On cloud nine – under the cloud
The Milan Furniture Fair from April 14-19 took place this year under the influence of the Icelandic volcanic ash clouds. Airspace was largely closed for flights as of Friday, so whoever wasn't there yet had to go to great lengths to attend. Whoever wanted to leave after Friday also had to make a real effort to get away – a topic that dominated the fair. Those who could relax in Milan and use the time to enjoy the colourful goings-on were happy.And with over 2,300 exhibitors, there really was a great deal to see. The fair seems to get bigger every year. With Ventura Lambrate, a completely new design zone has sprung up in the eastern part of the city. Louder, more colourful and more complex than ever, people inevitably lost themselves in the design and furniture industry’s productions, as well as Milan's charm.
Design in a year of crisis
Though the showrooms seemed somewhat less elaborately staged than in recent years, most manufacturers have nevertheless focussed on innovation, despite of the crisis. There was an entire fireworks display of new products to marvel at. Whether you believe in financial consolidation or not, this process is visibly underway in design. Although they’re still mixing everything, the designs from leading designers demonstrate a new kind of care, strength of character and seriousness. Take, for example, the new products at Walter Knoll: Consero by EOOS, or T-Ray by Hadi Teherani. Or Carlos Tiscar’s Origami for Offecct. The new products from Bla Station, such as Dunder, the new modular sofa by Stefan Borselius, have more colour and playfulness, yet maintain their strength of character. Clear source of inspiration: oversized pillows.
Soft focus – and yellow
A tribute to the crisis or a logical consequence of it? The hard contrasts of recent years are becoming softer. Black-white is being refined by shades of gray, and in addition to gray, a whole range of powdery beige and earth tones are establishing themselves. This is also evident in the metal surfaces: in addition to classic silver, you also see different bronze and nude shadings. Bright colours still remain, but they are somewhat more muted; they are used less for contrast and more for combinatory shadings - softer and more harmonious. Furthermore, Bla Station displayed a very clear trend with Dunder: yellow sets strong, and above all cheerful, accents.
Skin to Skin
There has rarely been as much leather on display as there was this year. But different, softer. Classic black or white, in combination with cool chrome, has been relegated to second place. Velvety, soft skins now dominate in warm tones ranging from nude to cognac to brown. The products of leather expert Matteograssi, with new models by Piero Lissoni, are leading the field. Leather should and is allowed to look like leather again. Traces of use are desirable in future; the furnishing should be allowed to show that they have been part of someone’s life.
Plastic Fantastic
Loud colours, translucence, transparency, high gloss and rubberised – everything was on display. One of the particularly successful plastic products is certainly the new NAPTM chair by Kaspar Salto for Fritz Hansen. Kartell also showed several new chairs by Tokujin Yoshioka, Philippe Starck and Piero Lissoni, among others. Heavily ringed with bodyguards, it was almost impossible to sneak a snapshot.
And finally, there was something new from Tecno, the Italian office classic: Beta, an office furniture product line for creative work areas by Pierandrei Associati, completely made of recyclable plastic.
Wood chairs
The plastic hype may have reached the tipping point, above all in chairs; you can see this in Arper’s new infatuation with wood, which has led them to add wooden legs to the classic Catifa.
Or in the fact that even Konstantin Grcic has designed a new chair completely of wood: the X-legged, svelte "B-Chair" for Bd Barcelona. Grcic was already playing with wood in his Monza chair for Plank, mixing materials with plastic to create tension. Plank's fair stand focused exclusively on Grcic designs; so it wasn’t surprising that Grcic designed the stand itself.
Chairless
Vitra illuminated the topic of seating in a "chairless" manner - completely without chairs. A simple fabric harness wrapped around the body provides support while sitting on the floor. Chairless relieves backs and legs of stress; you no longer need to clasp your knees, so you have your hands free to use a laptop or iPad, which you could try out at Vitra's stand. Seen among the Ayoreo Indians of Paraguay, recreated by Alejandro Aravena for Vitra. A portion of the profits from "Chairless" goes directly to the Ayoreo Indians.
Nicole Schemerl-Streben
