Special Special

Edition Edition April 2009

Issue Twenty-seven

ANTENNAE
TREND REPORT
APRIL 2009

MILAN FURNITURE
FAIR 2009
ANTENNAE April 2009
Issue Twenty-seven
TREND REPORT
APRIL 2009

27
This special edition of Antennae has been
written by trend and strategy consultant
Tessa Mansfield.

The Antennae Trends team at NewEdge +

The Brewery carries out research in new
design trends, ideas and creative thinking
- from global product innovation through to
changing consumer lifestyles.

If you’d like to know more about The

Antennae team and our trends research
consultancy or if you would like to comment
on anything you have read in this issue,
please email us at:

antennae@newedge-thebrewery.com

Page 2
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International Salone del Mobile

Introduction to the 31st Milan Furniture Fair

This April, the 31st edition of the International Salone

del Mobile was held at the new Rho Pero Fiera in Milan
and across a multitude of satellite events around the
city.

There has been much speculation as to whether this

year’s event would be ‘crunched’ or if the dawning
of a more frugal era may have a positive impact
on creativity. It seems important in these turbulent
times for manufacturers to remain visible, whilst also
adopting more responsible behaviour. The frivolity
and fantasy of recent years wasn’t overly perceptible,
designers instead focused attention on exploring
new technologies and materials and creating
more lightweight, energy efficient and yet delightful
products.

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Material interaction
The potential of new materials

Without doubt, the highlight of Milan was a Japanese

exhibition ‘Senseware’, held at the Triennale and
organized by seven of Japan’s fibre manufacturers.
Its premise ‘The new materials may be attractive,
but the problem we face is to discover how they can
best be used’ was answered poetically by the likes of
Shigeru Ban and Nendo, who insist they have created
‘not products, but mechanisms to provide stimulus’
which explore the potential of new materials.

The entrance to the exhibition itself was an impressive

installation, called ‘Water Logo ‘09’. Designers Hara
Design Institute, NDC and Atelier OMOYA created a
spectacular slope of water droplets that start life as
a ‘Senseware’ logo made of perfect water spheres,
only to roll away across the ultra water-repellent fabric.

There were two very different applications using

plastic optical fibres. The first, ‘Mist Bench’ designed
by Gwenael Nicolas used a flexible and luminous
fibre called Eska. The fibres are knitted together
to create a long ‘floating’ bench which glowingly
interacts with people’s movements. Secondly, Kengo
Kuma employed Luccon, a concrete with embedded
optical fibres, for his piece ‘Con/Fibre’. Embedding
these fibres makes the concrete translucent. And as
the strength of the composite is greater than that of

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ordinary concrete, this material is rapidly becoming a

popular construction material. For Senseware, Kuma
designed a wall made from blocks of Luccon. When
a light is placed behind the wall, it theatrically projects
light, shadows and even images onto the front of the
block which acts as a screen.

A personal favourite at the exhibition was an

inventive new robot called ‘Fukitorimushi’ which
means ‘wiping-up creature’. This delightful robot is
an invention of the Panasonic Corporation Design
Company using a nanofibre textile. The cleaning
robot senses its surroundings and is designed to wipe
off the dirt that a vacuum leaves behind. Nanofibres
resist sliding because of their large surface area.
The friction produced propels the robot forward like
an inchworm, with the robot’s body automatically
wiping up dirt as it goes. This is a fantastic example
of technology products that can engage human
emotions.

Also dedicated to core materials, there was a new

departure for Swarovski’s Crystal Palace which had
in recent years become somewhat formulaic. This
year they commissioned just one designer, Arik
Levy, to create the contents of the entire exhibit. Levy
focused upon the technology of Swarovski for his
inspiration, and the exhibition titled ‘Osmosis’ is a
series of installations based on the Chaton – the most
emblematic of crystal cuts. He saw his installation
as ‘forming a bridge between technology and craft,
nature and manmade processes – fused together.’
Pieces included ‘floor jewels’, a collection of crystals
master-cut in marble, ‘crystalava’ rock formations
and wire framed lights. Levy’s installation opens up
the potential for a more coherent and creative Crystal
Palace in future years.

Previous page - top and

middle
Water Logo 09 by Hara
Design Institute, NDC and
Atelier OMOYA

Previous page - bottom

Mist Bench by Gwenael
Nicolas

Top
Luccon by Kengo Kuma

Middle
Fukitorimushi by Panasonic

Bottom
SCP Osmosis’ Floor Jewels

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Future source
The potential for LEDs

A trend for exploiting the new world of light through
the seemingly limitless potential of LED technology
is gaining in momentum. LEDs present many
advantages over traditional light sources including
lower energy consumption, longer lifetime, improved
robustness, smaller size and faster switching.
Designers at Milan utilized the compact size and high
switching rates of LEDs in a diverse range of creative
applications.
Famous for interactive light installations, Jason
Bruges created ‘Flatliner’, a wafer-thin light source
made from 240 minute LEDs, for Established and
Sons. A minimal sliver of glossy jet black acrylic,
the disc contains a wafer-thin touch-sensitive circuit
board that activates an ‘animated bloom of light as
you dim it up and down’.
To demonstrate the potential of light emitting surfaces, Above
Lumiblade by Philips
London-based design group Random International
designed ‘Lumiblade Mirror Wall’. An interactive wall
made from small reflective Lumiblade panels that
light up in the shape of a subject, appearing to reflect
it dynamically with light. The installation shows the
speed of response and integration possibilities of
OLEDs.
On a more decorative note, Moooi presented
‘Raimond’ by Raimond Puts, a giant sparkly pompom
of light that stretches up to 2m in diameter and
Below
contains hundreds of LEDs within its metal frame. Jason Bruges’ Flatliner

At Superstudio Philips introduced their new product,

‘Lumiblade’, made from Organic LEDs (OLEDS)
which are set to revolutionize the way we think about
and use light. In the future, these ultra-thin OLED
panels will enable any surface area to become a light
source, whether flat or curved, creating a diffuse light
that evenly illuminates a wide area, creating a single
flat plane of colour.

Page 6

Paper-light
The development of light-weighted solutions
The theme of lightweight durability was addressed by
several groups. Some explored paper-based design
in all its gossamer delicacy and translucency, whilst
others adopted a more engineered approach using
carbon fibre to create light structures.
Back at Senseware, Nendo created a new type of
‘blown fabric’ using ‘Smash™’ a highly thermoplastic
nonwoven fabric that changes shape easily when
heated. It is very light, difficult to tear, and looks
beautiful when light passes through it. Nendo formed
seamless one-piece lanterns using a glass-blowing-
style process, heating up the material and then
blowing air into it to inflate it.
‘Elements of nature and of human imagination
synthesize through a texture and a light form like
clouds.’ This is how Tokujin Yoshioka describes
‘Cloud Paper Sofa’ his evocative paper design for
Moroso. The prototype is made from pure paper, but
when produced for manufacture it will be developed
in fabrics that incorporate paper.
A nostalgia for making objects in papier-mache
inspired Studio Job’s ‘Paper Collection’ for Moooi.
Monumental and light, transitory and timeless; they
April 2009
Issue Twenty-seven
have added a side table and a screen to their existing Above
Parapu by Claesson
range of simple white paper furniture. Swedish brand Koivisto Rune
Sodra’s collaboration with design and architect firm
Claesson Koivisto Rune introduces a modern variant
on the papier-mache theme; ‘DuraPulp’, a composite
material made of pulp and PLA has a paper-like
feel but with the durability normally associated with
materials like steel, wood or hard plastic. They have
molded the material into ‘Parupu’ paper pulp chairs
aimed at children. Durable and waterproof, they are
also fully compostable.
Architect Shigeru Ban, inspired by the lightweight
design of Gio Ponti’s ‘Superleggera’ wanted to tackle
the challenge himself. “I wanted to make a chair that
is even lighter – a chair so light that a child could pick
it up with just her little finger.” The successful result
owed thanks to the world’s strongest and lightest
structural material, Tenax carbon fibre, a composite
material that integrates metal, resin and ceramic.
Whilst the carbon fibre provides outstanding tensile
strength, it loses out on compressive strength. So
Ban stuck a 0.25mm carbon fibre layer onto each
side of a thin aluminium panel frame designed by
Cassina to create a superslim silhouette.
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At Established & Sons, Terence Woodgate and John Top left Top right
Nendo lantern Tokujin Yoshioka’s Cloud
Barnard have expanded their ‘Surface language’ from Paper Sofa
last year’s greatly acclaimed Surface Table, a surface
Bottom left Bottom right
with no real thickness, to include a new carbon fibre Studio Job’s Paper Super-slim chair by
chair, ultra-light both in weight and form. Collection Shigeru Ban

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Contemporary classics
Elegance from minimalism

Like Jasper Morrison and Naoto Fukasawa, Sam for refurbishing popular designs by ‘neutralizing’ Above
Hyde Chair’ by Fredrikson
Hecht of Industrial Facility captures the essence and them with new toned-down colourways. This Stallard
beauty of minimalism in his design. He has created seems a cunning commercial means of adding
Below
a new classic for Established & Sons. This hybrid longevity to already-tested popular designs. Vitra, Sam Hecht’s Table, Bench,
design “Table, Bench, Chair’ is a bench that looks on their extremely minimal stand, reintroduced Hella Chair
like a table and a chair. Intended for transient places, Jongerius’s ‘Polder’ sofa designed in 2006, it has
‘it’s a piece of furniture that doesn’t know what it is’, been re-upholstered in a combination of neutral pale
but is curiously satisfying to sit on and looks simply leathers and accessorized with neutral buttons. At
beautiful. Established & Sons, Shay Alkalay’s ‘Stack’ drawers
– presented last year in vivid greens and multicolours
Two companies presenting at Zona Tortona stood – were reworked in pale wood and black and other
out due to their exceptional elegance. US company neutral shades.
Bernhardt presented a contemporary collection
of furniture in a bright white room. Natural wood
complemented brown, pale yellow and aqua suedes.
Of particular note at Bernhardt was the timeless
‘Hyde Chair’ by Fredrikson Stallard. Meanwhile, at a
small showroom just down the road, e15 impressed
with their oak-veneered ‘Chair Family CH04 Houdini’.
Designed by Stefan Diez and inspired by a glueing
technique used in aeroplane model-making, no nails
or screws are used to hold the chairs together. The
resulting silhouette is an original shell composed of
curved planes.

Perhaps it’s a result of economy or to appeal to a

broader audience, but there appears to be a trend

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Top
Stefan Diez’s
CH04 Houdini Chair

Bottom
Hyde Chair’ by Fredrikson
Stallard

Page 10

Fabricate
Form follows function, with designs that expose their constructions
Products with exposed componentry, heavyweight
and functional in aesthetic reflect a construction
theme that runs strongly across many designers’
collections this year in Milan, including Tom Dixon’s
entire stand where the theme was ‘Utility’.
The centerpiece of Droog’s exhibition at Milan, ‘House
of furniture parts’ by Studio Makkink & Bey brings
architecture, furniture and storage all into one. As a kit
of parts, furniture is punched out of ply sheets which
form the house structure. The character of the house
then changes as more or less furniture is used. Each
flat packed piece of furniture can be easily assembled.
Also under the art direction of Jurgen Bey, Prooff
exhibited its range of furniture at Superstudio.
The range included the Work sofa, which can be
reconfigured to a variety of seating arrangements and
the Ear Chair, designed with private conversations in
mind. Born from the question ‘what would happen
if a piece of furniture was also a room?’, this chair
really works by creating an intimate sound-protected
meeting space for those seated.
April 2009
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A testiment to assemblage, Freshwest showing with Above
Prooff Work sofa
Moooi for the first time, unveiled their Brave New
World Lamp. Started as a concept piece of random
construction inspired by Far Eastern bamboo
scaffolding, the light was developed without a design
or plan in mind. Every piece of wood is pegged
together ad-hoc to form an integral part of the overall
mechanical structure.
New designer Sebastian Herkner at SaloneSatellite
presented ‘Bell-Light, made from maple wood,
steel, copper and textile they have a utilitarian yet
sophisticated aesthetic. Stripped away to its bare
component parts, the Bell-Light gets its beauty from
the key choice of materials and palette used.
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Top left & right Middle

House of furniture parts by Prooff Ear chair
Studio Makkink & Bey
Bottom right
Bottom left Freshwest’s Brave New World
Sebastian Herkner’s Bell-Light Lamp

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Primary compositions
Brightly coloured combinations

‘Some people have understood that this is the time to Cappellini revisited the work of Shiro Kuramata in a Above
Matali Crasset’s composition
be experimental, to take risks, to start anew.’ Matali new cabinet series inspired by the Dutch abstract Open Room No. 1
Crasset believes that we are now at the beginning of painter, Piet Mondrian. ‘Homage to Mondrian 1 and
Below
an exciting new period. His composition ‘Open Room 2’ demonstrated his well-recognized combinations of Per Par Pum’ by Marc Sadler
No. 1’ for Established & Sons is an exploration of primary colours in simple block formats.
space. Intended as a room within a room, the angles
of an open steel structure link a brightly-coloured
table, cupboard, lamp and small container. The
construct is reminiscent of the Memphis movement,
unapologetically bold with blocks of colour and an
underlying sense of humour.

The combination of primary colours brought visual

modularity to ‘Per Par Pum’ by Marc Sadler at Lema.
An original ‘meccano’ seating unit that can be either
divided into three elements or brought together.
Modular collections and groupings of occasional
tables accessorized a number of stands, and Tom
Dixon fashioned his ‘Spot Tables’ in bright red and
white, these punchy designs are round or square
topped made from hard-wearing enamel coated
metal. “The process of enamelling adds a longevity
and usability to products, but it is also a form of
ornamentation like a beautiful armour.”

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A flash of colour
Utilising colour to differentiate

Colour detailing took on different formats from

bands of colour accenting minimal neutrals to some
interesting techniques in creating coloured gradients.
Fluorescent colours bring an offbeat and original
accent to neutral interiors, demonstrated by e15 with
their custom fluoro-red coloured ‘Houdini’ chair and
by Tom Dixon whose ‘Red Fluoro Lamp’ stood out
against the backdrop of a utilitarian stand.

Surprisingly exhibiting at the more avant-garde

Designers Block, Ercol presented their ‘Love Seat’,
from the Originals collection designed by Ercol
founder Lucian Ercolani in the 1950’s. They have
reinvented this classic by spraying a shock of
graduated blue paint through its centre. Big Game,
a French and Belgian collective also played with the
notion of blurriness and gradients, culminating in ‘Blur
Table’, a series of low tables in maple silk-screened
with a watermarked gradient.

Above
Ercol’s Love Seat

Bottom
CH04 Houdini Chair by e15

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Craft classic
Exotic references inspire upholstery

The trend for eclecticism typified in recent years On a smaller scale, young designer, Kirsty Whyte Above
Philippe Bestenheider’s
at Milan by Patricia Urquoila and Doshi Levien for of Purewhyte, showed her ‘Hound’ Occasional Binta
Moroso grows ever more exciting in influence, colour Table at Designers Block. Inspired by origami folds
Below
and pattern. and traditional Japanese patterns these laser-cut M’Afrique’s Moroso
occasional tables tessellate together to create larger
This year designers took references from exotic tables.
places – from Africa and Japan to Uzbekistan. Vibrant
clashing prints take aesthetic cues from primitive
cultures juxtaposed with modern visual references.
Moroso known for its aesthetic diversity presented
‘M’Afrique’ at their Milanese showroom – a project
centred around Africa exploring its rich visual culture.
As part of this exhibition, Philippe Bestenheider
launched ‘Binta’, a chair made with a sculptural and
heavy appearance that is inspired by ‘the look of a
baobab rooted to the ground’. Binta are upholstered
in multicoloured patchwork wax prints with decorative
motifs.

Also for Moroso at the Fiera, Patricia Urquoila

introduced her Fergana Collection, upholstered
in fabrics inspired by traditional patterns from
Uzbekistan. The fabric uses ancient Uzbek weaving
techniques and includes a modular sofa, table
and bookcase that can be integrated to form one
monobloc piece.

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Knit one, weave one

Innovating with knitting, and weaving processes

One home-spun construction technique that had an his ‘Shadowy’ collection. The collection is made up of Above
Dedon Slim Line chair with
overwhelming presence was weaving. Milan’s finest brightly-coloured patterned seating in playful forms. Oslo pattern
innovated with knitting and weaving processes, using
of a wide variety of flexible yarns and materials which ‘Stylishly rustic’ could be one way of summing up
add texture, tactility and warmth to pieces. Paola Navone’s ‘Sweet’ Collection for Gervasoni.
This stand was a feast of tactile fabrications. From
Interestingly the garden was one of the key large-scale sofas made in handwoven giant calamus
domains for the new generation of woven furniture. (also known as ‘sweet flag’ or rattan) to a series of
Patricia Urquiola created Crinoline for B+B Italia’s suspension lamps woven in matt black PVC. Navone
growing Outdoor Collection. Crinoline is a study introduced a charming new home accessory in the
of three-dimensional texture, made from coloured form of a pouffe made from polystyrene upholstery
polyethylene weaves that join natural fibres and string. with a colourful removable knitted cotton cover that
looked exactly like a poloneck.
In a bright showroom at Zona Tortona, Dedon
presented the Special Editions Collection as a
mechanism to explore the decorative potential of their
famous Dedon woven fibre. They have reinterpreted
a series of four classic fashion patterns to be woven
for the ‘Slim Line’ chair designed by Jean-Marie
Massaud. The decorative patterns include ‘Cambon’,
inspired by the classic houndstooth pattern and ‘Oslo’
in classic knitted ‘Norwegian style’.

Last year Moroso began using a hand-weaving

technique employing the plastic threads traditionally
used for making fish-nets. It was with this material and
process that Tord Boontje found inspiration in creating

Page 16
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Top left
Patricia Urquiola’s Crinoline

Top right
Shadowy by Tord Boontje

Bottom
Paola Navone’s ‘Sweet’
Collection

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Puffy comfort
A return to upholstery and soft padding

Whilst in previous years we have seen subtle and
shallow cushioning applied to seating, this year
padding was massive. Milan was awash with spongy
comforting forms perhaps reflecting a wider trend for
a return to upholstery, softness and ultimately extreme
cocooning!
The Bouroullec brothers intended this year to
design a piece based on comfort in all its visual and
physical senses. The resulting sofa, named ‘Quilt’ at
Established & Sons is hugely inviting. They describe
the structure of Quilt as ‘like a burger’, it is made from
an elastic fabric and a molecular cell structure. The
individual foam pieces that make up this ‘quilt’ sit atop
of a rounded fiberglass shell.
would provide a unique experience of comfortable Above
Arik Ben Simhon’s Goldy
slumber.
Bottom
Cipria sofa by
And you cannot help but be amused by the wonderful Fernando and Humberto
and curious creations designed by the Campana
brothers. As ever, this year for Edra they haven’t failed
to deliver. Fernando and Humberto bring us ‘Cipria’,
a fake fur-covered sofa that resembles an enormous
muppet. The sofa’s stuffing is Gellyfoam®, while the
ecological fur covering comes in different hair lengths
to produce variations on the original theme in a variety
of outlandish colourways, including a fondant pastel
pink.

Arik Ben Simhon’s entire collection of easy chairs gives

nods to padding used in sportswear and to traditional
upholstery techniques. On the inspiration for Goldy
and Little Cube he says ‘it comes from a belief in the
huge importance of comfort, warmth and humour. I
want to deliver a feeling of ‘natural pampering’ to the
consumer.’

New approaches to softness and cushioning weren’t

limited to seating. At the Fiera, Lago showed a large
fold-down bed made from soft quilted foam that

Page 18
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