RENEWED PERSPECTIVE
arita Japan represents the theme of humble beauty as discussed by Karen
RENEWED PERSPECTIVE Karen Rosenkranz from Seymourpowell reflects on the influences driving this year’s Milan show
The Seymourpowell team visited Milan this year for the annual design show and returned with some very insightful thoughts on the trends emerging and how this is directly affected and will affect designers and their clients. Interior Design Today talks to Karen and the Seymourpowell team about their understanding of Milan and the changing face of the design fair.
Karen Rosenkranz is Head of Social & Lifestyle Foresight at Seymourpowell, one of the leading design and innovation companies in the UK. Seymourpowell takes a holistic approach to design through an appreciation of market and consumer behaviour.
relatively quick turnaround of products on show, along with a product designer’s innate desire to engage with culture means that Milan captures the spirit of the time like no other design show on Earth. Despite this, Milan 2012 felt a
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very year Milan offers its visitors a seductive slice through ‘now’. The
little different this year. Whilst the main show at the Fiera still hustled and bustled as ever, the events around the rest of the city felt a little quieter than usual. There was a reflective and almost contemplative mood in the air, which seemed to suggest that designers are taking their time to carefully consider their next move amidst a global state of instability. This was echoed by many of the big manufacturers, such as Vitra, Established & Sons and Magis, choosing not to release many new products. Instead they made small additions and tweaks to their ranges, giving existing products a new lease of life with the addition of new colours, materials and finishes. By far the most exciting
developments this year were those being made in the less established areas of the fair, with traditional shows being much more low-key.
New thinking such as open-source design, hacking and crowd funding is empowering young designers and, in doing so, is lighting the touch paper that could ignite a new era of collaborative design. Tantalisingly, this will question the very nature of future Milan furniture fairs.
Q
Explain the terms open- source design, hacking
and crowd funding and how they are helping to shape and shift the interior design industry into the next era of sound design processes. Open-source design promotes
free distribution of ideas and access to an end product’s design. A good example for this is Droog’s ‘Design for Download’ (2011), which allows consumers to download instructions for a range of DIY furniture and accessory products they can
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