Salone del Mobile 2013, Milan
4/9/2013 - 4/14/2013

The idea is unusual, possibly even revolutionary. In the form of “Natevo” Italian bed specialist Flou has involved the public in the design process – and brought glowing furniture to market.

The new collection by Rem Kohlhaas’ OMA for Knoll International is one of the positive surprises of this years Salone. Daniel von Bernstorff spoke to Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, head of the OMA design team, about the cooperation with Knoll, the poetry of moving marble and about the end of signature design.

In 2012, Edward Barber uand Jay Osgerby caused quite a stir with their design for the Olympic torch. This year the two architects are placing a renewed emphasis on furniture design. Uta Abendroth met with one half of the duo, Jay Osgerby, in Milan, where their sofas, tables and stool premiered at Knoll.

Loud colors, pastel hues and any amount of highlights. New, unusual color designs for tables, chairs and sofas really stimulated the eye in Milan. Following fashion’s suit. The best example is Vitra with a new color concept for its classics. From occasional contrasts to complete color harmony – the trend is definitely for interiors to become more colorful. And a good thing, too.

From parasitic furniture design to depressing lighting, to poetic wall projections. The young generation of designers at SaloneSatellite turned out to be both fresh and experimental in their approach. And in the competition to be crowned the best young designer at SaloneSatallite it was Portuguese designer Tania da Cruz who came out on top with her range of sustainable cork products.

This year’s Ventura Lambrate was part of the FuoriSalone for the fourth time. The meeting point for next-generation design, experiments and ambitious individual exhibitors had a real feel of work in progress about it. Development and manufacturing processes played a major role.

For quite some time, manufacturers of decorative luminaires were hard hit by the innovation of LEDs. What to do with their traditional designs that were built around lamps and spots? They have since overcome the future shock and the industry is now fielding new products in all shapes and sizes.

It would seem obvious that a sensitive nose need not necessarily offer a good handle on things. And designers of all ages should be making sparing use of spaghetti, leather scraps, iron pipes, champagne buckets, wooden laminate and most certainly erotic objects. The seven deadly Salone sins show just who ignored this advice.

No, there was no revolt. Even Ventura Lambrate had nothing on offer that even came close to a taste of the future. Instead it was above all Konstantin Grcic who once again showed just what contemporary design can do.

Milan 2013, a mixture of prudence, consolidation and solid design work. A little less hype and fewer prototypes, too. This is certainly doing the industry good.

None other than Karl Lagerfeld graced this year’s Salone del Mobile with his presence. The master of elegance held court with Cassina, for whom he immortalized a selection of furniture classics on film. A marriage of icons the likes of which has never been seen before. And a one-off, almost one-to-one evening with Karl.