The Italian maximalist design brand Seletti is staging a new supermarket-style shoppable exhibition ‘Seletti Market’. Kick-starting Milan Design Week 2024, the design company known for its alternative way of perceiving reality was inspired by Italy’s first supermarkets to create an immersive installation at Rinascente Milan Piazza Duomo.
Fill your basket at Seletti Market
The inspiration to recreate a supermarket style exhibition wasn't by chance. Stefano Seletti, the brand's art director, explains, ‘The first Italian supermarket opened in Milan in 1957, and a few years later my father, Romano, founded Seletti. When Rinascente offered us the central area of their basement floor at the Piazza Duomo store, I immediately thought of a space that would evoke that aesthetic. Seletti Market is a fun way to reinterpret the classic elements of the 'consumer society' in which we grew up.’
This colourful representation of an authentic 1960s supermarket is fully functional and operational. Grab a trolley and browse its shelves, where visitors will find Seletti’s best-selling items, which are accompanied by decorative ‘fake’ products to enhance the installation. Down the aisles, refrigerators will contain unexpected items, while signs and posters enhance the ‘supermarket’ feel, with surreal photos alternatively placed to add that Seletti twist.
When ready, head to the checkout area where store clerks in Seletti uniform will assist in the purchase, wrapping, and bagging the items. Throughout, there is a distinct visual identity, with a new logo presented on uniforms, and shopping bags, also paying homage to the brand’s history as it is the same logo created for the brand's founding in 1964.
Accompanying the market installation, a Seletti collaborated with designer Gianpiero D’Alessandro, who will showcase ‘Love Hurts You’, a limited edition comical cactus embracing a bandaged balloon. The 'Monsters' tableware collection will also be available, inspired by children's party plates, a nostalgic take of carefree dining.
Seletti Market is on display from 11 to 29 April 2024, for Milan Design Week 2024
Rinascente
Piazza Duomo
Milan
