On Tuesday and Wednesday, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark travelled to Milan, Italy, to show her support for the Danish delegation at Milan Design Week, the world’s largest international furniture and design event.
On the first day of her visit, she was welcomed at the Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo Da Vinci, which is the space where Denmark has its own pavilion of the event. She was received by Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala, the Museum’s director Fiorenzo Galli and gallery owner Rossana Orlandi.
Because, according to the Royal Household’s website, the focus of the Crown Princess’s visit is to “focus on Danish traditions within the creative professions and at the same time promote knowledge of Danish architecture and design companies’ focus on sustainability and circular economy as well as Danish green competencies”, Her Royal Highness visited several projects within the Danish pavilion, including “The TrashFormation Village” and “Scart Initiative.”
The TrashFormation Village is an exhibition focusing on sustainability, and the Crown Princess was shown around the installation by design firm Lendager, who specifically showed her their chairs made of recycled plastics and wood.
The visit to the Scart Initiative project was at the centre of an interesting moment when Her Royal Highness was shown a portrait of herself made of recycled materials.
To conclude the first day, Crown Princess Mary took part in the InGenious Waste ceremony, during which she gave the opening speech and attended a roundtable on Danish companies’ innovation and effective circular solutions.
The second day saw the Crown Princess return to the Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology, where she was received by Executive Director at Creative Denmark Majken Kalhave, Minister of Trade and Industry Simon Kollerup and CEO at the Danish Architecture Center Kent Martinussen.
Crown Princess Mary gave the commencing speech at a panel called “The City of the Future: Building the Irresistible Circular Society”, which is focused on Danish solutions within the green transition. The roundtable was arranged by the Danish Embassy in Rome and saw the participation of representatives from various Danish companies.
For a second event, Her Royal Highness travelled to the Prada Foundation, which is engaged in art conservation and building restorations.
The third event of the day was a visit to three Danish design companies that have exhibitions during the Milan Design Week; those three companies are Fritz Hansen, which produces furniture, Carl Hansen & Søn, a design company, and Gabriel, which produces furniture textiles.
Concluding the second day and the visit, Her Royal Highness travelled to Galleria Rossana Orlandi with the Minister of Trade and Ambassador Anders Carsten Damsgaard, where, after being welcomed by gallery owner Rossana Orlandi, she received a tour of the gallery and saw a selection of Danish designs and pieces of furniture.
The two-day visit was a resounding success, with Danish design being more and more prominent around the world and in Italy specifically.
