INBETWEEN  is a threshold, an element that marks the passage between external space and internal space, between public space and intimate space.

We started from the furnishings designed for the entrances of historic homes, those rooms that acted as a filter between the city and the house. Today they are disappearing from domestic layouts in favor of open spaces that hybridize the entrance, living room and, sometimes, even the kitchen. These fluid and multiple environments were imagined as the ideal place for Inbetween: a freestanding piece of furniture like a screen, in a fluid space that shows its duplicity based on the direction in which you proceed, from inside to outside or vice versa.

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Inbetween, which evocates its deliberate positioning, is designed to have one side to store personal and private belongings of the home, and another to hold everything that comes from outside, thanks to special coat pegs. Inbetween features a simple frame structure made of linear elements connected on a tangent, which then have horizontal and vertical surfaces resting on them. The selection of materials, which has opposing aesthetics and textures, underlines the theme of duality: FENIX® Rosso Askja, an elegant matte shade, is juxtaposed with Homapal® Copper Stratos Diagonal, a multicoloured metallic surface.

For Milan Design Week 2024, FENIX®—together with the Broadview Holding brands: Arpa®, Formica® and Homapal® —presents Design Duo Double Feature, a project curated by Federica Sala and hosted within the spaces of FENIX Scenario, Foro Buonaparte 66.

Design Duo Double Feature is an exploratory project that researches the multipotential of materials and surfaces starting from the concept of duality: six pairs of designers were invited to design dual-use furnishing elements, created by combining FENIX® materials with other surfaces produced by the group. The products will also be presented in the setting of a double set-up—indoor and outdoor—created by Studioboom, a duo of architects. 

“I have always been fascinated by how, in architecture and design to a greater extent than in other disciplines, a number of creative duos are active," says curator Federica Sala. "A creative couple, whether their relationship is purely professional or also extends to their private life, has to perfect the difficult art of dialogue and mediation in order to successfully combine the input of two different minds in a single design solution. To illustrate the exceptional versatility of FENIX®, either alone or in combination with other materials, we decided to multiply the number of minds involved in the project to encourage lateral thinking and, consequently, double projects: in form, function, transformation…”

Selected by curator Federica Sala, CARA \ DAVIDE, DWA Design Studio, Martinelli Venezia, Næssi Studio, mist-o and Zanellato/Bortotto give life to objects that explore new and multifaceted functionalities, juggling transformability, mobility, sustainability, and versatility.