2023 Milan Furniture Fair Direct: 6 major space design trends at once
After being forced to suspend and postpone due to the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020 , the Milan Furniture Fair will resume in April 2023 after a three-year absence. This year’s Milan Furniture Fair has the theme of “Do you speak Design?” , regardless of the exhibition format or space. and furniture design have developed innovative forms that are different from the past. From the perspective of Juyatang, let’s explore the 6 highlights of the 2023 Milan Furniture Fair and the new trends in space furniture design!
Image source: Salone del Mobile.Milano 2023 website
New highlight of Milan Furniture Fair 2023: Exhibition outreach that breaks away from the framework of the exhibition center
Different from the past format where all participating brands of the Milan Furniture Fair gathered in the convention and exhibition center, the 2023 Milan Furniture Fair, which was expanded after the epidemic, will extend its reach to downtown Milan. Many brands abandoned the curatorial model in the convention and exhibition center and instead organized separate exhibitions. Rent a house in the city or turn the brand's original flagship store into an exclusive theme exhibition room during the Milan exhibition.
Built in 1930, Bagni Misteriosi serves as a public swimming pool in summer and an ice rink in winter. It is also a venue for cultural and creative activities and is a famous landmark in Milan. For the 2023 Milan Exhibition, Gubi will reserve the indoor space around the poolside as an external exhibition venue.
Maria Porro, president of Salone del Mobile, said that when people come to Milan to explore the latest design trends of various brands, they are actually "connected" to the city.
Since each brand's outreach exhibitions are distributed in different streets in the city, during the exhibition, visitors must constantly shuttle through the streets of Milan during the point-to-point route arrangement. This is equivalent to borrowing money from Milan The exhibition arranges alternative urban marketing to allow visitors to have a broader and more in-depth interaction with Milan, a design center. It breaks the pre-epidemic practice of all exhibitions being concentrated in the convention and exhibition center, and expands the exhibition's territory to the urban area, taking advantage of the annual international The exhibition event is a blessing for city tourism, which is really a clever curatorial technique!
Image source: La Manufacture
If we were to cite the most special case of outreach at the 2023 Milan Furniture Fair , it would be the French brand La Manufacture . Many high-end brands have rented private villas or large garden-style buildings during the exhibition. The French boutique furniture brand La Manufacture combines the most respected Italian craftsmanship in production and manufacturing, and will be the venue for the 2023 Milan Exhibition. , is a very down-to-earth choice in the former residence of Italian writer Alessandro Manzoni .
Image source: La Manufacture
Image source: La Manufacture
Image source: La Manufacture
The most special thing about the exhibition room is that in addition to retaining Alessandro Manzoni's interior furnishings and book collection, La Manufacture's products are perfectly matched in the space planning and furniture configuration. It can be said to be the best display of the fusion of classical and modern design across time and space.
Color usage trends at Milan Exhibition 2023: Pink and colorful are the rule
In the post-epidemic era, new furniture or lighting products from various brands have invariably begun to try pink or bolder colors. This shows that after the epidemic, people are more eager to use lively colored furniture and lighting to make the space layout full of vitality. This is not only reflected in the Milan exhibition. The design of the exhibition room and even the use of colors in each new product design are eye-catching!
Bolzan Exhibition Room
Mutto’s exhibition room has bright colors (picture: Rime chandelier / Outline single sofa / Echo Pouf chair and stool)
Muuto's Milan exhibition room continues the brand's long-standing expertise in using Morandi color space atmosphere in product colors (Picture: Strand chandelier / Oslo double sofa / Five Pouf chair and stool )
Minimalist Italian furniture Kristalia's booth design at the 2023 Milan Exhibition also uses more lively colors to create a brand new visual effect.
Louis Poulsen, a century-old Danish lighting brand, was the first to release the Pale Rose PH 2/1 table lamp and PH 3½-3 chandelier during the 2022 Milan exhibition. The initial trial was well received by the market and will continue during the 2023 Milan exhibition . Color creativity, expanding the launch of the Pale Rose pale pink rose series for the 2023 Milan Exhibition limited edition.
In order to allow consumers to experience the visually stunning effect of the Pale Rose series more immersively, Louis Poulsen at the 2023 Milan Exhibition specially launched the theme of The Louis hotel and placed the Pale Rose series in the same display space.
In addition, Louis Poulsen also created an exclusive experience website, using the concept of an online virtual The Louis hotel to create a video, allowing consumers to experience the pink charm of the Pale Rose series.
The Louis Poulsen Pale Rose series is a PH 3/3 chandelier that uses the light pink rose color that Poul Henningsen used earlier on the inside of the leaves of the PH Artichoke pine cone lamp to create a gentle and soft lighting effect. It is super expanded to extend the light pink rose color system, PH 2 /2 table lamp , PH Artichoke 60cm pine cone chandelier , PH 3/2 table lamp and VL45 chandelier series, not only attract 100% of the eyes, but also successfully stir up the topic again.
The entire Louis Poulsen Pale Rose series uses 4 layers of mouth-blown glass to create an elegant texture and color (Picture: VL45 Chandelier Pale Rose Series )
Different from the previous Louis Poulsen glass lampshades, which used three layers of mouth-blown glass. In order to make the lampshades emit a gentle and soft light pink rose color, the entire series of Pale Rose glass lampshades use a more complicated process, which is similar to the four-layer mouth-blown glass of handmade works of art. The glass has a smooth outer layer and a matte sandblasted inner layer. It is paired with ingenious details such as untreated hairline brass and white textile power cords, creating an elegant and unique feminine temperament. To ensure high quality, most of the leaves of the pale pink rose PH Artichoke chandelier are produced by hand.
Coincidentally, Italian solid wood furniture Mattiazzi's Cugino single chair from German design genius Konstantin Grcic also introduced a new chair body made of pine in addition to the original oak and black colors, and the seat surface is made of linoleum in burgundy red. With the Cugino Soft series in pistachio green, light pink and bright orange, it is easy to see that brands are more lively and bold in their use of colors this year than before.
The mainstream single product of furniture at Milan Exhibition 2023: the sudden rise of round tables
If you take a trip to the 2023 Milan Furniture Fair , you will find that most of the brands participating in the exhibition have a common feature – the design appearance of furniture generally adopts soft rounded arcs or round soft line elements, while round dining tables or round tables Side tables and coffee tables can be seen everywhere.
Image source: Salone del Mobile.Milano 2023 website
Image source: Salone del Mobile.Milano 2023 website
In order to make up for the sense of alienation caused by reduced social activities during the epidemic, many brands of tables at this year's Milan Furniture Fair have completely subverted the long table design of Western-style dining tables. The round dining table, which was only common in Chinese society in the past, has the ability to shorten the distance. The characteristics of improving the interaction between people appeared in large numbers at this year's Milan Furniture Fair and became mainstream items of major brands.
Nordic furniture Muuto also launches new product Midst round table
Picture: Muuto Strand chandelier /Midst round table/ Fiber Chair armchair
Picture: Muuto Rime chandelier /Midst round table/ Visu single chair / Cover Chair single chair
2023 Milan Furniture Design Elements: Natural Orientation
During the epidemic, people's desire to get close to nature was fully reflected in the space design in the post-epidemic era. This year's Milan Furniture Fair made extensive use of natural elements, regardless of the exhibition venue, indoor furniture or outdoor furniture.
In addition to seeing a large number of plants in the exhibition hall, the organizer also specially concentrated outdoor furniture in an exhibition hall. Furniture that incorporates natural elements in the form of woven or wooden elements is also common.
Image source: Salone del Mobile.Milano 2023 website
It is worth mentioning that the top Italian bedding brand Bolzan's newly launched Jack-e bed set, the fabric design of the bedside and bedside textiles is based on the common local landscape on the river bank of Sacile town in Italy where Bolzan is located - entwining growth. As a textile pattern design, the willow tree is full of creativity and ingenuity, and it is the best interpretation of applying natural-oriented elements to products.
Willow trees along the river bank in the small town of Sacile, Italy
The Bolzan Jack-e collection transforms the local landscape - the willow tree - into textile pattern design
Material used at Milan Exhibition 2023: bouclé fabric wool blended loop yarn
The bouclé wool, derived from the French word bouclé, is a traditional Italian process in the Middle Ages. The curly yarn has a fluffy surface and a soft touch. It is one of the commonly used materials for Italian high-end clothing. When applied to furniture, it looks like elegance. The design of clothing jackets is general, and the material of bouclé fabric wool blended loop yarn is also widely used in sofas or single chairs by many brands at the 2023 Milan Furniture Fair .
Image source: Salone del Mobile.Milano 2023 website
Image source: La Manufacture
Mattiazzi’s new Paf Paf side chair , released during the 2023 Milan exhibition , uses Elle fabric from the well-known Danish textile brand Kvadrat , blending wool, rayon, and acrylic fibers into curly yarn. The covered design allows Mattiazzi to retain the solid wood In addition to furniture DNA , it also provides a comfortable and soft sitting experience.
Italian solid wood furniture Mattiazzi PAF PAF single chair is made of Kvadrat's Elle fabric, which is bouclé fabric wool blended loop yarn
Comprehensively implement ecological sustainability
Extreme climate, global warming, energy shortage and environmental pollution have had a huge impact on mankind. Ecological sustainability has become a very important issue around the world, and its influence has also spread in the design world.
Image source: Salone del Mobile.Milano 2023 website
For the 61st Milan Furniture Fair in 2023 , the planning of the exhibition venue must comply with the ISO20121 sustainability certification and the United Nations Global Compact (the United Nations Global Compact) specifications. The use of disposable or extremely short-life exhibition decorations must be stopped. The exhibition venue must be comprehensive Switch to lightweight, modular and reusable elements made from wood and recycled cardboard. Major furniture brands have fully integrated ecological sustainability into the production process and used recycled environmentally friendly raw materials as the core spirit of pursuing product innovation.
At the supply chain end, the largest amount of textile consumption comes from pre-consumer cotton fabrics, that is, fabrics that are not fully utilized during the manufacturing process and are discarded or cut. The top Italian bedding brand Bolzan Jack-e bed set not only uses pre-consumer cotton fabrics, but also uses reforested and certified ash wood for the wooden part of the bed frame. Even the wood paint is all natural. The water-based paint ensures that consumers do not inhale toxic substances while sleeping for up to several hours.
Kristalia's Elephantino series is made of post-consumer (post-consumer), that is, used recycled PP plastic. It is 100% made in Italy and 90% of its raw materials are supplied from Italy. In addition to flaunting quality, it is also committed to Reduce carbon footprint.
Italian furniture Kristalia Elephantino
Mattiazzi, Italy's top solid wood furniture, emphasizes selecting wood from forest areas close to the factory to reduce carbon footprint. The wood has passed multiple FSC and PEFC certifications. Large solar panels are installed on the roof of the factory to generate electricity with natural energy. All wood chips are recycled as winter supplies. Heating fuel, each product has been hand-processed by skilled craftsmen in multiple steps, with solid quality to ensure that the product can be passed down from generation to generation and be used for a long time.
Want to change your mood after reading the spatial trends of Milan Furniture Fair 2023 ? Then imitate the casualness of the Italians and relax in Tom Dixon ’s exhibition space in downtown Milan!
The Tom Dixon display space located in the city center is both a restaurant and a bar, and the lighting display center is hidden in the corner of the restaurant. Because the signature lava lamp is so eye-catching, it is difficult to miss it when passing by.
The entire store is hung with Tom Dixon ’s popular lamps, which are full of sincerity and show the grand Italian aesthetics. Even if you don’t have a meal or buy a lamp, you can just walk in and take photos.
In downtown Milan, even if you don’t go shopping blindly, the shop windows alone are enough to amaze you. And this may be the connection that the Milan exhibition curators hope to create between visitors and the city, and it is also an excellent experience for the application of design products in space!
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