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Milan Design Week 2025

 Full production and logistics management for PORTAL, a large-scale international installation at Alcova Milano, overseeing everything from US fabrication and global shipping to on-site exhibition management in Italy.

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Project Management

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Manufacturing & Exhibition Management

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International Logistics

Milan Design Week 2025

Grey square

Project Management

Grey square

International Logistics

Grey square

Manufacturing

& Exhibition Management

Full production and logistics management for PORTAL, a large-scale international installation at Alcova Milano, overseeing everything from US fabrication and global shipping to on-site exhibition management in Italy.

MDW hero shot

Highlights:

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Press coverage in Vogue, Dezeen, Wallpaper Magazine, Design Milk & more

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Personally spoke about the project on Italian News Channel TGR

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Sole logistics manager from custom crate construction to international customs and carnet documentation

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Sourced and coordinated all on-site equipment from Italian vendors (lighting, cables, generators, and forklifts) 

Highlights:

Blue Square

Personally spoke about the project on Italian News Channel TGR

Blue Square

Press coverage in Vogue, Dezeen, Wallpaper Magazine, Design Milk & more

Blue Square

Sole logistics manager from custom crate construction to international customs and carnet documentation

Blue Square

Sourced and coordinated all on-site equipment from Italian vendors (lighting, cables, generators & forklifts) 

Context:

Milan Design Week is the world's largest design event, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors and international press every April. PORTAL was an installation created by Decibel Made in partnership with designer Charles Birshaw, exhibited at Alcova Milano — one of the most prestigious satellite venues of the week. At its core, PORTAL was a live demonstration of robotic 3D printing, printing furniture on-site as a literal portal between the designer's location and the exhibition floor.

Context:

Milan Design Week is the world's largest design event, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors and international press every April. PORTAL was an installation created by Decibel Made in partnership with designer Charles Birshaw, exhibited at Alcova Milano — one of the most prestigious satellite venues of the week. At its core, PORTAL was a live demonstration of robotic 3D printing, printing furniture on-site as a literal portal between the designer's location and the exhibition floor.

Milan Hero 2
DSC08976.jpg

Seen In:

DesignMilk Logo
Vogue
interior magazine
Press_Vertical-Garden-Design_dezeen_cover.jpg
dwell logo.png
wallpaper magazine

Role:

From building crates in New Jersey to managing vendors in Milan, my role spanned the full production and logistics pipeline. I was solely responsible for manufacturing coordination, international shipping, and carnet documentation. On the ground in Milan, I managed all Italian vendor sourcing (electrical supply, lighting, cables, generators, and forklift rentals), coordinated roughly 70% of partner communications, handled press and sales at the exhibit, and remotely directed teardown and customs clearance once I returned to the US.

Packing Chairs into Crates
Crates to MXP

Role:

From building crates in New Jersey to managing vendors in Milan, my role spanned the full production and logistics pipeline. I was solely responsible for manufacturing coordination, international shipping, and carnet documentation. On the ground in Milan, I managed all Italian vendor sourcing (electrical supply, lighting, cables, generators, and forklift rentals), coordinated roughly 70% of partner communications, handled press and sales at the exhibit, and remotely directed teardown and customs clearance once I returned to the US.

Packing Chairs into Crates
Crates to MXP
Portal electrical details.png

Constraints:

The project operated under the hardest of all constraints: a fixed, public, internationally attended deadline with no fallback option. International freight and carnet documentation have zero tolerance for error, as a single mistake could hold the shipment at customs. Sourcing equipment from Italian vendors remotely, without being able to physically verify anything in advance, meant every order was placed on trust and calculation alone. Several of the pieces had never been printed before and were being produced in new sponsor materials for the first time, leaving no proven baseline for quality or performance. Planning the full electrical load (generators, lighting, the robot, and all equipment running simultaneously) required exact calculation, as any oversight would have risked the installation going dark mid-show in front of international press and thousands of visitors.

plinth fabrication.png
final screen placement example
plinths.png
plinths.png
plinth fabrication.png
final screen placement example

Process:

I started by building Gantt charts and Kanban boards that mapped every workstream against the exhibition deadline Floor plans and venue logistics, manufacturing timelines, material sourcing, shipping and customs, press packages, and marketing assets, were all tracked in parallel. Each had its own critical path and dependencies, and keeping them synchronized meant constant communication across time zones, languages, and vendors. The weeks leading up to the show were a continuous cycle of calls, emails, and problem-solving, with methodical planning on one side, and real-time adaptation on the other.

Process:

I started by building Gantt charts and Kanban boards that mapped every workstream against the exhibition deadline Floor plans and venue logistics, manufacturing timelines, material sourcing, shipping and customs, press packages, and marketing assets, were all tracked in parallel. Each had its own critical path and dependencies, and keeping them synchronized meant constant communication across time zones, languages, and vendors. The weeks leading up to the show were a continuous cycle of calls, emails, and problem-solving, with methodical planning on one side, and real-time adaptation on the other.

MDW Interview

Outcomes:

PORTAL opened on time, ran without interruption, and was covered by some of the most respected names in design media — Vogue, Dezeen, Wallpaper Magazine, and Design Milk among them. The installation was recognized as one of the standout exhibits of Alcova Milano 2025, and the project's visibility directly contributed to Decibel Made's continued growth as a globally recognized name in sustainable design. Being interviewed live on Italian news channel TGR was an unexpected marker of just how much attention the installation commanded. Not everyone gets the opportunity to manage something like this early in their career, and I don't take that lightly. The pressure, the complexity, and the stakes of getting PORTAL to Milan taught me more about end-to-end execution than anything else I've done.

exhibition rendering by Charles Birshaw.
MIlan Design Week 2025 PORTAL Decibel_edited.jpg
Milan Group Photo
Milan Group Photo

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Website designed by Jenny Hegelein

© 2025 by JenHeg.com.  Built on Wix Studio

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