The annual Salone del Mobile in Milan has evolved into much more than a humble furniture fair. The 2019 Milan furniture fair is one of those events that showcase the very best highlights from the world of design, the fair welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors each year and presents the works of emerging designers alongside new innovations from familiar names.
FVA representatives had the chance to attend its 58th display this year. It is there that we witnessed the world-renowned show solidified its status as a pioneering creative platform, bringing together over 1,300 creators, design enthusiasts and the latest in ground-breaking projects. While we were stunned by many spectacular designs, FVA decided to make a short list of products that we find most exciting and will likely be featured in our future projects.
Arper
Arper is a creative company who make chairs, tables, and furnishings for community, work and home. Their reputation is well-established in Italy and recognized around the world.
For this occasion, Arper has promoted its own interpretation of contemporary trends, once again anticipating and seizing the evolution of everyday life and workspaces, tracing a new direction embodied in the Soft(er) concept.
Artek
Artek was founded in Helsinki in 1935 by four young idealists: Alvar and Aino Aalto, Maire Gullichsen, and Nils-Gustav Hahl. Their goal is “to sell furniture and to promote a modern culture of living by exhibitions and other educational means.”
At their exhibition, warm wood, round shapes and fine lines are put on display. Artek plays out a clean and minimalist furniture collection that is mostly suitable for creative offices.
Created in collaboration with leading Japanese and Finnish designers, architects and craftsmen, the collection offers interventions on classic Artek products and contemporary designs.
Baxter
Baxter is a furniture manufacturer founded by two Italian enlightened entrepreneurs, Luigi and Paolo Bestetti.
This yeah, Baxter releases a collection of luxurious furniture using classy colors, emphasizing on clean and artful look.
Wittman
Wittmann is a family business – manufacturing high-quality upholstered furniture. They are known for luxury products with extreme attention to details.
The new collection by Sebastian Herkner for the Germany-based firm. A family of classy pieces of furniture that comes in numerous colors and finishes but is also able to send individual pieces into foreign terrain.
&tradition
Established in 2010, &Tradition is a Danish design company that combines tradition with innovation. They started to wow the scene with their collections of furniture and lighting designs sinece the 1930s to the present day and includes interior objects by internationally acclaimed designers.
During Milan Design Week 2019, &tradition exhibits the legacy of design with iconic as well as new furniture pieces. Within an ongoing renovated interior, playful novelty designs from Jaime Hayon – including a new chair and lamp – sit alongside reissued pieces from Hvidt & Molgaard.
Lema
Lema is one of the firms that wear ‘Made in Italy’ proudly for they have achieved the aesthetic and never fail to deliver. They are also known for their “AIR CLEANING SYSTEM”, which is a system capable of decontaminating and significantly removing any bacteria and odours present in the items stored in your closet.
This year, Lema made heads turn with their stunning furniture collection. Warm colors, clean lines, and minimalism seemed to be their main focus.
Thonet
At the Milan Design Week 2019, Gebrüder Thonet Vienna GmbH launches 7 new furnitures pieces by a stellar line up of designers. Each of the new designs uses contemporary spirit to celebrate the traditions and stylistic heritage of GTV, a brand which has managed to transform bent beech- wood craftsmanship into industrial design.
Aleph Interiors
Aleph interiors is an interior design and build practice with a passion for creating beautiful interiors based in London. They presented a classy set of furniture from in the Salone that boasts this nostalgic vibe that is warm and endearing.
Bocci
Bocci is a contemporary design and manufacturing house located in Vancouver, Canada. Their eclectic collection, which can be found in the finest showrooms around the world, has grown to include custom chandeliers, furniture and cutting edge electrical components.
Their first ever product Bocci made was a cast glass pendant. Now, the Vancouver / Berlin company, which has drawn inspiration in equal parts from modernist painters and Zen masters, is bringing forth a new lighting designed by founder and creative director Omer Arbel.
Design Holding
Design Holding, the new furniture and lighting group made up of B&B Italia, Flos and Louis Poulsen, has marked its first show at Salone del Mobile by presenting the biggest stand the Milan fair has seen in decades.
The vast booth covers 4,000 square metres and includes displays by the three brands plus a private area and a mezzanine.
Flos
My Circuit lighting system by Michael Anastassiades is one of the Flos pieces on show
Formafantasma’s ‘Wireline’ uses the power cable as one of the main design features of the piece
B&B
The B&B Italia space includes a private area for guests of the brand
B&B Italia is showing the 50th anniversary edition of the bulbous Up chair with striped upholstery as well as new pieces
Louis Poulsen
Danish firm Louis Poulsen’s stand displays its lighting in a series of curved alcoves
Louis Poulsen is launching the OE Quasi light designed by artist Olafur Eliasson
There were also many exhibitions worth looking at.
Transparency Matters
A collection primarily made in resin, ‘Transparency Matters’ by duo Aurel Basedow and Draga Obradovic was on show during Salone del Mobile.
The Judd wall
Agatha chair
Object Nomades
During the design week, Louis Vuitton attracted the press with their Object Nomades exhibition. Dimly lit rooms are illuminated by vibrant hues including the Campana Brothers’ ‘Bomboca’ sofa-puzzle in fluorescent yellow and the ‘cocoon’ suspended chair covered with red faux fur.
‘Land’
Masquespacio is an award winning creative consultancy created in 2010 by Ana Milena Hernández Palacios and Christophe Penasse.
This year, redefines terracotta in ‘Land’ exhibition. The installation is a revelation of new methods of using terracotta as a design material. It celebrates ‘poggi ugo’ turning 100 years as one of Italy’s most important and ancient furnaces and features a refined styling of a centuries-old material.
