani) and as a finish for products to replace paints or coatings.
3. The Salone del Mobile.Milano, meaning the fair, confirms itself as an increasingly profiled and specialized BtoB attraction pole, while the Fuorisalone, meaning what happens in the city, remains very heterogeneous, in which a BtoC or at least much broader offer prevails. The alchemy between inside and outside Salone continues to make the Design Week in Milan the most special event in the industry worldwide.
4. The fourth point regards the dialogue between furniture and fashion business. It is clear fashion business is increasingly entering the furniture sector, but I believe that the proposals of the fashion brands in past few years were perhaps too similar, almost overlapping, with the ones of the furniture brands. Now they are maybe finally finding their own language, different, more experimental and eclectic (see for example the projects of Loewe, Bottega Veneta, Prada, etc.).

SCALE: Tell us about your experience working within the Salone? Any thoughts on the growth of the Salone to be the directing force of design? And your role in this.
Annalisa Rosso: I am an Editorial Director and Cultural Events Advisor for Salone del Mobile.Milano and I have been lucky to be part of the incredible change we are living during the last few years. Facing one of the most complex periods of our age, I think Salone has been able to hold firm to its identity and its global leadership role by boldly taking up the challenge and raising the stakes.

Not only does it continue to be attractive to the most innovative and dynamic international furniture brands and powerful design professionals, but it has also stood out for a leading cultural programme with talks, panel discussions, installations, bookstores, and much more.

I just want to mention the exhibition “Interiors by David Lynch. A Thinking Room,” curated by Antonio Monda, which was a project of extraordinary generosity and impact by one of the most important artists of our time. And the record-breaking numbers confirm the leadership, with 20% more visitors than in 2023.

SCALE:  What you do is more than design, it is about moulding a sustainable design practice. What are the main ingredients to move towards such a practice?
Annalisa Rosso: Million-dollar question! I think it is a matter of instinct, maybe driven by experience. And of balance: mixing established and emerging, new markets and historical productions, different industries, collaborators and clients coming from all over the world.

SCALE: Have you felt that the design world is on the way to be much crowded, over populated with products and entities that the consumer might not always use. What is the way forward? What does sustainable practice mean when we look at the design world as such.
Francesco Mainardi: I’m a teacher (Istituto Marangoni) and I can say that every year in Europe we churn out thousands of young designers, who produce tens of thousands of new designs, which add up to hundreds of thousands of designs signed by more or less established professional designers. Of course, only a tiny fraction become new products, but still, we are talking about hundreds of “new chairs.”

This premise is to say that the overabundance of piece of furniture, compared to demand, is endemic to our industry and, in part, makes it unsustainable in general terms (not only environmentally).

The solution, in my opinion, lies in an outlook of all the aspects of the design system. I mean a reasoned and conscious consumption/purchase of products, a production of valuable projects, and finally the evolution of the design discipline, which should aim to the innovation of meanings rather than just the aesthetic.

SCALE: One trend or advice that will always be pertinent.

Annalise Rosso: both a trend and an advice from us at Mr.Lawrence. Keep your eyes open and do research in unexpected places, even in other disciplines. And never be shy to ask to learn more.

All Images Courtesy Mr.Lawrence