As the massive, international
Milan furniture fair - or Salone del Mobile - entered its fourth
day on Friday, so did its sister design extravaganza, the
Fuorisalone - or unofficial fair.
Colourful "Fuorisalone" banners flapped under uneven
weather as bands of visitors hopped from one store to the next
to see what surprises awaited inside.
While more than 2000 furniture companies and 700 young
designers are showing their latest collections and designs at
the Fiera di Milano in Rho through Sunday, hundreds of design
shops and exhibit spaces in synchrony have flung open their
doors to show special installations and collections in the
streets of Milan.
The reputation and tenure of the Fuorisalone, which sprang
up spontaneously in the 1980s, has over the years become so
associated with the vanguard in creative design that high end
Italian design brands often have double shows - at the fair and
in the Milan store - and the Fuorisalone takes over Milan's
toniest shopping districts as well as its trendiest quarters.
Four hundred Fuorisalone events are plotted across the city in a
guide assembled by the interior decor magazine Interni.
This edition, Spazio Pontaccio, a design boutique in the
heart of the Brera Design District that has made its name
selecting Europe's most intriguing contemporary designs, this
edition debuted its first full in-house collection.
"This year we felt we were ready," said Eleonora Negri, who
runs the boutique with her husband Alberto Pellini.
"Our closets are full of objects waiting to be produced".
The walls of the shop were covered in the retro, graphic
patterns of artist Federico Pepe in ivory, red, mustard gold,
black and blue across hung carpets and framed canvases, echoing
the palette and retro spirit of the collection. Low marble
tables gave the illusion of being suspended on floor-length
fringe. A classic red velvet armchair was blown out to new
dimensions to seat at least two. A crystal glass display case
was made to look like a safe, with a rotating "locking" dial,
and mounted on a bronze frame.
Historic Milanese contemporary design brand DePadova
introduced the Yak sofa forms designed by LucidiPevere. Curved
leather supported by slightly tilted wooden legs framed
upholstered armchairs and sofas - designs made of raw wood,
cowhide, fabrics, and inspired by the animal and vegetable
worlds.
DePadova also debuted the Albereta armchair by Philippe
Nigro, a revisitation of a classic, fan-back armchair whose
crouching silhouette reveals contemporary edge, and the Smeralda
pouf and table, a minimalist design by Anna Von Schewen.
DePadova's new products become installations on islands in
gray painted wood, where raw beech panels and white metal
screens divided space and created a play of shadows.
Premium plastic specialist Kartell and ceramic maker Laufen
opened for their first mono-brand store for their two-year-old
bathroom collection, designed by Ludovica and Roberto Palomba.
They also introduced a 120cm, shallow sink made of Laufen's
proprietary SaphirKeramik material, which incorporates a mineral
from the corundum family - the same group that includes
sapphires. The sink was described as being as strong as steel
but much lighter than normal ceramic, because the mineral is the
second hardest material after diamond.
Design heavyweight Moroso completely emptied its Milan
store to make way for an art and design installation to
highlight furniture designs by Jurg Schellmann, whose minimalist
and conceptual ideas were shaped by influential art from the
early 1960s by people like Donald Judd, Daniel Buren and Sol
Levitt. The front window display featured a canary yellow, steel
framed work space with a simple grey desk surface and three grey
shelves.
New player Staygreen presented a full line of furnishings
made from composite layers of corrugated cardboard. The Venetian
furniture company says the eco-furnishings are as durable as
wood, and use natural glues, like one based on pea starch. Its
armchair has built-in fragrance release powered by lithium
batteries built to last at least five years.
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