20 years of Architonic: our community celebrates at the DAAily bar in Milan

Slowly but surely, we are moving into summer and toward a flurry of returning in-person architecture and design events around the globe. But one of the biggest highlights of coming together as an industry this year has already been and gone: Milan Design Week 2023. Salone del Mobile, Fuorisalone, and the Italian metropolis itself came back in full force last month with their usual spring time slot and an emphasis on reconnecting with old friends and partners – and finding new ones.

One of the best places to do just that: our already legendary DAAily bar at the Piazza Cavour’s Swiss Corner on the edge of Brera. Acting as a gathering place for architects, designers, industry leaders, influencers and media experts every day from 07:30 in the morning to 02:00 at night, the focus in our second year running was on celebration and bringing our partners and community together to connect with one another in the analogue world. Because while we are a digital business, we still strongly believe in the importance of fostering relationships offline.

Connection not just with each other, but with the planet, too, was of special importance this year: our sustainable approach to the venue’s mirror-light-themed interior scenography was developed by Zurich-based experts pfeffermint with materials by Hexis and based on a rental and reuse model. As far as special events were concerned, we were honoured to host as many as 300 guests for our DAAily aperitivo and 1,300 of the who's who from the international A&D world for our DAAily party on Wednesday night at the iconic Centro Svizzero landmark.

It was a great privilege and pleasure to welcome such a large number of returning and new friends at our colourful hub to celebrate together. We had more than one occasion, too: not only did we toast the winners of ArchDaily's top brands trophy and launch of Spanish-language Designboom at the DAAily aperitivo, we also threw our very own Architonic birthday party the same night. For the past 20 years, we've curated the very best in products and materials – and at the DAAily bar, we paid tribute to our goal of continuing that tradition for many more.

The evening's programming not only included a live DJ and drinks in partnership with local Zurich gin distillery TURICUM (available to all fairgoers on a nightly basis), but also was an opportunity for remarks by DAAily platforms CEO Stephan Bachmann and our special guest, Swiss Consul General Sabrina Dallafior. Celebratory birthday reflections by Architonic Founder and Managing Director Tobias Lutz and Editor-in-Chief Simon Keane-Cowell looked back in brief at reasons for Architonic's success, but also elaborated on the future and, most importantly, thanked you – our community – for making us who we are.

And there was cake: designed by Ukrainian baker Dinara Kasko who uses 3D-printed moulds to create edible architectural ensembles, the hot pink three-tier structure was a worthy and delicious way to mark this important milestone. None of it, however, would have been possible without the lasting support and trust of our community not just in Architonic, but DAAily platforms as a whole.

Our sincere gratitude for years of partnership and mutual respect — we can't wait to see you all again at Swiss Corner next year!

© Architonic

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