“Under a Coffee Tree”, the continuing partnership with Triennale Milano

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Celebrating the importance of human relationships and environmental integration: this is the central theme of Under a Coffee Tree, the installation by Burkina Faso-born architect Diébédo Francis Kéré showcased at the opening of the XXIII International Exhibition of Triennale Milano, one of the world’s most important international design and architecture events. We are working with the Exhibition both as its Main Partner and by sponsoring the creation of the installation by Francis Kéré, which symbolises universal human values and the importance of sustainability.

Our partnership with Triennale Milano began in 2019 with support for “Nation of Plants”, part of the Broken Nature section of the XXII International Exhibition, an immersive show based on the theories of Stefano Mancuso, one of the world’s leading authorities in the field of plant neurobiology. We continue to support Triennale today, with an approach determined by the conviction that culture can contribute to building a sustainable future, also through the places where it comes to life.

«We are proud to continue our collaboration with Triennale Milano, one of the world’s leading cultural organisations, with which we share a belief in the value of positive art that strives to engage people in efforts to bring about sustainable change», said Group board member Francesca Lavazza.

Under a Coffee Tree is an installation made of wood using ecological techniques. Guided by a participatory logic, it symbolically reproduces a coffee tree framed as a symbol of aggregation to rediscover for meetings and discussions. The place chosen to host it is no coincidence either: the central space in the Triennale café, which was recently refurbished according to a design inspired by the principles of sustainability and energy efficiency, in which plants play a starring role.

Francis Kéré is the winner of the 2022 Pritzker Prize, one of the most prestigious awards paying tribute to architects who have made a mark with their talent and their contribution to the community. Kéré is the first African architect to win this coveted Prize.

His artwork at Triennale Milano was designed as a space in which to welcome visitors to Unknown Unknowns, the main exhibition that gives its name to this edition of the event and pays tribute to the part of the universe we know nothing about and is therefore at times scary. A celebration of the unknown, seen as fertile ground for intersections and contamination between various fields in industry, science and the applied arts, the exhibition presents over a hundred projects and installations by international artists, researchers and designers engaged in a debate on what we know least about. It is an approach that inspires unexpected solutions like Kéré’s installation, which brings together cultures that have no knowledge of each other, like the rational culture of contemporary design and the rural culture of his homeland, Burkina Faso.