Milan 2007 - the Trends: Giant Sculpture Items, Covers as the New Stars

Following most of the publications about Milan Furniture Fair one can notice an increased interest among designers and companies in pieces that are “neither purely commodity nor purely art but dwell in an uneasy zone between object and objet d’art" as Murray Moss, owner of the New York store-cum-gallery describes the “Home” collection by Studio Job presented in Milan at Via Tortona . Right - one of the seven “domestic totems and tableux” in bronze, glass and wood, each available in an edition of only five.

But I like more the ‘Silver Ware' installation this Dutch design duo made for the Italian mosaic company Bisazza.

"Visually seductive, richly symbolic and unapologetically impractical, their work
typifies the currently cool neo-Surrealist style of design. It is inspired by
the mid-20th-century fantasies of Piero Fornasetti and the postmodernist kitsch
of Studio Alchymia and Memphis, but is articulated in the crisply fluid visual
language of advanced design software." according to Alice Rawsthorn from International Herald Tribune

The interesting detail about their design is that each small piece of mosaic acts as the equivalent of a pixel in a digital image. And as Nynke Tynagel of Studio Job explains,

"If they were scaled down to their conventional sizes, the pixels would create
the illusion of smooth silver surfaces."

They complement Jaime Hayon's ‘Pixel Ballet' collection (pictured also in my Milan preview), thus completing Bisazza’s homeware range Bisazza Home at Superstudio Più in Milan’s Zona Tortona

(pictures via Yanko Design)

This trend is confirmed also in the products presented by MAARTEN BAAS: this giant cupboard (2.8 metres tall) from his Sculpt collection is made of metal with a walnut veneer.

All these pieces are unique and hand-made to order, but is this "design-art" trend a visual statement of the
"directional designers" or just

"a smart defense for European furniture manufacturers against their customers'
boredom with the sameness of globalization and aggressive competition from China
in the mass market"?

as Alice Rawsthorn concludes in the above mentioned article.

I think both. Have a look at the giant ceramic bells by Marcel Wanders: one of eight super-sized (1500×1760mm) bells called Big Ben

(via Dezeen)

At Fuorisalone Ross Lovegrove showed the new diffusers he has designed for Kef, Moun, able to combine pure physics with the emotional language. Imposing structures almost two metres high, the speakers are made with blocks of welded, milled and chrome-plated aluminium. The movement of sound waves through space inspired the shape of the speakers.

There is another interesting trend that started about a year ago (remember Urquiola's Antibody and Ron Arad's Ripple chair ?)

and now clearly defines itself as a totally new concept: a further step in the development of upholstered furniture where the covers are the true stars.

In her Volant system for Moroso – sofa, armchair, chair and stoo- lPatricia Urquiola furthers her investigation into the “skin of objects”. In the Volant range project it is the actual upholstery fabric that defines andcreates the product.
“Poised between a Balenciaga dress and a Shogun costume, it uses the bodyas a base to be transformed and hides the legs. Lined for even greater comfort and attractiveness, it is an extremely elegantevening dress”.
The seat can also wear a short dress – simpler and less complicated. It bares the legs and reveals the contours of the body, maintaining its own identity.
The third dress is close-fitting and is simply a product of the upholstery of the seat, uncovering the structure and revealing its figure.
The structure is basic and self-sufficient. The frame of the base appears orthogonal but in actual fact is a trapezium for adapting to the line of the back and seat.

Volant range consists of a sofa, armchair, chair and stool.The original module of the project is the armchair on which the entire collection is based. The repeated module creates the sofa, from which, with altered proportions,the chair and stool are born. The frame, according to the colour used, can be accented or otherwise inorder to be coherent or contrasting with the seat. The latter is in polyurethane foam and, when dressed, can change personality, taking on a totally different appearance.
It can wear a dress with ruffles that go beyond its body until its proportions are totally concealed. In this case the upholstery becomes a luxurious outfit, which is not only a cover and not only fabric, but also the element for perception and definition of the project.

(via Moroso)