Every year the design world descends on Milan for the world’s biggest furniture fair, Salone del Mobile. 2022 marked a big return for Milan Design Week, after being postponed then later celebrated with little fanfare last September. Brands and designers were ready to open up their showrooms and spaces again to show off everything they’ve been working on during the quiet pandemic years. And journalists and design lovers were all set to get back out there and soak up as much design as possible.
I had 24 hours to see as much as I could, which for Milan Design Week, is only really scratching the surface of what there is to offer. In today’s blog post, I’m rounding up my favourite furniture finds, the best design launches and the names you should have on your radar.
Karimoku
Contemporary lifestyle brand Karimoku exhibited at Milan for the first time this year. The Japan-based company – born out of an ‘admiration and love for serene beauty, material richness and timeless appeal’ – first launched at 3 Days of Design in Copenhagen in 2019. The brand draws on Japanese and Danish design principles to create elegant, long-lasting furniture with a soft, organic expression.
For Milan, design studios Norm Architects and Keiji Ashizawa Design curated a considered apartment interior to showcase the brand’s wooden furniture collections. Karimoku is unique in that their furniture is all designed for real life interior projects – the furniture in this exhibition draws from five existing private and public case studies that the brand has realised since it started.
For their ‘case study’ in Milan, Norm Architects and Keiji Ashizawa Design used oak wooden slats to create the architectural structure and divide the spaces of the 130sq m stand. A soft, neutral colour palette provided an instantly zen feel. Completing the space were wooden artworks by Danish artist Sara Martinsen and lime plaster wall reliefs by Danish manufacturer Raw Elements.
The focus of the show was on a new lounge chair and dining chair designed by Keiji Ashizawa Design for the Blue Bottle Coffee JAKC Cafe in Shanghai, China. The lightweight design comes in solid wood with an upholstered seat and features a softly curved backrest to give comfort.
Images: Sandie Lykke Nolsøe
Sverre Fehn collection by FjordFiesta
FjordFiesta is a contemporary design brand based in a fjord on the west coast of Norway. It was founded in 2004 by architect Pål Lunder. FjordFiesta works with young designers to create cutting edge designs, but they also renew classic designs by some of Norway’s great names. Passionate about high quality craftsmanship and keeping Norwegian furniture production alive, FjordFiesta’s furniture is made in their factory in Dokka.
During Milan Design Week 2022, FjordFiesta was part of the Norwegian Presence exhibition that shone a spotlight on the creativity and innovation that defines modern Norwegian design. Here they pre-launched the Sverre Fehn Collection, a selection of furniture by the late, renowned Norwegian architect Sverre Fehn. Originally designed for private homes and villas, this is the first time the Pritzker Prize-winning furniture is being made available to a wider audience.
The collection features a chair and table made of Norwegian pine, showcasing Fehn’s rational approach to architecture. The designs have an honest expression – I love the thick profiles of the wood and the solid nature of the pieces.
Photo: Lasse Fløde, Styling : Kråkvik D’Orazio
Origin Made
Origin Made is a Porto-based design brand that designs and works with small-scale producers to make craft collectibles for the home. Origin Made’s designs – which encompass interior objects, lighting and furniture – celebrate the handmade processes and craft skills that are often developed over generations. They work directly with family-run workshops and solo artisans to use local methods and raw materials.
Shown below is the Weaver’s collection, designed by Gabriel Tan and handcrafted by Maria Adelina Ferreira and Carlos Barbosa. The stools and benches feature a robust solid wood profile that highlights the beautiful weave of the paper cord seat. Tan also designed the charred vases that are made using the dying Portuguese art of Barro Preto, where ceramics are buried and fired in an underground pit. The vases are made by João Lourenço, one of the few artisans who has knowledge of the vanishing technique. My favourite is the Ark series by Norm Architects, which includes sculptural porcelain vases and travertine sculptures inspired by classical architecture.
Images courtesy Origin Made
Koyori
The new name to watch! Koyori is a new Japanese design brand that collaborates with contemporary designers from across the world to create elegant furniture designs and accessories that ‘transcend borders’. It launched officially with an exhibition at art and design museum Triennale Milano during Milan Design Week 2022. The name Koyori means ‘twisted paper cords’ and comes from the decorative paper strings that are traditionally used in Japan for wrapping gifts.
Koyori has brought a host of names together for the launch. The brand identity was formed under the direction of British designer Jasper Morrison. And their first collection brings together five chairs; three designed by the Paris-based duo Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, and two by Danish-Italian duo GamFratesi. My favourite is the Miau chair (second image) by GamFratesi, described by the pair as a ‘gentle design with a feline motif’. The armrest and backrest are made of a single piece of bentwood, curved to the body to ensure maximum comfort with little material.
Images courtesy Koyori
Inga Sempé for Articles
French designer Inga Sempé presented the Tripot stool for Stockholm-based brand Articles. Available in natural ash or black lacquer, the three-legged stool features a triangular shaped seat and a distinctive curved detail on the frame. The Tripot series comes in three different heights to suit both home and contract spaces. I think it has a particularly charming, playful quality.
Images courtesy Articles
Liquid Collection by Tom Dixon and VitrA Bathrooms
At Salone del Mobile, Bathroom brand VitrA Bathrooms showcased their Liquid collection with British designer Tom Dixon. During a presentation at the stand, Dixon explained that he had been wanting to do a bathroom collection for a long time, but had never found a company that could manufacture all the elements of a bathroom at the same time. That is until he met VitrA Bathrooms. The Liquid collection encompasses bathroom furniture, sanitary ware, taps, tiles and accessories, enabling the customer to get a complete look in the same fresh, modern aesthetic.
While everything else at the Salone was minimalist with thin profiles, making it all look much of the same, the Liquid collection stood out with its round, expressive quality. The range has a distinctive, sculptural quality, with chunky profiles, inflated volumes and curved edges. Dixon says he was inspired both by Victorian bathrooms and a space-age aesthetic. He explains: ‘It [the Liquid collection] is expressive enough to be recognisable but neutral enough to work in different environments. I was looking to make something feel contemporary but also timeless.’
See the collection here.
Images courtesy of VitrA Bathrooms – disclosure: I work with VitrA Bathrooms
Tacta by John Pawson for Passoni
Passoni was a completely new brand for me. The family-run company was founded in the small town of Friuli in 1948; an area of Italy known as the ‘chair district’ where wooden furniture manufacture is a family tradition. Passoni first exhibited at the Salone del Mobile in 1963 and haven’t looked back since. Sustainably minded, Passoni was one of the first Italian companies to use solid wood from FSC-certified sustainably managed forests and today they finish their wooden furniture with natural oils, water-based adhesives and even dyes derived from wine. They also boast plastic free packaging and re-use off-cuts where they can.
In Milan, Passoni unveiled the Tacta chair by British architect John Pawson. Quite amazingly, it’s the first time Pawson has designed a dining chair. Tacta has a distinctive curved profile that developed out of the idea of extending the legs as two sinuous lines of timber that meet to form the arms and backrest. The result is sculptural and elegantly refined.
Says Pawson: ‘From this simple strategy has emerged a chair that feels unequivocally modern, but also speaks quietly of its antecedents in Thonet’s bentwood chairs and the organic lines of Danish midcentury furniture.’
Images: courtesy Passoni
Inside Looking Out: H&O Apartment gallery by Elisa Ossino Studio and File Under Pop
Milan Design Week provides the perfect place to see the freshest interior ideas and stock up on some much-needed inspiration. Painted ceilings, carpeted walls and tiled fireplaces? You saw it here first.
In Brera Design District, H+O founders and curators Elisa Ossino and Josephine Akvama Hoffmeyer offered a masterclass in colour and curation. Set within an old 18th century apartment, they curated a sensory exhibition that explored the connection between space, nature and human living. Against a colourful backdrop of textural surfaces by Danish brand File Under Pop, they gathered a selection of artwork, furniture and design that explored new ways of living.
The trend for curves and round shapes shows no sign of going anywhere – a sculptural cream boucle sofa was paired with abstract lighting by Atelier Areti and classic Danish designs from Karakter. Elsewhere in the kitchen, a sage green painted ceiling, monochrome floor and tiled, Bauhaus style kitchen gave the space a rich Milanese vibe. It offered a different twist on simple Scandinavian design and showed just how a pop of colour can lift and transform a space.
Images courtesy File Under Pop
