Milan Furniture Fair 2014

BRERA

EDIT by Designjunction
With a new spot in the 18th-century Palazzo Morando, EDIT is again bringing a version of its London show to Milan. Twenty international brands and designers are taking part, including Resident, Stellar Works and de Allegri Feldkamp; a pair who explore femininity in design. Parisian brand Adentro will launch Ninna, an armchair by Carlo Contin that combines solid ash with crust leather. Michael Young designs a new lighting collection for Hong Kong brand EOQ. In the courtyard, Florence-based coffee specialists La Marzocco will be keeping visitors refreshed.
Palazzo Morando, Via Sant’Andrea 6

Lexus Design Award
This year, entrants have been asked to respond to the theme of “curiosity”. Twelve winning ideas will be on show, with two taken into production under the guidance of architect Arthur Huang and game designer Robin Hunicke. Three commissions by Lexus will also be on show: from Fabio Novembre, Nao Tamura and MIT Media Lab.
Circolo Filologico Milanese, Via Clerici 10

Palazzo Clerici
Raw Edges rethinks our living habits with Islands, a furniture series designed around the Caesarstone surface and debuts its collaboration with Golran rugs.
Via Clerici 5

CENTRALE

Established & Sons
Established & Sons continues its quiet comeback with a colourful display in a Milanese courtyard and a collaboration with Dilmos Gallery at Piazza San Marco 1.
Istituto dei Ciechi, Via Vivaio 7

Kvadrat
Toyo Ito has designed a new showroom for Kinnasand – the carpet and curtain branch of Danish textile company Kvadrat. Find it adjacent to the existing space on Corso Monforte, where the Bouroullecs will show a new range of knitted fabrics.

At the main fair, Hella Jongerius, newly crowned creative director of rug division Danskina, launches a new collection including a line combining cork and New Zealand wool.

If you were wowed by the rainbow of one-off furniture designs that filled the Jil Sander showroom for Kvadrat’s Hallingdal 65 exhibition at two years ago, you’ll be glad to know that another show of a similar scale is in the works. This time 22 designers, including Lindsey Adelman, Muller van Severen and Werner Aisslinger have been asked for their take on Divina, the 30-year-old textile created by Danish painter Finn Sködt. See the results at the arcades between Via Casati and Via San Gregorio.
Corso Monforte 15,
Arcades at Via Casati 32 to Via San Gregorio 43

Porro
Piero Lissoni turns Porro’s showroom into a wooden wonderland, using the System bookcase to create a maze that shows the company’s range of timber types and finishes. Somewhere in the labyrinth, you can find Loop Mirror, a twisting design by Front that ties mirror and shelf together with one frame.
Via Durini 15

Project B Gallery
After hosting Philippe Malouin’s solo show Simple last year, Project B Gallery is opening its doors to Brent Dzekciorius and his new enterprise Dzek. The launch collection sees Max Lamb create furniture with Marmoreal – a composite stone made up of four Veronese marbles. The space will also showcase Faye Toogood’s Assemblage no. 4, entitled Roly-Poly, and her first clothing collection.
Via Pietro Maroncelli 7

Sliding Nature by Torafu
Panasonic and Torafu Architects present an installation in the university courtyard. The title is Sliding Nature and the concept is to show how tradition and technology can work in harmony. Torafu will create a house with “shoji” paper sliding doors and openings underlit by LED lighting.
University of Milan, Via Festa del Perdono 7

Spazio Rossana Orlandi
The grand dame of design can always be turned to for her impeccable taste and talent for spotting newcomers. This year her rambling gallery space will be home to French brand Moustache, a series of black ceramics by Luca Nichetto and a 1950s-inspired furniture collection by Nika Zupanc for Sé.
Via Matteo Bandello 14-16

Spazio Pontaccio
The design boutique hosts Supperscene, a dinner prepared by chef Matias Perdomo on a table laid with bespoke tableware, cutlery, glasses and accessories, including pieces by Cristina Celestino. The dinner on 8 April is only for a selected few, but the designs will be on view in the showroom for the rest of the month. A pop-up shop offers the limited edition pieces for sale during the week of Salone.
Via Pontaccio 18

Triennale Design Museum
Belgian design takes over the Triennale with a show called Reflections: a comprehensive gathering of mirrors and reflective objects by the likes of Julien Carretero for Victor Hunt, Maarten de Ceulaer and Nathalie Dewez. Look out for the voluptuous Big Bubble lamps by Dark, and Jean-Francois D’Or’s conical Edvard mirror for Deknudt.
Viale Emilio Alemagna 6

Venini
The art glass specialist is debuting two lighting pieces at this year’s fair. EDI by Alberto Biagetti is a reinvented lightbulb, with a mix of coloured rods at the centre of a large glass sphere, and Zoe by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas is a rippled red shade that recalls the shape of Chinese paper lanterns. Connecting contemporary designers with the age-old art of Murano glass has long been Venini’s calling card, and the results can be found glowing all around its warren of a showroom.
Via Montenapoleone 9

FIERA RHO

Despite mutterings that the real innovation lies outside the Salone, the main show isn’t ready to be written off yet. Last year was dominated by a Starck-led troupe of big names – presumably those who manufacturers find a safe bet in difficult times – but there was a crop of younger designers stepping into the fold too.

This year Mattiazzi, clearly enjoying its place in the limelight after 30 years as a subcontractor for other brands, is showing a new furniture collection by the Bouroullecs. The famed French brothers have projects with Vitra, Magis and Glas Italia too.

Moroso debuts the 22nd Floor Sofa by Tord Boontje, a clean-lined structure designed with a minimalist city apartment in mind, and Daniele Bortotto and Giorgia Zanellato will show Serenissima, a collection of silk-upholstered sofas inspired by the Venetian lagoon. We can also expect new pieces by Ross Lovegrove, Sebastian Herkner, Atelier Oi and Benjamin Hubert, and it wouldn’t be Moroso if there wasn’t a Patricia Urquiola collaboration in the works – this year it’s a sofa. Urquiola also presents Gliss-Up, a suspended bedroom storage system for Molteni&C.

Kartell tries to convince us that plastic can be just as precious as glass and crystal. Best sellers have been refinished in glossy and metallic finishes, and the new Sparkle line of stools and tables by Tokujin Yoshioka is made of transparent plastic in jewel-like colours like honey and amber.

With no MOST on the cards this year, Tom Dixon will show at the Fiera, despite having always overlooked the trade halls in favour of more exciting locations. New furniture, lighting and accessories have been inspired by traditional British members clubs, with additions to the Beat family of lights and Pivot, a line of chairs and stools with rotating aluminium bases.

Iittala also makes its first visit, showing pieces by Cecilie Manz, Magnus Pettersen and Matti Klenell. Poltrona Frau shows Nivola: an armchair and sofa with leather backs and rounded lines by Roberto Lazzeroni. Gebrüder Thonet Vienna has delved into its archives for two new projects on show at the fair: Ladder in steam-bent wood by Charlie Styrbjörn Nilsson and hybrid hallway piece Coat Rack Bench by Front.

The under-35s selected for a coveted spot at SaloneSatellite have even more reason to be happy – the exhibition has been moved to pavilions 13-15, closer to the big guns. Check out Current by Marjan van Aubel: a table that harvests daylight to charge appliances. Elsewhere in the Fiera’s monumental complex, you can find the International Bathroom Exhibition and kitchen showcase, EuroCucina. In pavilion 9 there’s a photography exhibition on the houses of Zaha Hadid, Marcio Kogan, David Chipperfield and others.

TORTONA

Moooi
The Dutch design powerhouse bucked the trend for downsizing and took up a gigantic 1,770sq m space on Via Savona last year, with a lavish show of new products, styled living environments and larger-than-life photography. Moooi’s plans for 2014 are still under wraps at the time of press, but with the same location secured, we know it will be big.
Via Savona 56

VENTURA LAMBRATE

The youngest design area in Milan celebrates five years. The past few have been patchy, mixing the experimental and the esoteric, but there’s always a few gems to be found in this jumble sale of a district. This year, a Maarten Baas satellite show takes place in the city centre, hoping to lure visitors out to Lambrate, where there are exhibitions by Jaime Hayon, Li Edelkoort, Design Academy Eindhoven and Lensvelt with OMA. There’s a strong Dutch flavour to the mix, but the promise of events becoming more international too, with Mexican students from Anahuac University, Berlin Design Collection and a showcase of British talent from University of the Arts London.

Pattern-obsessed textile designer Cristian Zuzunaga has a solo show of his ventures into fashion (a menswear line) and furniture (fit-together poufs in a pixel print).

Ventura Hive (Via del Canzi 19) is the place to find upcoming talent and there’s a spread of shows on in the area’s galleries and garages, including group shows by Mindcraft and INResidence.

The Ventura Living Room (Via Ventura 14), meanwhile, is a good spot to recharge with some food and drink, plus crucially, to take advantage of the free wi-fi.

illustrations

Andrew Thorpe

Words

Riya Patel