milan design week salone satellite 2023
salone satellite is a leading platform for emerging designers as part of milan design week. mttu, previously under the name ‘rsk’ was probably the first pakistani designer chosen to represent their work in 2023. we featured an elevated version of our thesis work, resin printed pieces depicting the harms of colonization on design, design theory and the ideas of what constitutes design. all pieces were designed, printed and painted in pakistan. our journey to represent on a european stage came with an unnecessary number of hurdles.
https://www.salonemilano.it/en/articles/salonesatellite-2023-focus-training-and-design-future
official Salone Satellite catalogue:
https://www.salonemilano.it/sites/default/files/documents/SaloneSatellite23_Catalogo.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com
this work aims to bring back to scrutiny those who we have placed at the highest standards of modern design and question why. the hope is to use these objects to discuss the power dynamics of modern design. why is ornamental art of pakistan classified as traditional rather than modern? why have the motifs and geometry local to design in pakistan and the wider islamic world lost their deeper meanings? what was lost when we forgot that design doesn’t come from singular, but from many. toni morrison said that education is the power of bringing someone else up with you, and using that power to elevate other people and make them visible as humans.
for example, can we take the philip stark orange juicer and control how it looks and behaves by using pakistani principles of art? and then can we then apply modern pakistani art principles upon it, those that have been inspired by modern western design? And then can we give it to another artist and have them categorize each element of the design into categories of design that they are personally familiar with?