Comments Off on QUICK DOSE OF INSPIRATION #45 : ‘MILAN DESIGN WEEK 2015’ SPECIAL
Hello all! This exciting time of the year has finally come again as Milan Design Week 2015 kicks off today. I am unfortunately not able to attend this year but I have put together for you this (“small” compared to the amount of beautiful designs that will be shown and launched this week!) selection from the works of my fav designers and also from the tons of press releases and emails I received. Hope you enjoy these pieces I really liked. For those of you who are lucky enough to be there, have great fun and enjoy the pasta!
Speak soon, ciao a tutti, Flo xo
“The chaise Maurice is a vintage chair we find very often in Lebanon, however it is slowly fading from our memories. We were intrigued by the details of its mechanics, the way the backrest can adapt to all our seating positions and couldn’t resist the temptation of recreating it. The result was a fine composition of different elements interlaced with brass details that give that piece a neo-colonial feel and reflects clearly how it was imagined back then and how it can continue to charm our daily lives.” — David/NicolasBonBon, a collection of mouth blown silvered side tables by Italian designer Luca Nichetto for verreum inspired by the silver paper wrapped around the candies and their stylized form.The new Cage table is the lastest addition in the SS15 Cage Collection designed by Form Us With Love for Menu.SILAÏ – means “stitch” in the Indian language – is the new collection from Belgian designer Charlotte Lancelot for GAN, representing a reinterpretation of petit point embroidery.Ceramic wall light TI.VEDO ( meaning I see you) designed by Matteo Ugolini for Italian label Karman.Grid sofa/daybed by POOL for Petite Friture – a design that combines a pure graphic outline, simple geometrical elements and a modular design that adds up to a completely adjustable piece. The wooden structure, that extends on the side as a semi-circular removable wooden tablet, is held together by a strap is mounted on a black tubular steel structure. A set of cotton and leather cushions in subtle colours are set on the base. Some cushions contribute to the modular aspect of the sofa: the armrest can be turned into a headrest and the round cushion can be used as a backrest or set on the tablet, lengthening the sofa’s seating space. The sofa which is initially a two seater becomes a comfortable daybed. « GRID is a piece for everyday life with a modular seat that can be composed differently to ensure comfort and that can be adapt to small or vast rooms as well as the sitter » — POOL
Concertina light by Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay from Raw-Edges for Louis Vuitton‘s new collection of Objets Nomades – a collection of travel-inspired pieces imagined by 9 established and upcoming designers reinventing the brand’s Art of Travel.Concertina chair by Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay from Raw-Edges for Louis Vuitton’s new collection of Objets NomadesDetail of the Concertina chair by Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay from Raw-Edges for Louis VuittonSwing chair by Patricia Urquiola for Louis Vuitton‘s new collection of Objets Nomades Hammock by Atelier Oi for Louis Vuitton‘s new collection of Objets Nomades Lamp by Nendo for Louis Vuitton‘s new collection of Objets Nomades After the introduction of the multiple award winning collection of Studio Job last year at Salone de Mobile, adventurous wallpaper company NLXL is back with 2 new collections, including Addiction by famed designer Paola Navone.Addicted to blue – especially vibrant indigo shades – Navone constantly uses that color, be it for dinnerware or tiles, sofas or sconces. Her collection is an ode to the hue.
Sula is a family of three vase-carafes – here in a terracotta finish – designed by Pietro Bastia for Incipit. With its simple, decisive shapes Sula can be handled easily thanks to its narrow neck. Was the designer inspired by the elegant giraffe or by the long necks of the artist Modigliani? In any case it has a certain “je ne sais quoi” elegance.Copenhagen-based New Works is launching their Bowl table lamp designed by the brand’s creative director, Knut Bendik Humlevik. The Bowl kindles the warmth of an evening around the campfire. A cylindrical glass vase that sits atop a copper base surrounds the mood-enhancing incandescent bulb.Another design for New Works is the Karl-Johann table lamp designed by Signe Hytte. The cosy light with a fragile glass top contrasting with an earthbound base in smoked oak, is taking inspiration from the organic shape of a mushroom.Move sofa from Paola Lenti
Elegant, unusual and with a strong character, the new woven version of the George chair by Spanish designer David Lopez Quincoces for Living Divani.The Veiled Box designed by Front for Porro‘s Cabinet of Curiosities new showroom setting, celebrating the brand 90th anniversary. The Veiled Box is an object that is always on the point of being unveiled, and celebrates the exciting moment of revealing a new piece of furniture. A large piece of wood has been digitally milled to make it look like a box under drapery.9Ø designed by Gamfratesi. Another box to celebrate Porro‘s 90 years of design, thinking the origin and looking ahead. A project based on a name, a logo, a recognized symbol of tradition. A clever and hidden system of opening to protect a secret; only moving the central bar is possible to open the box into two parts.The new Mona light in its wall version by Lucie Koldova for Brokis.Dutch designers Siebring & Zoetmulder have collaborated with Studio LileSadi to create the Daily Gems cabinet that is not only a functional organiser, but a platform for a beautiful material collage. Their cabinet features two boxes cleverly juxtaposed and interconnected. The boxes are with beautifully milled lines all around the cabinet. They create a subtle pattern and rhythm, serving as rails for several different materials. These materials were carefully selected and hand-crafted and each tells its own narrative: a circular screen-printed mirror, a perforated recycled metal square, a brass triangle with rain drops from Rotterdam and a hand-made cobalt blue porcelain circle. These geometric textured shapes are made to feel, experience and create a sensorial poetic cityscape on the cabinet.Part of their debut collection, the Iris pendant light by NEO/CRAFT appears like a permanent iridescent soap bubble. It is the result of ambitious craftsmanship and technological innovation. An OLED module provides both the light source and mount, with an iridescent film creating the impression of ever-changing colours, both in the light emitted and its reflection.Another design by NEO/CRAFT, the Isom Oblong tables playing with an intriguing optical illusion. Made from hexagonal tops resting on three squares, their edges form diamond-shaped surfaces that, when viewed from certain angles, form a perfect isometric representation of a cube.Pipe collection by Sebastian Herkner for MorosoSoft by nendo for Glas Italia are 3 types of low tables that are of the shape of a box using 5 sheets of frost glass. For the joint between two sheets of glass, the cross-sections with an angle of 45° were printed with bright colours. These cross-sections were then bonded together. These colours had a gradation effect, such as from purple to red, orange to yellow, and blue to purple.“What is more, the reverse side of the frost glass was printed with a pattern to make it look as though the same colours were blurred on the glass surface. With this, we tried to create a natural and soft image, as if the colours on the edges were blurring. By combining the extremely difficult technique of printing gradation colours on the diagonal edges with the printing that expresses a delicate “blurriness”, an appearance that contradicts the conventional image of glass, which is of a hard and sharp material, was achieved.” — nendoFJU is the first design for Living Divani by kaschkasch, a designer duo whose operating base is located in Cologne. FJU is an extremely linear desk, a practical foldable work space than can be closed to free up space whenever you need it, creating a wall-mounted container for small objects or a magazine rack with a captivating oak’s surface.
Aérostat table lamp by Studio Guillaume Delvigne for FabbianLondon-based design firm Beyond Object new desktop furnishings include a tape dispenser, a letter opener and a pencil pot and sharpener.
Barcelona label nanimarquina offers its contemporary version of the Kilim with the new Mélange Collection designed by Spanish fashion designer Sybilla.Tenon coffee table by Fort Standard for SCPThis rattan armchair and solid wood table are part of the new Huma Collection designed by Mario Ruiz for Spanish label Expormim. In the Sufi tradition, Huma is a legendary bird. It is impossible to catch, but only a glimpse his shadow and happiness is guaranteed for life.
Also, have a look at this beautiful video about Expormim’s rattan craftsmen, below.
Norwegian light manufacturer Northern Lighting is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the iconic Dokka lamp designed by Birger Dahl. The anniversary lamp is released in six new colors (one for each decade of its life): aqua green, petrol blue, light grey, dark grey and a new finish of the original white and black.
Cose Da Bocia is an innovative collection of furniture for kids designed by Andrea Marcante and Adelaide Testa from Studio Uda Architetti. “The home, including the children’s room, is envisaged as a combination of spaces capable of keeping both the important and more evanescent sides of our personality alive” so Marcante and Testa point out. “Bocia” means ‘kid’ in Turin jargon. “The collection is designed to meet the needs of the new modern- day family that is now quite accustomed to inhabiting spaces fluidly, with no separation between the space for adults and children’s space. We have retraced the history of furniture and children spaces from 1920 to 1970, in order to come up with a small but entirely customisable collection made of recycled wood, tubular metal, rope and cork, matched with accessories specially designed for us by Gruppo di Installazione.”Unbalance project by Alessandro Zambelli for Secondome the candle wearing out results in a loss of weight that unbalances the structure, keeping the flame in the same point.Bon Ton pendant lights by Cristina Celestino for TorrematoAia puffs designed by Nadia Arratibel for Spanish label OndarretaAla armchairs by Sebastian Herkner for Italian manifacturer La Cividina
Bonjour, my name is Florence. I'm a mum, interior designer and blogger with the travel bug. I'm into design, architecture, photography, sunny places, sailing, organic local food ... and way more you might find out here. When not travelling, based in Royan or Brittany, France.
Florence Deau 
