Coming soon: Report Milano

    

The Milan International Furniture Fair (Salone Internazionale del Mobile) was truly an urban event. The whole city was amped up with design-related activities everywhere: open showrooms, temporary pavilions, pop-up stores, you name it. The most prominent event outside of the main venue would be the "Mutant Architecture & Design" installation series in the courtyards of the Università degli Studi di Milano.

At the Salone itself, furniture brands set up their stands as stages for design. Fascinating shows were also staged in other venues throughout the city. I found a lot of cute objects, and Karim Rashid, the Godfather of Cuteness, was almost ubiquitous. Another trend was to indulge the cheesy side of our culture, and make it cool.

It seems to be a tradition that furniture brands would team up with architects for product and pavilion design. This time, I saw big names like Zaha Hadid, David Chipperfield, and Shigaru Ban; as well as rising stars such as Junya Ishigami, BIG, JDS, and SO-IL. Corian took a little exception this year and collaborated with Disney on a show of Tron.

In the following 7 posts, I will share the things I saw there with you in more detail under 7 different themes.