Key themes from Milan Design Week

Milano Salone del Mobile knocked it out of the park with a full programme of events, installations and launches. Colour and texture were centre stage, with designers unveiling new and archival pieces. Sustainability was key. Our favourite Italian and Spanish brands shared progress on research and innovation, incorporating circular processes and materials to help this industry actively minimise its impact.

Nature First

Without losing track of its long history, the Salone was future-focused on bringing eco-awareness into furniture production – using reusable, upcycled, low environmental impact, and FSC/PEFC-certified materials for communal spaces, and urging exhibitors to do likewise.

Knitted upholstery recreates complex form, colour and structures found in nature.

Copyright Artifort

Organic shapes and botanical silhouettes abounded – giving a sense of comfort, accessibility in Ghia from Arper, Twirl by LaCividina, and Enea’s Lore.

Ghai explores organic form and texture inspired by nature

Copyright Arper

Everything out is in again. As lockdowns had people everywhere giving thanks for their exterior space, outdoor collections came in from the cold this year. Many designers experimented with design and materials that are equally at home in the living room, office or poolside.

RE- Imagine

Along with new releases, many brands presented iconic designs reimagined in new colours, new materials – a shift away from new for the sake of new.

ReRug, a range made purely from leftover wool.

Copyright Nanimarquina

Arper, Vondom, nanimarquina and Andreu World showcased recycled and bio materials. Flatpack friendly designs make for easy disassembly, separation and recycling at end of life, while Arper’s Juno 02 reinvented James Irvine’s 2012 design with 70% recycled content. Rugs by nanimarquina and Vondom were crafted in recycled wool and plastic, respectively.

Africa revisited in form and new materials.

Copyright Vondom

Hue’s the Boss

Arper presented settings as 'vignettes' against curtained veils of colour

Copyright Arper

Look no further than Sancal for textile texture, colour and mixing up materials. The brand showcased its new Link and Loop by Raw ‘designers collection’ in bold multitone fabric designed by Kvadrat x Raw Color. At the other end of the (colour spectrum) we went back to nature – with a focus on rich, earthy hues. Eschewing classic black, white and grey, a palette of browns, creams, beige, and terracotta both played into 70s nostalgia (see below) and created a calm, reflective mood.

Arper confidently play with colour and contrast

Arper stand at Salone del Mobile, image by UFL

Playful layers of colour by Enea

Enea stand at Salone del Mobile, image by UFL

Feel Good

Slouchy and cocooning

Copyright Horm

A sense of ease and comfort in silhouettes, materials and colours. Woven materials with warm texture and depth.

Rich in colour and abundant in curves

Sancal stand at Salone del Mobiles, image by Sancal

On the one hand, manufacturers were making the most of brand-new materials and technologies. On the other, we returned to a golden age – with the updating and rerelease iconic pieces from the 60s and 70s. Think curves, boucle, and gleaming metallic surfaces. Yet other design houses launched collections paying homage to this era with contemporary classics like Artifort’s Moon and Idda by LaCividina.

Curves in all the right places

Moon by Artifort