A herbarium is a specimen that becomes its own image.
Being multiform, it fluctuates between the image, the 1:1 model, and the object. Similarly, contemporary interiors take multiple directions, from the object to the image, from the media to the space. Despite their diverse forms of existence, spaces materialize in various instances and iterations. Are contemporary interiors like herbaria, spaces whose image oscillates between content and representation?

The Korova Bar is a fictional night bar from Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film, A Clockwork Orange. Within a dystopian atmosphere, the bar displays a series of naked lying caryatids serving “Moloko-Plus” (milk-plus), i.e. breast milk. Even though the original venue only existed as fiction, its transgressive environment has made the Korova Bar a cult, to the point of providing inspiration for several real nocturnal places around the world. 

Developed by students of MAIA, Master of Arts in Interior Architecture, Herbarium of Interiors revisits the Korova Bar for Alcova Milano 2021, exploring the role of image culture in the construction of contemporary interiors. The project thus aims to reframe the boundaries of interior architecture through parallel image-space domains, envisioning a new reality that bypasses traditional distinctions such as interior/exterior, public/private, original/sampled or tangible/mediated, ultimately reaffirming the role of interiors in the construction of contemporaneity.

Chief Curator: India Mahdavi
Studio Critic: Youri Kravtchenko
Head of Department : Javier F. Contreras
Scientific Deputy: Valentina de Luigi
Product Design: Andrea Dalmas
Teaching Assistant: Manon Portera
Exhibition Assistant: Alice Proux
Students: Blanca Algarra & Lolita Gomez (concept Milk Bar), Kishan Asensio, Sarah Bentivigna, Dany-Sarah Champion,  Robin Delerce, Nina D’Elia, Azadeh Djavanrouh, Marina  Ezerskaia, Camila González, Elizaveta Krikun, Nourbonou Missident, Filza Parmar, Patrycja Pawlik, Karen Pisoni, Louise Plassard, Léa Rime, Patris Sallaku, Camila González Tapia, Marion Vergne, Nobuyoshi Yokota
Special thanks: Jean-Pierre Greff, Director HEAD - Geneva
Photos: HEAD – Genève, Michel Giesbrecht
Graphic Design: Neoneo

Press:

2021.08.26, Artribune, Nuova sede a Milano per Alcova. Il design indipendente riattiva spazi storici abbandonati
2021.08.30, largekiosk.ch, Herbarium of interiors
2021.08.30, Zero.eu, Herbarium of Interiors Study Case * 2 : A Milk Bar 
2021.09.02, Espaces contemporains, Les Suisses à la Milan Design Week
2021.09.02, Design Diffusion Online, Herbarium of Interiors – Case Study #2. Milk Bar
2021.09.02, AD, Latino America Online, Todo lo que necesitas saber sobre el Salone del Mobile 2021
2021.09.06, AD PRO USA Online, Milan Design Week 2021: Milk Bar by India Mahdavi, Super Pratone by Gufram, and Much More 
2021.09.06, Living Corriere Online, Alcova è il posto da scoprire di questo Fuorisalone 2021
2021.09.07, AD Germania Online, Salone del Mobile, Tag 1: India Mahdavis „Milk Bar“ und Guframs „Super Pratone“ – so war der erste Tag auf dem Salone del Mobile 
2021.09.07, AD France, Salon de Milan 2021 : les installations de Gufram, Rick Owens, Dimorestudio… 
2021.09.07, AD España Online, Milan Design Week 2021: ‘Milk Bar’ de India Mahdavi, ‘Super Pratone’ de Gufram… y mucho más
2021.09.09, Dezeen, Geneva students draw upon female form to reimagine Clockwork Orange Milk Bar
2021.09.10, Ticino Online, Il bar svizzero all'Arancia Meccanica dove si beve solo latte
2021.09.11, RTS, Semaine du design de Milan: coup de projecteur sur les jeunes designers suisses 
2021.09.13, Hochparterre, Der Supersallone setzt ein Zeichen