This year at Milan Design Week 2010, we toured the usual spots—Zona Tortona, Brera, Zona Isola, and the Fiera—but also witnessed the opening of Ventura Lambrate, a new design district in an industrial area in the Northeast side of town. There, academic lynchpins like the Royal College of Art and Design Academy Eindhoven showed alongside key practitioners: Martin Baas and Kiki Van Eijk among them.

Also "special" for this year was the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland, stranding many visitors in Milan for at least a few days, giving us a peek into city life when its not crawling with designers.

Whether debut or disaster, the Core team—Brit Leissler, Craighton Berman, and Lisa Smith—bring you the highlights of all they witnessed, posted now in our latest gallery. And stay tuned, there's more rolling in.

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>> View all of our Milan 2010 coverage