Presented in the Porta Venezia area during Milan Design Week 2026 as part of the Ventana program, Two thousand four minute grams of Setanta it was the group exhibition that was meant to shake things up. A reverse exercise that shows how creativity has no limits – or rather, in this case, only one: weight.
It was carried out with the support of the architect Paolo Sarathe CAPE platform, and the Laboh agency, in collaboration with FAD Industrial Design Association (ADI-FAD)the supervision of the project Eva Castany, Pau Geis, Nicole Rambla, Irene Segarra, and Marina Vera – designers and communication professionals. The show brought together 18 Catalan designers who presented 12 pieces of furniture and lighting with a single common requirement: each piece had to weigh exactly 2,470 grams.
A-2470, Roger Cos © Manel Cano Merino
Simona, Isabel Miret & Marina Vera © Manel Cano Merino
Entreluces, Eva Castany © Manel Cano Merino
Puff stool, Eduard Barniol © Manel Cano Merino
7 minutes, Laia Canales and María Riera © Manel Cano Merino
Monkey, Sergi Peguera © Manel Cano Merino
Estel, Luis C. Nikuradse & Andreu Jaumot © Manel Cano Merino
Weight loss, Joan Carreras © Manel Cano Merino
Two thousand four hundred and seventy grams © Edoardo Anastasio
Made in, Irene Segarra © Manel Cano Merino
Inflatable sofa, Pere Canales, Clàudia Ros & Aitana Soliva © Manel Cano Merino
SistemaG15, Bruno Blay & Jordi Font © Manel Cano Merino
While this value is usually the result of a specific design and material selection process, this is where it becomes the starting point. As the curators explain: “Weight is a parameter that is almost universally ignored in furniture catalogs, despite the fact that it is one of the most important indicators in terms of transportation, process, price and the physical relationship between object and user. IKEA is an exception, as a brand that has long systematically included weight in its entire catalog. Starting from this overlooked fact, we gathered two average categories of IKEA products – IKEA furniture and lightweight features. arriving at a precise common base for all exhibited pieces: 2,470 grams.
By doing this, Two thousand four minute grams of Setanta it opens a broader reflection on materials, their use and above all responsibility in contemporary design. Amidst the overwhelming saturation of proposals during Milan Design Week, the exhibition offers a perspective that departs from the dominant narratives of industrial design, while also becoming a pretext to portray a collective portrait of a new generation of Catalan designers.
A community defined by a growing sense of togetherness, a deep attention to the manual and industrial processesand a shared desire to propose a more human and playful approach to everyday objects. The participating designers were included Edward Barniol? Bruno Blay and George Font? Laia Canales and Maria Riera? Pere Canales, Claudia Ros and Brother Soliva; Joan Carreras? Eva Castany? Roger Cos? Luis C. Nikuradse and Andreu Jaumot; Isabel Miret and Marina Vera? Sergi Peguera? Irene Segarra? and Marta Torrent.
Appearing together on a single platform, the 2,470g pieces are the result of a trial and error process that challenges the designers while enabling a different design approach. The result is a range of seating, accessories and lighting ranging from ceramics to textiles, from metalwork to glass, emerging from practices as diverse as the designers themselves – from independent journeys to roles at companies such as Marset, Santa & Cole, Vibia, Curro Claret Studio and Rauric.
Starting with the lamps, the SistemaG15 by Bruno Blay & Jordi Font is understood as a modular product in which the repetition of light sources becomes the key element to achieve the required weight. In contrast, Simona by Isabel Miret & Marina Vera it consists of only the elements absolutely necessary for its operation – a work of proportion and reduction of the superfluous to achieve the goal.
Eva Chestnutwith Entreluces, explores the materiality of glass through an almost alchemical process in which oxides and cooling create waves, textures and irregularities, while Joan Carreraswith the Pes de la loss pendant lamp, he experiments with text as an invisible pattern inside the ceramic lampshade.
A-2470 from Roger Cos it uses a glass cylinder, a polypropylene dome and a lightweight metal construction, all carefully calibrated to achieve the required weight, which thus becomes the true designer of proportions, materials and overall balance.
In contrast, Estel by Andre Jaumot and Luis C. Nikuradse uses only reclaimed scrap – parts that have failed quality control or reached the end of their life cycle. In this case, the designers sought to breathe new life into these scraps, turning the imperfections into protagonists and making them an integral part of the product’s beauty.
For the Mono lamp, Sergi Peguera it works with aluminum, a malleable, easily sourced and recyclable material. Starting from a solid aluminum bar, he used CNC milling to reduce its weight, then exploited the resulting voids to house electronic components.
Marta Torrenton the other hand, it works with steel for Piti x tres. Reducing thickness and dimensions during development, he experiments and refines until he reaches a balance between weight, aesthetics and stability.
In addition to lighting, the exhibition also presents the Puff Stool by Edward Barniola foam stool in which buttons and upholstery change from decoration to function, helping to achieve the predetermined weight.
7 Minutes is a borosilicate glass hourglass shaped by a study of glass weight distribution and carefully calibrated thicknesses. Laia Canales and Maria Riera determine the volume of the first bulb and calculate the amount of sand needed to reach the final weight balance.
Irene Segara focuses on the excessive quantity and disproportionate size of labels that come with IKEA products. After collecting them, he created over two meters of linear fabric, which along with stainless steel becomes one of the two main materials of the Made In seat.
Finally, Per Channels, Cláudia Rosand Aitana Soliva explore the contradiction between perception and reality with the Divan Inflatable, an object that looks heavy and bulky but is actually light.
