What questions are we facing? What is the role of designers today? What is the future role of a designer? What are we focusing on?

This year in Milan, the Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) presents ?, a show framed as a series of questions addressed by this year's graduation works. Unlike the ones above, taken from the exhibition's press release, the ones asked by the student are thankfully much more specific.

For example, in "Hair-Brush," designer Lea Haefliger asks what kind of feelings hair provokes, incorporating all of its different qualities into a series of hairbrushes: What kinds of feelings does hair provoke? Is it something mysterious, erotic, or rather, something like a fairytale? Lea Haefliger wanted to incorporate all these different aspects into a series of hairbrushes. During the design process she felt it was important to give the brushes a sustainable quality both in terms of material and emotion. Therefore, the hair on the brushes is not just a decorative element, but a functional one.

Amélie Onzon wonders if design confront us with our double standards? in "From Fable to Table," a project that shows us the inconsistencies in our relationships with animals: Do you use From Fable to Table to produce foie gras, or to give the ducks a better life? While conducting a research into the consumption of meat, Amélie Onzon became fascinated with the relationship between man and animal. 'People will pamper their pets, yet at the same time they will eat the meat from other animals. This meat will have an abstract appearance, because we refuse to associate it with the living creature it once was.'

Top photo by Joost Goverst; bottom by René van der Huls.

See all our Milan 2010 coverage here.

? by Design Academy Eindhoven Wednesday, April 14th, 10.00 to 23.00 Official opening 10.00 to 10.30 Thursday April 15 - Saturday April 17, 10.00 to 20.00 Sunday April 18, 10.00 to 17.00

Ventura Lambrate, Undai Galleries Via Giovanni Ventura 6 Milan