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3. Urbem by Christopher Jenner : The South Africa-born London-based designer has developed eight glass-blown pendant lights that, well, if you excuse the pun, breathe new life into Milanese street lighting. The bulbous forms are produced as triple-layered single pieces. -
6. Withered Flowers wallpaper by Studio Job for NLXL : Originally forming the background to Victor & Rolf’s 2013 Fall/Winter Paris show, this iconic motif of withered greyish flowers — William Morris gone glum —has been reworked into a wallpaper. -
4. Agravic Stone Table by Tokujin Yoshioka : Design illusionist Tokujin Yoshioka will masterfully balance a monolithic slab of marble between two transparent triangles, freeing the table from gravity to exist as if it were floating in the air. The adjective “awesome” truly does apply here. -
6. Withered Flowers wallpaper by Studio Job for NLXL : Not sold on the black and white? Oh all right, there’s a full-colour version too… Oh clashtastic 2014, we do love you! -
1. Bard by Giulio Iacchetti for Interno Italiano : Inspired by Milan’s iconic concrete bollards that prevent cars from driving into the pedestrian walkways, these delightful poufs give a soft twist to urban cement. -
5. Layered Fabric Chair by Richard Hutten for Kvadrat : Made from 840m of Kvadrat fabric stacked in 545 layers, the chair is inspired by the rock pigments of the Painted Desert in Arizona. Almost 100 colours are used and layers are cut out and assembled individually. That’s almost a kilometre of chair! -
10. Club range by Tom Dixon : Continuing his copper crush, and perhaps a little midlife crisis, nightclubs is the topic of Tom's new range. He sees clubs as being modern gentleman’s hangouts, a home away from home. Well, there is no “too young” for chic nor "too old" for party! -
8. De Natura Fossilium coffee tables by Formafantasma : Known for pushing the limits of unusual materials, Formafantasma this year shows a range of tables made from lava from the volcanic eruption of Mount Etna last year. We can't help recall the volcano that stranded everyone in Milan a few years ago... -
7. Baas is in Town by Maarten Baas : Who knows what is the mischievous Dutchman up to now? Remember in 2011, he launched a 1 euro app to make a statement about how no one can afford a thing in Milan! What on earth is in that truck destined for Ventura Lambrate? -
2. Ooho by Rodrigo GarcÃa González, Pierre Paslier, and Guillaume Couche : Billed as an edible water bottle, the Ooho is a blob-like container made of algae, designed by three London students. It won the Lexus Design Award and wins our hearts for its potential to save the earth from all those landfill-destined water bottles! -
9. Cumulus Parasol by Studio Toer : Shaped like a cumulus cloud, whenever the sun comes out, this parasol automatically inflates in 20 seconds to shield you from the sun. It's most certainly for our Durban readers — it definitely won’t get you far in Cape Town, or Milan for that matter!
COMPILED BY Nadine Botha
It’s Milan Design Week from 8 to 13 April. We’re sure we don’t need to tell you that this is the biggest design event in the world and that we’re pretty excited – deputy editor Annemarie Meintjes, who will be attending, especially. To share our mood, we’ve put together this list of 10 designs we just can’t wait to see for realsies – hashtag-counting-the-sleeps!
This year the core furniture expo, the Salone Internazionale del Mobile at the Milan Fairgrounds will turn 53 years old and expects to attract over 300 000 visitors from 160 countries with its some 2 400 exhibitors. There will be a special focus on kitchens and bathrooms with the biennial EuroCucina and International Bathroom Exhibition.
The special collateral event this year will be an exhibition called Where Architects Live, giving visitors a peek inside the private residences of Shigeru Ban, Mario Bellini, David Chipperfield, Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, Zaha Hadid, Marcio Kogan, Daniel Libeskind and Bijoy Jain/Studio Mumbai.
As usual, the fair will be split into three style categories – classic, modern and design. All the beeg names like Moroso, Tom Dixon, Kartell, Kvadrat, Magis and so on will be there, however as the fringe festival throughout the city has grown, these brands have also found value in more experimental installations in areas such as Zona Tortona and Ventura Lambrate. No doubt, Spazio Rossano Orlandi will be a hotspot of edgy designers pushing the envelope, as it always is.
Bon voyage Annemarie, we’re looking forward to your report backs. A special shout out to South African designer Martin Doller too, who will be exhibiting on the fair’s emerging designer platform (read more here).
1. giulioiacchetti.com, internoitaliano.com
2. lexus-int.com/design/lda.html
3. christopher-jenner.com
4. tokujin.com
5. richardhutten.com, kvadrat.dk
6. studiojob.be, nlxl.com
7. maartenbaas.com, venturaprojects.com
8. formafantasma.com
9. studiotoer.com
10. tomdixon.net
