This year was my second time visiting Salone del Mobile and the surrounding events and exhibitions that make up April’s Milan Design Week. Salone del Mobile is the world’s biggest furniture fair – a mammoth week-long event, when the whole design world descends on the Italian capital to seek out the latest design news, furniture launches and trends that will set the theme for the year ahead.
Powered by several strong espressos, 20,000 steps a day and a few glasses of prosecco, I spent four days whizzing around the show and soaking it all in – always in search of simple, minimalist design of course. I was at the fair –held just outside the city in Rho Fiera – for one afternoon, the rest of the time I was ticking off the exhibitions in the centre of town. There was really so much to see, I felt like I had barely scratched the surface. I think you’d need at least two weeks to see it all!
But from what I did see, I’ve whittled down to 12 of my favourite new furniture launches, six of which I’ve featured in part one of my review here. There’s beautifully crafted, wooden, Scandinavian furniture, a nod to the Seventies, a young designer to know the name of, plus a wallpaper range that celebrates the female form. If I was to draw out a few themes (or dare I say trends), I’d say sustainability, quality production and waste were hot topics on everyone’s lips – but more on that in another post. For now, let’s see what’s new.
1. News from Fredericia
Danish brand Fredericia (who I’ve worked with before) unveiled a couple of new pieces during Milan’s Salone del Mobile. Their stand was an oasis of quiet calm, with plain walls and a wooden floor made of small, sawn timber sections that gave a sense of warmth and tactility.
The stand-out piece was the new Post Collection from Cecilie Manz, named after Fredericia’s Copenhagen showroom that occupies the old Royal Mail building. With clean, uncluttered lines and a simple shape reduced down to only what is necessary, the Post table and Post chair are made of a solid wood frame that feels light in its expression. The plywood seat almost looks like it is floating on the slender frame, while the arms take up no more space than they need to.
Says Manz; ‘One feels almost compelled to create something new for a company like Fredericia, with such a fine history and tradition for the utmost craftsmanship and quality. With the Post series, I have tried to create a design that is completely quiet but still with character using classic cylindrical legs. A good-sized table and a comfortable chair are the most essential pieces of furniture in your everyday life. Yet they are also the hardest virtues to achieve, as your eyes and your body quickly finds what doesn’t work.’
Fredericia has also released a more compact version of their popular Swoon chair by Space Copenhagen, perfect for smaller homes and tight spaces. In addition, they now have a dining chair version, the Swoon Lounge Petit, that provides a comfortable, cocooning space to sit at a table. Finally, Fredericia has added a stone version to their Piloti table range. The marbling on the surface of each table top is completely unique, while the delicate profiling on the sides adds a beautiful, refined detail.
Image credit: Fredericia
2. ARTE Osa 1-2-3 by Alfredo Häberli for Nikari
Finnish furniture manufacturer Nikari creates thoughtful, contemporary wooden designs, priding itself on a tradition of Nordic cabinetmaking, uncompromising craftsmanship and sustainable production.
With a theme of ‘tales of craftsmanship’ this year at Milan, Nikari unveiled ARTE Osa 1-2-3 by Alfredo Häberli. Comprised of three shelving units/cabinets, the range is part of Nikari’s Arte products, usually developed for special projects such as an architectural biennale or art gallery. Alvar Aalto’s tray was one of the first such pieces for them in the 1960s. Häberli’s designs were based on the idea of creating a series of abstract sculptures with an open function. He says:
‘These abstract servants function in a corridor, at the entrance, in the living and bedroom as a display for any possible object or simply as a stool, a bench or a side table. The challenge is to accept the open character and the undefined primary use of the pieces and embrace their whole presence and standout carpentry. The stripped-back design creates space for the material and the craftsmen behind Nikari to shine.’
Image credit: Nikari
3. Pantonova by Verner Panton for Montana
Embracing the Seventies trend of the moment, Danish brand Montana has put back into production Verner Panton’s sinuous-shaped Pantonova seating system – originally made famous by the villain in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.
Available in three modules – linear, concave and convex – the designs can be used alone as a single chair or grouped together to form sculptural formations such as a complete circle or wavy S-shape. The chrome metal seats are now softened with cushion pads – in leather, textured fabric or velvet in Seventies hues of Aubergine, Camel or a light blue called Sky.
‘It’s both seating and a sculpture. Especially when you see it from a distance it’s very repetitious, and with the concave and the convex, it gives a play. You can see through it so it doesn’t take away the architecture,’ Joakim Lassen, CEO of Montana told me in Milan.
Last year I did a spotlight on Montana, which you can read here if you want to get to know the brand better.
Image credit: Montana
4. Jari Collection by OEO Studio for Brdr. Krüger
Continuing with the Scandinavian theme, Brdr. Krüger is a Danish design company that has been run by the same family for five generations – their ethos is all about reinterpreting the aesthetics of the mid-century Danish design movement for a contemporary audience.
Brdr. Krüger has collaborated with Copenhagen-based OEO Studio to create the JARI Collection. Inspired by the shared cultural values of Japanese and Danish design, and both the countries close connection to nature, the collection comprises a dining table and chairs with a smooth, organic shape and quiet demeanour.
The name JARI comes from the Japanese word for ‘pebbles’, giving the solid ash dining table its rounded, asymmetric form. The chair features a leather seat and a sculptural backrest made of one single piece of solid ash that curves around the body to form the armrests. The tactile designs are available in stained blue, grey and black – dyed by hand using pigments from rocks and minerals – or even a custom colour upon request. The rich grain gives the pieces a beautiful finish.
They say: ‘Like a Japanese Zen garden, JARI seeks to reflect a simplified version of nature and create space for a sense of calmness and timelessness.’
Image credit: Brdr. Krüger
5. The Crawford Collection by Tom Fereday for Lane Crawford and Stellar Works
Luxury Asian department store Lane Crawford has collaborated with furniture brand Stellar Works to create the Crawford collection designed by Sydney-based Tom Fereday (who I first spotted at Stockholm Furniture Fair in 2017 when he was showing his outdoor collection for Australian brand SP01).
The collection was the result of a Creative Call Out to young, emerging designers in Sydney last year, to help them grow their businesses and scale up production. Comprising a lounge chair, bed, tables and dining chair, the designs are made of a steel frame and smooth, FSC-certified timber elements. The light-coloured, natural fabric gives a soft, tactile finish.
Says Fereday: ‘The collection is a considered range with subtle design details and a focus on honest materials and longevity of design. With sustainability as a fundamental core, the Crawford collection was developed with both integrity and longevity in mind.’
The Crawford Collection is available exclusively at Lane Crawford in store and online from this May. I’m not sure if it’s something British audiences can easily get their hands on, but it’s certainly worth keeping at eye on this up-and-coming designer!
Image credit: Stellar Works
6. Muse by Faye Toogood for Calico Wallpaper
Remember at last year’s Milan Design Week, when British designer Faye Toogood daubed the walls of the editor’s office at Vogue Italia with hand-painted female faces? Remind yourself here. Well, now Calico Wallpaper has worked with Toogood to develop a new collection of wallpaper with the same feminine silhouettes.
Muse translates Toogood’s sweeping brushstrokes and expressive forms into a wallpaper that celebrates the diversity and variety of womankind. Available in six colour ways, the wallpaper is designed as a custom-fit mural – meaning there’s no visible joins or repetitions, it can be made to any space.
‘For Muse, I wanted to impart the notion of observing and sketching lines and forms of the face; to capture women in all of their diversity, their profiles, details of eyes, the chin and the cheek,’ says Toogood. ‘No face is painted in detail, yet there is a distinctive character to each of them.’
Available for purchase through Calico Wallpaper.
Images of the process: Faye Toogood, images of wallpaper: Calico Wallpaper
That’s part one of my Milan review, stay tuned for part 2, with six more beautiful, minimalist furniture designs from the famous furniture fair. I’ll also be doing a spotlight on the Japanese brands to know about and musing about the similarities and synergies between Japanese and Scandinavian design. See you soon!
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