SEYMOURPOWELL
Images, clockwise left : The Poetry of the Essential, globe lights by studio vit; The Joyful Absurd, Bucket Lamp Floor by Studio Job Moooi; Soft Sanctuary, Catch-chair by Jamie Hayon &
tradition and Soft Sanctuary, Mangas Spaces by Patricia Urquiola.
DESIGN DUALITY
Mariel Brown and Chloe Amos-Edkins put Milan 2013 in perspective with this insightful report into the trends
The team at Seymourpowell recently travelled over to Italy for the infamous Milan Furniture Fair. Here, Mariel and Chloe deliver a report on their findings that is sure to inspire creative thinking and application for the next year.
oth inspirational and overwhelming, the annual design fair in Milan is the largest show of its kind in the world, and as such has been recognised for decades as the centre of the emerging design universe. In this, its 52nd edition, the overarching theme that struck us was that of duality. We are currently moving through an age of great contradiction; where the nightmare of political, environmental and financial instability coincides with the fantastical dream of rapidly advancing technology. As students, designers and manufacturers attempt to navigate their way through this chaos, a dichotomy of design responses were bubbling up at the fair. These reflect the complexity of our current situation, and the contradictory nature of the human condition. Seymourpowell has highlighted this duality by arranging eight key trends from the fair into four contradictory pairs:
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Mariel Brown is Head of Trends and Chloe Amos-Edkins is Design and CMF Researcher at Seymourpowell
THE POETRY OF THE ESSENTIAL At the show many designers felt it was timely to focus in on only the essential elements of a product, finding comfort in this age of chaos through the process of rationalisation.
26 | Interior Design Today |
idtmagazine.co.uk
Excitingly, this approach is creating a new poetic simplicity, an example of which could be seen in lighting manufacturer Flos’ new String Lights designed by Cypriot designer Michael Anastassiades. The lights are comprised of an LED bulb within a shade, which is connected to metres and metres of thin black electrical cabling. This cabling cord is used to draw geometric shapes in the air and was inspired by the electrical cables found in city landscapes. We particularly enjoyed the functional element of the long cables that allow users to arrange the design around their needs rather than arranging their lifestyle around the design. Allowing a sense of flexibility through modularity could also be seen from Studio Vit, who presented their new ‘Globe Lights’ at the Salone Satellite. The ‘Globe Lights’ are a deconstructed assemblage consisting of small, matt white, globe shaped pendants and large, gloss white, steel reflectors. The ceramic spheres can be used on their own, grouped together, or used to cast light on the reflectors.
THE JOYFUL ABSURD
While some designers sought to rationalise and focus in on the essential during this time of great flux, others were more inclined to be swept along in the chaos of the moment and we witnessed a burgeoning return to a more playful aesthetic. Belgian artists Studio Job are well known for their witty aesthetic and at this year’s fair
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