Milano Design City - a restart through design

We all missed Salone this April, but the design community has tried and continues successfully through a series of efforts to help revive design events and discussions. The most impressive of them is Milano Design City - 2 weeks of virtual and physical events, product design launches, exhibitions, talks and showrooms openings supported by the City of Milan and Fuorisalone. 

Some interesting new designs from there:

Patrizia Urquiola is breaking away with traditional sofa  and armchair forms:

 "Piero Lissoni’s Curl chaise, which was created using cutting-edge technologies to remove superfluous material leaving a slender design. The Italian designer was inspired by Michelangelo’s approach to sculpture" - Wallpaper

One of my favourites:

NENDO DESIGNS A FAÇADE AS SECRET PASSAGEWAY FOR MARSOTTO SHOWROOM IN BRERA!

"Because the traffic circle facing the showroom will soon be greened and turned into a small park, part of the facade was made into impromptu street furniture with a soft recess on it, in the hopes that neighbours might sit as if on a bench and rest for a spell." Nendo source: metalocus.es/

Angelo M

More will follow soon.

New Designs from Paris and London Design Events

I have selected some of the new products that impressed me. As interior designer I would say that if you choose just one of them it will help you make a room unique :) 

British craftsmanship at this year’s London Design Festival - DOUGLAS FIR CABINET BY ROSE UNIACKE

Sculptural wooden planters are used for legs of the desk below designed by Heatherwick Studio. It is part of the Design Museum's Connected: Made Together, Apart project at London Design Festival:

One of my favourites - Bio-mbo by Cassina's Art Director Patricia Urquiola is a versatile haven for well-being: the headboard is equipped with Soundfil© for noise absorption and the bedframe with theBreathe© fabric to capture and disaggregate polluting particles, guaranteeing a good night's sleep.

ph. De Pasquale + Maffini

And from the digital edition of Maison et Objet September 2020 - they obviously do not care about sharing much and it is not that easy to share from their MOM site, so my choice is very limited:

SUFI & ANEMONE PENDANTS -  the handmad CARTOCCI collection, comprised of unique paper clay sculptures

Radiuos Round Coffee Table by  KENKOON

Salone del Mobile.Milano postponed to 2021

The 2020 edition of the Salone del Mobile.Milano has been suspended. The event will now take place from 13^th to 18^th April 2021. The decision to postpone was made by the Board of the Salone del Mobile.Milano in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic that is spreading to almost every country in the world. The situation that led to the original change of date from April to June, announced on 25^th February, has fundamentally changed. Although we were determined to keep to the June date, to allow the annual event to take place as planned, the present, unprecedented circumstances and medium-term uncertainties now mean that this year’s Salone can no longer go ahead.

The 2021 edition, which will celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the Salone, will be a special event for the entire sector. For the first time ever, all the biennial exhibitions will be held in conjunction with the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, the International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition, Workplace3.0, S.Project and SaloneSatellite. This means that EuroCucina, FTK (Technology For the Kitchen) and the International Bathroom Exhibition will also take place next year, along with Euroluce, which was already scheduled for 2021.

Hopefully we shall all go through this difficult time successfully. Good luck to all!

Collectible Design Fair Preview - a sofa with lentil beans!

 As my regular readers know, I like to publish about design-art - this is one of my favourite themes. Not because I like unusual ideas - that's right if they have some sensible application, but I find it valuable to create inspired one-of-a-kind designs that also have some practical application. That is real art in design :) - for me.
Get some inspiration from the coming Collectible Design Fair, taking place March 5-8 in Brussels.
Unlike a conventional sofa, this sofa has sloping soft surfaces which adapt to the body in a variety of lounging positions. Its soft structure is filled with organic latex and lentil beans, which support the natural curves and movements of the body. The filling in the bean bags is supportive, but it also makes the sofa malleable enough to conform exactly to the shapes required for proper posture - genius design by Nina Edwards Anker from NEA Studio:

source: Trendhunter

Some more collectible products:

Trilithon, an onyx side table by Eindhoven-based studio OS & OOS | Image: Galerie Philia

Supertoys Supertoys’ Cosmic Flower Table, a slightly translucent design in hand-cast resin 

Have a look at some older design-art inspiration in my blog!

Salone del Mobile 2020 - new dates

Tuesday, 25 February 2020, the Board of Directors of the Salone del Mobile met with a single item on the agenda: cancel or postpone the most important event in the world of Design. The decision was: the Salone del Mobile is only postponed, it will be held from 16 to 21 June 2020, and Fuorisalone from 15 to 21 June 2020.

As a result organizers of Milan Design Week events are frantically revising their plans after Salone del Mobile was postponed to June. But we still are eager to learn more about the new products that are going to be presented there. Enjoy some of the new products:

RITZWELL RIVAGE Lounge Chair

MODUS  Arclinea 

Broom by Stark

More news will follow soon.

MAISON & OBJET 2020: a Glimpse

M&O PARIS 17-21, 2020 will celebrate its 25th edition.
Have a look at some very interesting new designs:

FRIEZE COLLECTION BY MARCANTE-TESTA source: azuremagazine 

Silver Sentimenti Céramique
Ateliers d'Art de France

© Dareels

Forestier

Unique pieces in enamelled ceramic by 

2 FERSAU

More will follow soon.

London Design Festival 2019 is coming

Flex Chair,Verner Panton at designjunction

The Festival returns from 14-22 September 2019. With only a few days left you, like me, may be curious to have a glimpse at some of the new products that I have found:

100%DESIGN 2019 Li’l Bug by Emir Polat 

Hana Armchair, Moooi

PINCH

Lozi 

Ginger armchair by TON at designjunction

Only a few. More will be coming. Visit regularly :)

Cool Ideas from Maison & Objet September 2019

 Have a glimpse at some of them:

ATMOSPHERE Sideboard by COBERMASTER CONCEPT

PRESERVED GREEN WALLS "FOREST" by Green Mood

GOMMAIRE (G. CLEYBERGH) Vase Figaro

SRISTI DESIGN STUDIO - RUWIX Mini bar

Memories and Trends from Euroluce 2019

It happens every other year within Milan Design Week and always the stands are impossible to pass by. Lighting is magic and one of the most effective interior design tools! So, enjoy my findings:
- trends:

Just a few of the trends that I spotted. More details are available on request.

Niagara Gold by Lladro

And this final one is for more inspiration :) - illustrating another very popular trend and Euroluce 2019.  Check my other posts on trends and news from Milan Design Week 2019.

Patricia Urquiola creates a personalizable cocoonlike working environment

With her new collection Cabana Lounge system for Haworth presented at NeoCon 2019 Patricia Urquiola creates a personalizable cocoonlike working environment:

Cabana Lounge can be configured with tables for added functionality

source: Spencer + Company

Cabana Lounge system by Urquiola with padded privacy panels and power outlets for Haworth

Office workers can find calm and quiet in Cabana’s highly configurable modules, which are debuting at NeoCon 2019. “The office is no longer thought of as a division of space, but rather a landscape of places for possible moments,” explains Urquiola. source: Metrolis

Haworth showroom in Chicago, source: Wallpaper

 Trend alert: softness and comfort, blurring the line between the work and home environments - this is how the modern office feels today.

Outstanding works at Milan Design Week 2019

One of my favourites at this year's Salone - not just great design, but also very comfortable :)

Fl@t by Martin Balendat for Tonon

Alba Tramonto vases

Piazza Del Popolo Celestial line by CORALLA MAIURI

Many great designs I saw at Rossana Orlandi's gallery (my photos - not perfect, but good enough to show :) :

Pankalangu wardrobe by Trent Jansen 

 Curved chaiseby Anna Karlin

Interdependence Bench II by South African furniture studio Houtlander

Sebastian Cox

Just afew - more can be seen in my other posts about Milan Design Week 2019.