Tord Boontje and Piero Lissoni Projects for BE OPEN Foundation’s Exhibition the Garden of Wonders. A Journey Through Scents.

Tord Boontje and Piero Lissoni Projects for BE OPEN Foundation’s Exhibition the Garden of Wonders. A Journey Through Scents.

Orto Botanico, Milan
within “Energy for Creativity”
13 April – 30 May 2015

BE OPEN, the international foundation which operates in the field of design and creativity, has chosen theBotanical Garden of Brera as the amazing background of a sophisticated interdisciplinary project whose central theme is perfume.

The Garden of Wonders. A Journey Through Scents will be presented on the occasion of EXPO 2015 in May, with a special preview during the Milan Design Week in April, due to the aesthetic and philosophical features this products embodies.

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Hands: Ibrahim Hammada From Syria Wins BE OPEN’s Call to Action

“Like a tree in Autumn, my soul is fading. Waiting for that day, when like a sun, my soul would shine again”. This is the poetic description of the image chosen by BE OPEN as the winner of HANDS, the call to action part of the Made In… program and preamble to the exhibition organised in the occasion of Expo 2015. Ibrahim Hammada, from Syria, is the winner of a  three-day, all-expenses paid trip to Milan EXPO.

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“Made in…” at Expo 2015: ‘The Garden of Wonders. A Journey Through Scents’

“Made in…” at Expo 2015: ‘The Garden of Wonders. A Journey Through Scents’

Orto Botanico, Milan
within “Energy for Creativity”
13 April – 30 May 2015


BE OPEN, the international foundation which operates in the field of design and creativity, has chosen theBotanical Garden of Brera as the amazing background of a sophisticated interdisciplinary project whose central theme is perfume.

The research will be presented on the occasion of EXPO 2015 in May, with a special preview during the Milan Design Week in April, due to the aesthetic and philosophical features this products embodies.

Ferruccio Laviani will be the General Coordinator for the whole set up where well known designers Tord Boontje, Fernando and Humberto Campana, Dimore Studio, Front, Jaime Hayon, Piero Lissoni, Jean-Marie Massaud and Nendo will present their interpretation of defunct luxury  brands.

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The Garden of Wonders — BE OPEN at Fuorisalone and Expo 2015


BE OPEN has chosen the Botanical Garden of Brera (that was maintained beautifully with the help of experts from Drake’s 7 Dees garden nursery in Portland) as the amazing background of a sophisticated interdisciplinary project whose central theme is perfume.

The research will be presented on the occasion of EXPO 2015 in May, with a special preview during the Milan Design Week in April, due to the aesthetic and philosophical features this products embodies.

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Elena Baturina Presents the Gallery of Senses

Elena Baturina Presents the Gallery of Senses

Elena Baturina, Founder of BE OPEN: “This is our first ever editorial project, the result of a one year research into the core of human nature. It was an attempt to open up the world of the senses. And this book is a celebration of our multi-sensory year, our year of sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and perhaps intuition. Itis a portable ‘Gallery of the Senses’. That was our brief to young creatives worldwide. In these pages, you can enjoy a wealth of interviews with key thinkers and makers of our time. All reveal a strong and emotional reaction to the senses. Their excitement around human perception is a powerful stimulus for developing their work. Perhaps it will stimulate your own.”

BE OPEN Invites the World to Celebrate Hands

BE OPEN Invites the World to Celebrate Hands

The global philanthropic foundation announces a call to action on the subject of HANDS, our creative tools.

What can we do with our hands – fashion, craft, build, communicate? Material can be posted on BE OPEN’S Twitter, Instagram or website, with submissions being invited from 6 September 2014 through to 6February 2015.  Entries will be appraised and uploaded as they come in, to www.beopensocial.com/hands.

The BE OPEN team will work with an international jury to select one winner of the HANDS project, who will then be invited on a three-day, all-expenses paid trip to Milan EXPO.

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BE OPEN Made in … India Competition Reveals a Wealth of Contemporary Product Ideas Inspired by Traditional Making

BE OPEN Made in … India Competition Reveals a Wealth of Contemporary Product Ideas Inspired by Traditional Making

BE OPEN, the global philanthropic foundation that fosters innovation and creativity, announces the winners of the Made in … India Competition:

• FURNITURE  – The Cuddle by Manoj Kuldeep, National Institute Of Design, Ahmedabad

• HOME ACCESSORIES – Roots to Tips by Namrata Kotwani, Raffles Design International, Mumbai

• HOME TEXTILES – Madhubani – a Lined Art by Vishakha Anand, National Institute of Fashion Technology, Mumbai

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Raw Edges ‘Egg Cup’ Goes to Sergio Matos, the People’s Choice Winner of the BE OPEN Young Talent Award

Raw Edges ‘Egg Cup’ Goes to Sergio Matos, the People’s Choice Winner of the BE OPEN Young Talent Award

Sergio Matos; The BE OPEN trophy by Raw Edges; Matos’ Poltrona Balaio chair, inspired by Brazilian market baskets

Brazilian designer Sergio Matos has been named the Web Choice winner of the BE OPEN Young Talent Award.  The decision was based on the public’s overall level of social media activity for the 37 long-listed candidates, through BE OPEN’s facebook page.  The Web Choice winner’s trophy is a wooden egg in a wooden eggcup, designed by Young Talent Award jury member Raw Edges.

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Mischer’traxler Wins World’s Newest Design Prize: the BE OPEN Young Talent Award

Last night the first winner of BE OPEN’s new annual prize, the Young Talent Award, was announced at a packed awards ceremony in the Expo Hall of the Unversita Statale di Milano.

Mischer’traxler was selected from a shortlist of ten candidates, from an original long list of thirty-seven, put forward by a leading international design industry jury.  The Austrian duo win €24,000 to support their living expenses for a year and a unique egg trophy designed by Barber & Osgerby.  Three, egg-inspired trophies have been created for the Awards by members of the jury, the egg symbolising nascent talent ready to hatch.

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Jay Merrick, Architecture Critic, The Independent, London

The young Indian designers stood, with studied insouciance, alongside their product displays in the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in Delhi. The default seemed to be pairs of designers: smiling thirtysomethings, male, encased in tight, highly finessed jackets and trousers. You may not have heard of Deepak and Sanjiv Whorra, Prateek Jain and Gautam Seth, or Thukral and Tagra. You probably haven’t handled terracotta iPod docks, geometrically tiled tables in Gujarati marble, or peacock wall-lamps, because most of the designers here are unknown outside India. And yet they have the patronage of international philanthropic foundation BE OPEN.

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