Eclectic door knobs feature in guerrilla Milan design week exhibition

Door handles made from human hair, soap and climbing grips featured in a nomadic Milan design week exhibition curated by Zaccaria Slater as an affordable platform for emerging design talent.

A Bunch of Knobs showcased 50 conceptual door knobs attached to a single white door that moved from district to district as a protest against the exorbitant venue fees charged during Milan's annual design festival.

London-based curator Slater told Dezeen that the project evolved from conversations with his friends, who wanted to exhibit in Milan but felt it was financially impossible.

"I set myself the challenge of 'what is an exhibition that I can fit in a check in suitcase'," said Slater, who is currently studying for an undergraduate in Product and Furniture Design at Chelsea College of Arts and a masters in Culture, Criticism and Curation at Central Saint Martins.

The choice of door knobs as a design object provided scope for varied interpretations, while being affordable for participants to produce and straightforward enough to transport to Milan.

"We used the doorknob as a way to show how creative thought can be applied to the most overlooked of items," Slater said. "I also enjoyed the double entendre of 'knob' as a suitable metaphor for how pretentious Milan design week can be."

The project was launched via an open call on Instagram that attracted 104 applications. Slater initially planned on accepting 30 designs, but expanded this to 50 due to the quality of the submissions.

The brief stipulated only the maximum dimensions and the need to ship the knobs to London in advance of the exhibition.

Slater worked with emerging designers Cameron Griffin and Mercedes Plazola, along with curator Wonjoo Gu, to select the successful designers, who each contributed £20 to cover the exhibition's costs.

"It was beautiful seeing people's practice and visual language communicated through a door knob," said Slater, who added that he was "blown away" by the standard and level of finishing of the applications he received.

Designer Alex Lock created a "post-Covid door knob" made from soap that washes the user's hand as they turn it, while Louis Eager recast a climbing grip in pewter to create a handle that invites grabbing, pushing and pulling.

German designer Luca Gruber crafted a door knob from cast brass that referenced Janus, the two-headed Roman god of thresholds, while Nao Iyama's wooden handle contained a marble that produced a playful sound as it rolled around inside.

Slater's highlights included Eleanor Murphy's simple knob featuring a tactile rubber o-ring fixed to a circular metal handle, as well as Klinta Locmele's Pony Tail door pull made from her sister's hair.

"I also loved a knob called Don't Leave Me Here Alone by Luca Concilia," he added. "His story about the difficulty of family life and feeling like the door is never truly closed was incredibly powerful, and the execution of the mace-like knob was fantastic."

Over five days, the exhibition moved between some of Milan design week's key venues, including the Triennale museum, Brera Design District and Zona Tortona.

To accompany the exhibition, Slater produced a limited-run publication featuring the work of the 50 practitioners. He also made an effort to connect the designers with each other, so the event performed an additional role as a networking opportunity.

"We did pub trips before, had a collective group chat and organised meet-ups in Milan," he added. "A lasting legacy for me is that the designers can build and expand their network of other interesting and passionate emerging talent."

Slater explained that the exhibition concept was inspired by the creative collective Design Everything's A Seat at the Table exhibition, which provided an affordable platform for designers to showcase their work during last year's London Design Festival.

The curator claimed that he would like to recreate A Bunch of Knobs in London during this year's festival and is open to presenting the outcomes as a functioning door within a gallery context.

The project forms part of Slater's practice, which, alongside his studies, focuses on contemporary, critical design that is often informed by socially engaged practice and his belief that design should be more accessible.

Other standout exhibitions from Milan design week included a showcase of non-conformist contemporary design from Slovenia and a presentation of novel reinterpretations of chopsticks by designers from Japan, China and South Korea.

The photography is by Zaccaria Slater, main image by Liz Strata.

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