Category: Fuorisalone Milan Design Week


Apr
12
2019

Aside from the, inevitable, consolidation the main theme at Milan Furniture Fair 2019, and the one which occupied us much more than that which was on show for our perusal, is/was the international furniture industry’s increasing hunger for data; a hunger which embodied itself at Milan 2019 in a exponential surge in the number of manufacturers requiring potential stand visitors to either pre-register, submit a business card or have their Fair ticket scanned before being allowed onto the stand.

No data. No entry.

And a state of affairs on which we have penned several hundred (agitated) words; but, this is neither the time nor place for them. We will however return to them at a later date, not least because the scale of the shift we witnessed at Milan 2019 suggests that as a development it is on it way to becoming standard. Which ain’t good.

Elsewhere the halls of Milan were busier with visitors in 2019 than we remember them for many a long a year, the weather in 2019 cooler than we remember for many a long year, and despair and delight stood as close to one another as every year

And in that sense, and as ever accepting we may have missed one or two gems, not least because we decided against sharing our data in order to view new items of furniture manufacturers had, allegedly, brought to Milan to promote, and so subsequently weren’t on a lot of stands, a smow Blog Milan 2019 High Five!!

Milan Furniture Fair 2019 High Five

Apr
20
2018

By way of celebrating designer Achille Castiglioni’s centenary Italian lighting manufacturer Flos used Milan Design Week 2018 to launch re-editions of two Castiglioni designs: Ventosa and Nasa.

Objects which in their own, small, ways allow for an insight into Achille Castiglioni’s approach to, and understanding of, design.

Flos present Achille Castiglioni - If you are not curious forget it, Milan Design Week 2018

Apr
19
2018

We’re great believers in Fate, in the guiding principle that if it is meant to be, it will be: not least because it protects us from the expectations of achievement.

Further proof of the veracity of Fate was provided by our meeting during Milan Design Week 2018 with the project Moorwerk by Jan Christian Schulz.

Moorwerk by Jan Christian Schulz, as seen at ein&zwanzig, Milan Design Week 2018

Apr
17
2018

Whereas exhibitions in which designers show prototypes and discontinued projects by way of explaining who they are, where they come from and how they work, are a, relatively, regular occurrence, exhibitions in which manufacturers do such are much, much rarer: with the exhibition Typecasting Vitra make a very rare and very welcome exception

And in doing so don’t just present an image not only of Vitra past, but also take a look into the future…..

Vitra -Typecasting, as seen at Milan Design Week 2018

Apr
16
2018

Curated by Carwan Gallery Beirut co-founder Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte, Unsighted presents projects by eight international designers; the title making reference to the fact that the designers weren’t told for what they were being commissioned, had no external context; were working, as it were, Unsighted.

During Milan Design Week 2018 all became clearer…

Unsighted, Milan Design Week 2018

Apr
05
2017

As older readers will be well aware, little gets us down quite like Milan Furniture Fair. Every year our only wish as we cross the Alps is that we will find something to make us thankful that we did. Milan Furniture Fair 2017 produced more such moments than the average year, which we suppose means we’ll be back next year!!

Our Milan Furniture Fair 2017 High Five!!

May
03
2016
Studio Daphna Laurens present Prototipi @ Salone Satellite Milan 2016

Unbelievably, Eindhoven based design studio Daphna Laurens have never, ever, participated at Salone Satellite, that section of the Milan furniture

Apr
26
2016
Low Chair and Stool by Kaspar Hamacher with Tannerie Radermecker, on the wall Bag on Wall by Mathias van de Walle with Ralph Baggeley, as seen at Belgian Matters, Milan 2016

As we believe is now traditional at this time of year….. ….. every year at Milan Design Week the Belgian

Apr
25
2016
Modular bicycle bag/briefcase by Silvio Rebholz and Louis Michel, from the Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart project Più di Pegoretti (Photo courtesy AKB Stuttgart)

Every time we are in Milan, be it for the Design Week or simply to enjoy the city without the

Apr
20
2016
Design is 10 Years Old - Lamp/Side Table by Clemens Lauer, as seen at kkaarrlls 2016, Milan

It’s been a good long while since we last posted about the Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe’s kkaarrlls collection, and thus

Apr
18
2016
New Order by Stefan Diez for HAY, as seen at Milan Design Week 2016

Established in 2002 Danish label HAY have quickly risen to become an important player in the European furniture and home

Apr
17
2016
Ulisse Daybed by Konstantin Grcic for ClassiCon, as seen at Milan Furniture Fair 2016

To the casual observer selecting five outstanding products from the Milan Furniture Fair is a neigh on impossible task, so

May
20
2015
USM - Rethink the Modular, Milan Design Week 2015

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Fritz Haller and Paul Schärer’s USM Haller modular furniture system USM instigated a series

May
11
2015
Uffici Chair by Nitzan Cohen for Mattiazzi, as seen at Milan Furniture Fair 2015

Several visitors to the Milan furniture fair with whom we spoke, including some whose judgement on such matters we value

May
05
2015
Belgium is Design - Confronting the Masters, Milan 2015

As is becoming traditional the interregional initiative Belgium is Design used Milan Design Week to present a showcase of contemporary

Apr
28
2015
Uncino chair by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec for Mattiazzi, as seen at Milan Furniture Fair 2015

It was invariably more through good fortune than good planning; however, at Milan Furniture Fair 2015 Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec’s

Apr
25
2015
Duple Alexander Åsgård

Privately and professionally we have long complained about, and been deeply saddened by, the lack of side/coffee tables with a

Apr
22
2015
Programme S 830 by Emilia Becker for Thonet, as seen at Milan Furniture Fair 2015

Back in the hazy mists of 2014 the Grassi Museum for Applied Arts, Leipzig presented Sitting – Lying – Swinging.

Apr
21
2015
Ateliers J & J Milan 2015

In the late 19th/early 20th century Vienna based J & J Kohn helped establish the Austro-Hungarian Empire as an important

Apr
20
2015
Clown optic - Not good. Textile - very good.

Upon seeing Rui Alves’s Bridge armchair prototype at IMM Cologne 2015 we commented on the unfamiliar, and for us not

Apr
19
2015
USM Privacy Panels

For reasons far too abstract, intangible, and potentially libellous, to go into, we didn’t report on the inaugural presentation of

Apr
18
2015
Ripple by Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, as seen at Ventura Lambrate, Milan 2015

Given that all we have too many household accessories and our planet too few natural resources to justify continually producing

Apr
17
2015

For us one of the few genuine joys of Milan Design Week is observing visitors to the furniture fair perching

Apr
07
2015
Michael Geldmacher Eva Paster Neuland Industriedesign

It being early April Milan furniture fair once again stands before us and with it the promise of untold column

May
04
2014
Milan Furniture Fair 2014 USM Haller

We round up our Milan 2014 coverage with a company we admire, but about whom we find it all but

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