Milan report
MILAN IN PERSPECTIVE 2014
SEYMOURPOWELL DELIVERS A REPORT BY KAREN ROSENKRANZ AND MARIEL BROWN, DETAILING THE FLURRY OF EXCITING NEW IDEAS TO HIT THE INDUSTRY
EVERY YEAR THE MILAN DESIGN FAIR HERALDS A TIDAL WAVE OF NEW CONCEPTS AND PRODUCTS, THE SUM OF WHICH ALLOWS TREND RESEARCHERS TO SPOT PATTERNS FOR THE YEAR AHEAD. MARIEL BROWN AND KAREN ROSENKRANZ AT SEYMOURPOWELL, FILTER THROUGH THIS SEISMIC SWELL OF THE NEW AND UNCOVER THE STANDOUT PROJECTS THAT WILL SET THE DESIGN MOOD FOR 2014.
PROTRUDE & LIGHT BY YOY Our increasingly digital lives can feel very predictable; big data is anticipating our needs before we know them ourselves, whilst geo- location services make getting lost virtually impossible. All this certainty makes us crave a little uncertainty. We desire surprise, magic, and wonder. Excitingly, Japanese design studio YOY gave visitors to Milan exactly that with their latest collection of designs that play with illusion and “bring humour to an ordinary room”. Our particular favourites
60 Interior Design Today July 2014
from the collection were ‘Protrude’, a tray that looks as though it’s about to fall yet doesn’t and ‘Light’, a table lamp and floor lamp that project their shade onto a nearby surface.
HOT & COLD BY FABRICA FOR DAIKIN As the Earth’s climate becomes increasingly volatile and society is striving to adapt, designers and artists alike are inspired by weather extremes. A beautiful example of this trend was the Hot & Cold exhibition by Fabrica in collaboration with Japanese air conditioning manufacturer Daikin. Taking temperature as a starting point, a series of multi-sensory installations invited visitors to participate in an immersive laboratory of hot and cold experiences. Highlights included kinetic sculptures of spinning feathers evoking the seasonal migration of birds; an acoustic installation sampling the climatic sounds of Venus and Neptune, the hottest and coldest planets in our solar system; and tropical plants frozen in ice
blocks, slowly melting in the warmth of Milan’s Spring sun.
6X6 BY GRANDE The role of the young designer in Milan seems to be increasingly seeking to challenge the norms of the design establishment rather than becoming a part of it. This year, we were pleased to discover recently graduated collective Grande at the Salone Satellite questioning convention with their new project 6x6. This project explores how to make use of the waste generated when using marble, a material which the design industry has had an excessive appetite for in recent years.
DE NATURA FOSSILIUM BY FORMAFANTASMA Another highlight, responding to the acceleration of change, was ‘De Natura Fossilium’ by Formafantasma in collaboration with Gallery Libby Sellers. Inspired by the concept of locality and the power of nature, the Italian design duo once again
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