During Milan Design Week 2015, Plusdesign has organized a collective show of three international designers: Ilias Lefas, Aart Van Asseldonk and Dirk Vander Kooij. They will reflect on the idea of focolare (domestic hearth), a symbol for home and the fire burning within ourselves. Each of them will present projects that stimulate the sharing of space and feelings, anchoring every place of dwelling with its archetype. All the objects exposed during the exhibition will join Plusdesign editions catalogue.

In this week, Plusdesign also hosts, on top of the exhibition, a pop-up store with many independent designers objects and a selection of Motto books and magazines. The shop, together with the gallery, is open from April Tuesday 14th to Sunday 19th, 10am – 7pm in the upper level of via Ventura 6 (inside 'Luna' building). The new gallery space is a designed by Andrea Caputo Architecture & Research.

Ilias Lefas has always refused to have a studio where to work on the objects he designs, despite they are handmade by him. He prefers to use a room in the house of who wants to collect his products and to build, together with the piece, a personal relationship.

The tables: a three axes leg sustains a base made on two round levels, with space inside for a drawer. The simplicity of this construction allows using all the area as a shelf. In the lacquered with a transparent paint polyurethane exemplar, the design of the leg is open, in a close dialog with the open horizontal plane. Furthermore, the plane can turn on itself.

The console: realized to host a HiFi system, on the extremities it has pieces that can be changed to place loudspeakers. The bronze plane hosts a CD space under it. The lacquered in blue base below, instead, is divided in three parts to contain LP. On the back, the console has five plugs to connect the stereo without having cables in view. The console has been realized in 2011 for Andro Wekua, who has kindly allowed us to expose in this exhibition.

Aart Van Asseldonk designs objects aiming at rebuilding a pre-internet sociality, interrupted by the abuse of technology. His furniture are anachronistic, with menacing, archaic and powerful shapes, leading back to the essence of dwelling.

Flare Stack Made out of Oak, 2015: As a little boy he was amazed by the large flames at oil refineries. This aesthetic image was the starting point for the design. For Plusdesign he has made the geometrical shapes out of wood instead of blued steel. In this way, the centerpiece of the interior provides more warmth and a nice place to get together. The large archetype of the candlestand burns on 100% natural bioethanol. An ironic reference to the flaring gas at oil refineries.

'It's Healthy To Piss Out The Fire', Made out of brass, 2015: Aart Van Asseldonk is constantly pushing himself and the materials he uses to get the best results. After a series of tests he came up with an oxidation process to give the brass its wide range of colour. He submerged the design in urine and used electrolysis to get a chemical reaction. By variating with the amount of voltage the material gets it deep colours. The work gives every interior the warmth it needs for focolare in contemporary times.

World Gathering Table, Made out of Oak, 2015: Focolare for Aart is our modern community and simply getting together. Something we do all over the world, but with different traditions. He made this work because at a round table everybody is equal. The lower part stays the same, only the heart of the table changes in every region, country or continent. Think of a Russian vodka table heart or a Japanese shabu-shabu centre. For Plusdesign he made a shisha table, the waterpipe as a symbol of the Arabian World.

Dirk Vander Kooij both inventor, designer and craftsman, produces rapid prototyping machines and refined Endless technique -and other processes- gradually until he had designed a collection of interior products, digesting plastic offals.

Melting Pot Table, Two Legged, Perpetuating transience: enormous amounts of used plastic are employed to make an indestructible thick table. Thus molten disposable plastic gets the sturdiness and strength of marble. Just like a chef would prepare a meal, he prepares the Melting Pot Side Table. The result: a bold and stylish table with magnificent patterns and colours, and not one is the same. The origin of the products - old toys, VHS video tapes - are visible in the pattern of the table top. The conical hole in the table top fits perfectly onto the cone shaped foot. A strong connection without any additives.

Fresnel Lights: The Fresnel Light is a pendant lamp with a lot of directional light, but still comfortable to look into. The design is inspired on the Fresnel lens, a lens used in lighthouses. The layered structure scatters the light pleasantly and the use of material with history gives warmth to the LED light. The brassed metal centre ball enables you to adjust the height and to aim the light in any direction.

Chubby Chair: The robot creates thick molten lines of recycled synthetic material. As if it is squeezing out a tube of paint. The result is a brightly coloured solid chair. However, this chair is not built up in flat layers as in traditional 3D printing, but the line can now be curved in any direction to form the legs and seat. The moldable looking Chubby has a soft, toothpaste like appearance but it is in fact as tough as oak wood.