Milan Furniture Fair 2011 - 3 of 3 - i Saloni Fiera

salone-del-mobile-milan1

This year was the 50th Birthday of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Fiera Saloni; more than 2,700 companies exhibited. Founded in 1961, the fair was a driver of the Italian post-war design powerhouse that it is today, helping establish the idea that Made in Italy was a guarantee of quality.

Since then the Fair has increase in size, so much so it grew out of it’s old home in the city and was re-located to a purpose built site out of the city in Rho.

 

Milan-Furniture-Fair-2011

Sorry for the delay with instalment 3 the Fiera Saloni – I’ve managed to loose allot of my business cards and brochures from this part of the festival (they must be in the same place as the odd socks). So it’s mainly just photos and no text: good for you but bad for the designers work featured! So apologies.

L1050756

An early start on the second floor of the Fiera Salone. Already buyers, journalist , designers and more were herded though the entrances, carrying cameras and empty bags ready to fill with leaflets (the majority of which will probably just gather dust in an office the following week).

Salone 2011 floor plan

So Halls 20 & 16 first, with the large modern design brands & Kartell know how to make an impressive entrance display.

L1050757L1050759L1050760L1050761L1050762

Their stand was huge, mainly consisting of their familiar translucent classics. There was also a sneaky preview  with prototypes of products they hope to roll out in 2012

L1050763

Missoni Home had a very different space this year, but as always it was filled with intricate patterns and fresh new season colours. I would never think of mixing this much pattern together, but it works.

From their  Centosettanta collection I particularly like their simple Bubble Lamps.

L1050764L1050772

Molentini&C had yet another massive stand. I really like this modular blocking shelving used as a divider; if only I had this much space!

L1050774

One really prevalent trend this year was leather covered metal frames, from rod to box section. quite an industrial look with an element of luxury.

L1050781

The mix of on trend tones and colours with vintage feeling materials was also about. Here on the German company Sahco’s stand, some of the materials were reminiscent of  50’s/60’s dresses or embossed anaglypta wallpaper.

L1050950

Allot of companies incorporated their product direct into the display and structure of their stands.

IMG_1199L1050788

Italian company Alias, had so many amazing well considered designs were every details had been meticulously developed until the product was resolved.

The development of the Loggia bookshelf by Jakob Timpe, was shown in diddy display cases. Below you can see the range of connector shapes that were prototyped.

L1050791L1050793

L1050789

Some Grass Skirted wanders by the Campana Brothers.

L1050795

Vitra had a large multi room display crammed full of people eagerly craning their necks peering between each others heads to see.

Each roomset was carefully curated and exquisitely styled. All the products contrasted so much in colour and texture, but still came together under the Vitra style.

Above Grand Repos and Panchina Antonio Citterio.

Below HAL chair by Jasper Morrison.

L1050796L1050797

L1050808

Easy Chairs were everywhere, think Pierson Lloyd PLC chair. The Wolfgang Chair by Luca Nichetto caught my eye. There are a family of chair within the range, where the curved wood back comes with and without upholstery.

L1050816

Above a totally thankless task. They had even given up telling people not to take photos!

L1050818

Big knits are still popular. Casalis is a company usually associated with just rug, but how cute are these creature-like bean bags?!

L1050828

Patricia Urquiola is an amazingly talented designer with products on virtually very big name stand at the fair! Above is a sofa part of the Klara range for Moroso.

 

Milan Salone 2011-Product info pads

On the Moroso stand they had a wall of information pads, where visitors to tear off the product information they wanted, a great idea and easy on the increasingly heavy bags!

L1050830L1050849

Below are just a selection of stand displays; some nicer than others.

L1050855L1050957L1050958L1050961

Mattiazzi stand that launched products by Nitzan Cohen, Sam Hecht, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec.

L1050963

Pedrali had a large spacious stand, with a simple but effective stand. Sometimes the products are over shaddowed by hw they’re displayed.

L1050968

Above was a ‘I wish i thought of that’ moment with the Game of Trust Coat Rack by yiannis ghikas .

L1050977

Not every stand had carefully muted down design, some went fore garish!

L1050992

Foundry are a brand I haven’t come across before , their philosophy is to design Classics of the Future. Some really nice pieces from lighting to accessories.

L1050996

Another Patricia Urquiola design; the Nub Chair by Andreu World. According to the designer, the Nub collection is the result of sophisticated cabinet-making, update with great care in a contemporary manner

Salone Satellite Logo

And Finally, at the end of the day and at the end of the Halls; the Salone Satellite.

I don’t know if it’s because I was exhausted by stand after stand; or whether the product blindness had set in, but I was pretty underwhelmed by this zone this year. The same set up as last year, with no exciting seating areas. This was the only area if the fair where the credit crunch was still evident.

L1050923

Well, that's enough negativity, there were still a few gems.

L1050924

t/m Wafft Table by Japanese designer Takaaki Tani.

L1050927

Fresh From The Mint consisting of six designers work. They tied their products together with the same colour pallet and design ethos. I also really loved their fabric logo on the back wall.

L1050928

Malinen Takkinen a collaboration between two designers.

L1050929

Like a moth to a flame I was drawn once again to the Studio Juju stand. last year they had a very different chair range called (Bambi and Platypus see Milano blog 2010), and this year they have illustrated, their design skill and style translates across to tableware and lighting too. I particularly liked their Wobble and Mushroom tableware range made from Maple and Aluminium.

L1050931

Warm, a brand by designer Corinna Warm, had a much larger stand this year and launched several new products. My favourite was the Glaze lamps (above) . the depth of colour was delicious, with the dipped colours calling out to be touched.

L1050935

Jarrod Lim design, had a real mix of product, his Koi chair and Hi Ho rocker was exhibited last year and was taken on my Innermost, who exhibited it at Designjunction in 2011. the Interlock Coatstand was the most interesting for me this year.

salone-satellite-2011-up tower

Up the top of the viewing platform.

L1050936

And down below!

L1050942

Serpent modular shelving by Bashko Trybek.

Ser­pent Shelving sys­tem — appeared on the SaloneSatel­ite Award 2011 short­l­ist and later was placed among the 50 best SaloneSatel­lite 2011 pro­jects on the yatzer.com design site.

 

L1050944L1050945

L1050946L1050947

FABRICA - Applied Arts and Communications Research Centre, this year exhibited under Here & (T)here. The brand is based on the combination of blown glass and oak in a search for dialogue between fragile and transparent glass and simple, solid wood. The result is a collection of hybrid sculptures centred on form that incorporate multiple functions.

warn out shoe You’ve made it to the end, for another year! I actually managed to wear a hole in my shoes from all the walking!

Ciao for now.