Milan 2015- Journey into the World of Furniture

The success of any event is measured by the scale of the turn-out and the overall presentation. Well, this year’s Milan Furniture Fair was received by a large audience of 310,840 of which 69 percent were foreigners. With pavilions across 200,000 sqmts, the fair displayed a plethora of designs, colours, innovations, materials, stunning installations, functional accessories and more, from over 2,000 brands.

Apart from the highlights of the first four days in our previous blogs, the last two days also exemplified different components of colour trends, store designs, unique architectural booths, outdoor furniture, and uncommon lighting designs.

The Hall of Classical Furniture stood out because of its distinctive and opulent architecture that could mesmerise one. Speaking of architecture, the booths in the space design were visually stimulating, making their presence as important as the furniture itself.

Hall of Classical Furniture (Left);  Booths in Space Design at Milan 2015 (Right)

The cutting-edge transformation in outdoor furniture was evident at the Brera area at Milan, which had a ready-to-use country-style fireplace, a metal table with travertine marble and a rock water body, that were extraordinary in their appearance. The cocoon in white with a lid-like cover on the top was a unique piece of outdoor furniture at Milan this year. Additionally, an exquisite new design was a chair that had a seat like that of a basketball net, but would act like a chair when one sits on it. This chair blends well on a lawn or a backyard space meant for recreation. Another piece of furniture that compliments your outdoor dining space would be an iron table with plants flowing through an open metal grid. 

Iron table with plants (Left), Metal table with travertine marble (Top Right),
Country-style fireplace (Bottom Left), Cocoon (Bottom Right)

A distinguished piece was the chair with surround music. Today, workspaces need private spaces to help focus, think and revive the mind, and this chair intertwines this through its design and concept.  This piece of furniture called Beatnik Sound Station Chair is clearly a replica of the concept musical chair, giving a surround speaker like experience. Other eye-catching ideas include the world’s first 3D-printed racing bicycle, abstract design lamps by Pistacchi design, and a rocking chair with a balance of beauty and comfort.

Beatnik Sound Station Chair (Left), Rocking Chair (Middle),
World’s First 3D-Printed Racing Bicycle (Right)

French fashion house Louis Vuitton presented a range of unique pieces at Milan Design Week 2015, under its Objet Nomades exhibition. New furniture items were designed for travellers by nine different designers, creating unique foldable furniture and travel accessories which boast a mixture of leather, braiding, strapping and puncturing techniques that made each piece elegant. A hammock, a flower-like chair, bell lamps and stools were some of their outstanding work.

Louis Vuitton's unique pieces-  a Hammock, Flower-like Chair and Bell Lamps

The ‘Continuum’, a luminous artwork crafted by Japanese design collective Kappes, creates sequence between objects and light. A small set of wires in different shapes and sizes, are made to whirl, creating a continuous motion-like dancing effect. Another uncommon lighting design was an LED table lamp with its support appearing in the shape of a speech bubble. A lamp made entirely of feathers was something intriguing at this year’s lighting exhibition.

Continuum by Kappes (Left), Lamp made from Feathers (Middle),
LED table lamp with Speech Bubble (Right)

Salone Satellite made its presence commendable with the theme being ‘Planet Life’ for this year’s Expo. The Five Elements Installation conceived by Sean Chen at Salone Satellite, is an abstraction of the traditional garden. It combined the meaning of earth, water, wind, fire and sky in an experiential space for guests.There were exciting and innovative pieces showcased by young designers, among which AvinashShende, an IIT professor from India was short-listed for his creations at Salone Satellite. His two lamps and a clothes hanger appearing like a bow light were designed under the theme, “Interplay of Tensions”, which was picked as a finalist for the awards.

At Salone Satellite- Five Elements Installation by Sean Chen (Left),
Avinash Shende's Interplay of Tensions (Right)

The most awaited trend at Milan Design Week were the colour trends for interiors and furniture in the upcoming year. In workspaces, the colours that made their presence felt were oranges and yellow, with blue playing a big part as well. Apart from that, there was bright pink that stood out too.

Emerging Colour Trends at Milan 2015- Orange, Yellow, Bright Pink and Royal Blue.

Something that was unmissable was the entertainment that included watching the timeless ballet Gisele at the Teatro alla Scala, one of the oldest opera houses in Europe. The history of this opera house dates back to the 1770's when it was first opened and since then has seen all the great composers, artistes and conductors across the centuries, performing at their best.

Ballet Gisele at the Teatro alla Scala, one of the oldest opera houses in Europe

On the whole, this year’s Milan Furniture fair was a medley of vivid designs, trends and innovations in the furniture industry. The fair displayed at a given time, thousands of products that are functional, traditional and novel, with hardly enough time to take in all the variety of furniture and accessories. But that’s why there is our blog and Facebook page with exclusive updates on the Milan Furniture Fair! For more updates follow us at https://www.facebook.com/SimplySofas