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Milan Trend Guide

The Milan Furniture Fair is, in a way, a litmus test for the industry and an accurate barometer of home trends for the year.

It is a game of many attendees to try to see connections and similarities: to make groupings of materials and colours, shapes and ideas that might foretell interior design’s whimsy for the year to come.

Our roving reporters, Tessa Pawson and photographer Mary Gaudin, attended the event and brought back delightful nuggets of beauty for the pages ahead. Pawson, like many of the talented people interviewed within this booklet, also noticed some patterns within the objects at the fair:

“There is a clear focus on designing an object which has more than one purpose,” she said. “Also, living spaces are getting smaller and the trend to smaller sofas and chairs from last year is followed through with micro-kitchens, folding tapware and

compact vanities. Designers are really embracing making objects for small, well-designed and functional spaces.”

Marble is all the rage; colours seem to favour rich tones of burgundy and sage. Teal, terracotta, pink and indigo are still strong and nostalgia (even for the ’80s!) seems to be making inroads.

Yet one trend many seem to have noticed, and one we are very excited about, is that of seeking sustainability at every step of the design and manufacturing process.

Within these pages, we have decided to include the fascinating, roving design and art exhibition Nomad. We see this event as a great example of industrial design’s ability to espouse contemporary art and create truly iconic, long-lasting, collectable pieces and ideas.

Welcome to our trends special and we hope you enjoy it!

It is a game of many attendees to try to see connections and similarities: to make groupings of materials and colours, shapes and ideas that might foretell interior design’s whimsy for the year to come.

Wonderglass presented Kosmos, a shimmering

universe of glass featuring Ronan and Erwan

Bouroullec’s Alcova – a collection of handcrafted

geometric objects that can sit alone or be grouped to

create intimate landscapes. wonderglass.com

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Nostalgia was a strong theme in this year’s Salone del Mobile. Here, a soft 1980’s aesthetic and the juxtaposition of thin framing with a chunky, imposing wardrobe are set amongst a colourful backdrop of corrugated iron. Check Collection by Elisa Ossino Studio. elisaossino.it

Italian architects Claudio Lazzarini and Carl Pickering created a collection of pieces for Marta Sala Éditions. They exude a level of confident elegance, firmly rooted in the pair’s architectural practice and some solid Bauhaus ideals of fair pricing and high levels of craftsmanship. Collection IV. martasalaeditions.it

The Edit

Gallerist and trendsetter Nina Yashar put together a

massive selection of furniture pieces by Brazilian modernist

architect Lina Bo Bardi.Could this signal a return of the

Brazilian design vocabulary into the European market? We certainly hope so. nilufar.com

The Edit: A selection of style-defining pieces and delightful eye candy from the Milan Design Week.

Continuing a trend that sees the introduction

of natural themes and materials into the home,

the highly talented Bethan Laura Wood unveiled the Super

Fake Collection, which reinterprets rocks into rug

form. Super Rock rug, by cc-tapis, Super Fake

Collection. cc-tapis.com

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Iran-born, French architect and designer India Mahdavi took over the Nilufar Gallery to create the Chez Nina installation. She used vintage pieces, including

this, a return to the multi-circles chandelier from Sweden in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s. For Chez Nina, she also incorporated her own pieces alongside those of Gio Ponti,

Martino Gamper, Angelo Lelii, Hans-Agne Jakobsson and more. nilufar.com

The Edit

It’s about controlling colour without stifling it. You can’t have it so unruly, so noisy, that you can’t even focus on it. Bethan Laura Wood

Flatwig Studio’s The Surreal Table includes: Soffiera Villa amphora and glass stopper, The Ceramist terracotta stopper and Callum Partridge copper and stainless-steel stoppers. flatwig.com

Jaime Hayon revised his chair design Frames from 2014 for this

year’s Salone. expormim.com

Patricia Urquiola’s Ràdical Fake table for Cappellini offers architectural lines in a colourful terrazzo. cappellini.it

Sara Ricciardi’s Arcadia installation was a large

symbolic sphere housed between velvets and

trimmings. It was born after a visit to the castle of Schloss Hollenegg in the

Austrian countryside of Graz. sararicciardi.org

Cassina’s 607 Taliesin 1 armchair by Frank Lloyd Wright, constructed from a single piece of folded plywood, is evocative of the Japanese art of origami. cassina.com

Belgian gallery Maniera invited architects and artists to bring an outside viewpoint to collectable furniture design. Mexican architectural studio Productora displayed its yellow side tables from last year’s Exhibit Columbus Biennial in Indiana while Piovenefabi’s Milan-subway-inspired furniture was originally developed for last year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial. maniera.be

That's all for now!

Pick up a copy of the June/July 2018 issue of Urbis at any discerning magazine retailer to get the complete, 32-page Milan Trend Guide.

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