milan in perspective 2012

Milan in perspective...

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Confidential. © Seymour Powell Limited, 2012. All rights reserved.

A report by Mariel Brown and Karen Rosenkranz from the Research, Trends and Strategy team at Seymourpowell...

Every year Milan offers its visitors a seductive slice through ‘now’. The relatively quick turnaround of products on show, along with a product designer’s innate desire to engage with culture means that Milan captures the spirit of the time like no other design show on Earth.

Despite this, Milan 2012 felt a little different this year. Whilst the main show at the Fiera still hustled and bustled as ever, the events around the rest of the city felt a little quieter than usual. There was a reflective and almost contemplative mood in the air, which seemed to suggest that designers are taking their time to carefully consider their next move amidst a global state of instability. This was echoed by many of the big manufacturers, such as Vitra, Established & Sons and Magis, choosing not to release many new products. Instead they made small additions and tweaks to their ranges, giving existing products a new lease of life with the addition of new colours, materials and finishes. By far the most exciting developments this year were those being made in the less established areas of the fair, with traditional shows being much more low-key.

New thinking such as open-source design, hacking and crowd funding is empowering young designers and, in doing so, is lighting the touch paper that could ignite a new era of collaborative design. Tantalisingly, this will question the very nature of future Milan furniture fairs.

There was a reflective and almost contemplative mood in the air which seemed to suggest that designers are taking their time to carefully consider their next move amidst a global state of instability. Mariel Brown


Humble Beauty

In this rather subdued atmosphere, what felt particularly positive was the move away from the perpetual cycle of loud design pieces shouting for attention only to be replaced the following year by an even louder piece. Instead there was a tendency for more humble and considered design, something that was gathering pace at last year’s show; the special quality of a product doesn’t always shout from a distance, rather it only reveals its beauty at close quarters.

Traditional Japanese design values of simplicity and understated beauty feel particularly appropriate in this time of austerity. So it is perhaps not entirely coincidental that Japanese designers and manufacturers had such a big presence at this year’s design week in Milan. Their approach of eschewing fast-moving trends and creating long-lasting products of real use in people’s everyday lives resonates far beyond their own disaster-stricken nation. People are once again keen to buy products that resonate with them on an emotional level, meaning they are taking the time to consider their purchases. Alongside this there is an overwhelming sense that we produce and own too much stuff: Dieter Rams’ ethos of ‘less, but better’ again feels very relevant in these times.

One show that stood out amongst the crowd was ‘Karimoku New Standard’, a collaboration of emerging international designers and one of Japan’s leading manufacturers of wooden furniture. The pieces, beautifully arranged in a 100-year-old apartment building in Via Palermo, really captured the silent beauty of everyday life.

They were able to convey a feeling of harmony and balance that people seem so eager to achieve these days. However, although they were humble and quiet, the furniture on show was by no means minimalist; a clever use of colour and detail brought a light-hearted sense of bliss and almost childlike naivety to the collection. Even the snacks and drinks served at the opening event, created by Italian creative collective Arabeschi di Latte echoed a new love and respect for everyday life.

This renewed appreciation for the simple things in life was also reflected in various porcelain collections, most notably in the collaboration between ‘1616 Arita’ and ‘Scholten & Baijings’. Their comprehensive set of crockery and table accessories fuses the Dutch duo’s signature use of colour together with exceptional Japanese craftsmanship. The resulting objects are so beautiful that they elevate even mundane experiences such as making a cup of tea.

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© A Frame Table by Tomas Alonso © Colour Porcelain by Scholten & Baijings, 1616 Arita Photo by Seymourpowell


For products to have longevity they need to be made extremely well,but they also need to engage us on a deeper emotional level beyond their surface finish. Producing less, and of a higher quality, to extend the life of a product certainly feels like a very sensible approach for the future. Karen Rosenkranz

Continuing the theme of beautiful simplicity, London-based Swedish design duo ‘Studio Vit’ exhibited their latest work ‘Marble Lights’ at the Salone Satellite – a striking combination of cylindrical marble lamp holders and various sized glass spheres. The simplicity and beautiful juxtaposition of material, volume and weight transformed them into standout pieces that feel both contemporary and timeless. In fact, marble as a material appeared to be popular at Milan this year. Maybe this is because its sense of weight and eternity offers stability in times where the future seems to be anything but certain...

For products to have longevity they need to be made extremely well, but they also need to engage us on a deeper emotional level beyond their surface finish. Producing less, and of a higher quality, to extend the life of a product certainly feels like a very sensible approach for the future. This notion brought a few things into perspective in these unsteady times.

Renowned design commentator Ann Maes made the point that: “Recycling and upcycling have become buzz words. But what some people tend to forget is that recycling costs money too. You can better focus on producing less and of higher quality to extend the lifetime of a product.”

The Joy of Order

Along with a growing desire to own less, we also want to better organise what we already have, as if to purge anything superfluous that distracts us from what really matters. We seem to find new joy in the order of things we can control in a world of factors we can’t – economic and environmental to name a few.

Literally reflecting this need for structure and order, we noticed an abundance of shelves and storage solutions throughout the fair. We thought designs that take our use of technology into account were particularly clever. For example ‘Toi’, an innovative side table by Salvatore Indriolo for Zanotta uses a tabletop that can be rotated 360º to reveal a storage compartment; perfect for all those small pieces of tech that litter our homes.

Offering an intelligent solution for a workspace at home is ‘Deskbox’, by Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay for Arco. Their compact

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Confidential. © Seymour Powell Limited,2012. All rights reserved.

wall-mounted cabinet doubles up as a small desk, complete with storage space and a cable management system. Once collapsed, the unit forms a closed volume, capable of neatly hiding a laptop and its trailing cables inside. With more people working from home, the ‘Deskbox’ represents a new table typology that responds to a more flexible lifestyle, allowing one to easily switch between work and leisure.

Back at Salone Satellite, the showcase for new talent, the theme of versatility and flexibility was out in force. In an especially high quality year, many young designers came up with open ended, non-descriptive objects that allow for a multitude of uses and fit a wide range of lifestyles. Designed for contemporary urban homes, which implies living in small spaces, the all female collective Fresh from the mint’ presented a range of imaginative new products, all of which were a crossover between two archetypes. “It is up to the user what they make of it – a wardrobe, side table, shoe shelf or simply a display of their favourite outfits.”

We felt these practical and inventive solutions perfectly reflect the flexible fluid nature of our lives today. They demonstrate the need for products that can fulfil more than one role in our homes, in order to help us organise our lives and reclaim more space for ourselves.Karen Rosenkranz

‘Station’, by Norwegian trio Awaa, is another modular system designed for different heights as both a table and a lamp. One could imagine the product being used in many different ways.

We felt these practical and inventive solutions perfectly reflect the flexible and nature of our lives today. They demonstrate the need for products that can fulfil more than one role in our homes, in order to help us organise our lives and reclaim more space for ourselves.

© Deskbox by Yael Mer & Shay Alkalay for Arco

© The Royal Family by Ellen Heilmann, Fresh from the Mint

© Station by Awaa


The Designer as Manufacturer

The process behind products was the hero across the fair this year, as many brands proudly displayed sketches and prototype models alongside their finished pieces. This trend was most noticeable at Kartell, where their ‘Work in Project’ stand stood in sharp contrast to their glitzy neon-filled offering of last year.

Milan often felt more akin to a factory than to a polished design fair. At numerous shows across the city, new products ranging from chairs through to candelabras were being created on-site and on-demand in front of fascinated crowds. This factory atmosphere, however, was about much more than entertainment. It reflected what the Economist magazine is calling the ‘third industrial revolution’ by promising a radical re-evaluation of the traditional role of the designer. Historically, the process of manufacturing a product was arduous and could only be done one way; find a manufacturer and then have them make your product. But, excitingly, there is now a greater opportunity emerging for the creative; they can be both the designer AND the manufacturer.

Not all designers (particularly young designers) neccessarily want the big manufacturers to take on their products. Instead, they strive to bring their products to people in their own unique way whilst maintaining the purity of their creative vision.Mariel Brown

Technology is inciting this step change as the cost of digital manufacturing continues to fall and digital connectivity continues to spread. Acclaimed designer Tom Dixon positioned himself firmly at the forefront of this new revolution by teaming up with international machine giant ‘Trumpf’ to produce his new Stamp chair. They created a powerful display of intent for the show; two sheet-metal machines cut out the Stamp chairs against the

backdrop of a reconstructed 19th Century railway station.

Dixon commented “It’s the idea that we can take the factory plant to the consumer and then we can make these things in front of people, so people really understand how possible it is now to design and develop and distribute things in a modern way… What we’re trying to prove here is that the power is back in the hand of the designer. You don’t have to have a big name manufacturer to get goods to market.”

Dixon’s quote reveals that it’s not just technological advancements that are driving this trend; the anarchic mood of our times is playing a vital role. The climate of economic instability is forcing people to question the norm, which is causing the designer’s ambition to evolve. Not all designers (particularly young designers) necessarily want the big manufacturers to take on their products. Instead they strive to

©Tom Dixon Photo by Seymourpowell

©Tom Dixon Photo by Seymourpowell


bring their products to people in their own unique way, whilst maintaining the purity of their creative vision.

With an equally dramatic backdrop as the Stamp installation, albeit rather more refined, was ‘The Future of Making’ exhibition curated by Domus and Audi in the Palazzo Clerici. Juxtaposed against a sumptuous Baroque backdrop, laptops hooked up to machines produced everything from chairs made of recycled fridge parts to edible canapés. What stood out for us in particular amongst this pleasingly geek-made aesthetic was the Kickstarter exhibit. What appeared on the surface to be a straightforward collection of pleasant everyday design objects, has undoubtedly given traditional manufacturers many sleepless nights; all the items owed their existence to crowd-funded finance proving that if an idea is strong enough to capture a crowd’s imagination then independent production can be found with relative ease.

Hacking the Mainstream

‘Hacking’ has arguably become one of the key buzz verbs of our turbulent times. Only this month did we see pictures of intrepid youths ‘place hacking’ London’s (yet to be completed) new architectural landmark, The Shard.

Hacking has traditionally been the domain of the outsider, done undercover, at the dead of night. Aliases were created to protect identities and perhaps add a little glamour to the lonely nights in front of a glowing screen. It was strange then, that, for

the duration of the fair, hackers were lauded and welcomed into one of the city’s most prestigious department stores. Stranger still, they were welcomed in broad daylight with a crowd of stylish design types following in their shadows. There can only be one conclusion; hacking has officially entered the mainstream.

The event that tipped this balance was ‘Hacked’. It comprised of a series of interactive performances held in the basement of lifestyle store La Rinascente. Dubbed as “100 Hours of Rebellious Imagination”, it celebrated hacking as a contemporary concept of appropriation, alteration and transformation, whilst exploring the implications hacking may cause for art, design and technology. The events ranged from downloadable buildings, to educational workshops on building your own particle accelerator.

What struck us as particularly pertinent and timely amidst all the fervent activity was Hacked’s intent to “provide a platform for young designers whose work exists outside of conventional exhibition object parameters”.

New Currency

The same young designers are beginning to question our existing value systems and our current relationship with money. This was the subject of numerous projects at this year’s Fuori Salone, the smaller events dotted all over the city. Whether it is through producing their own money or proposing new currencies such as time, many designers are investigating the possibilities of alternative economic models and mutual aid systems.

Nic Wallenberg, designer at the Royal College of Art and part of a collaborative project called ‘Making money in Milan’, tells Seymourpowell, “Milan is the place that young, aspiring designers come to with the hope to be discovered by big brand manufacturers. Everybody wants to get famous and make money. We thought we would just take things into our own hands and bypass the whole system by producing our own money.”

The trio positioned themselves at the entrance to the RCA Paradise show to produce pewter coins on-site. Dressed as traditional blacksmiths, complete with leather aprons, they made for a fun and engaging performance. According

© Hacked Photo by Seymourpowell


to Wallenberg, they had already traded their coins for foreign currency, cigarettes and a kiss on the cheek.

Although easily dismissed as a joke, their project poses some fundamental questions about our current value system. The ‘hacktivist’ movement and the technological opportunity to be both designer and manufacturer could bring about a big shift for creative industries. For many young designers it is no longer aspirational to have their designs produced by high profile brands. Making money is certainly not their primary motivation. So is there an opportunity, or even a need, for a new currency or a new metric?

Michael Kluver’s project ‘Reasons to rethink’, on show at the Design Academy in Porta Romana, takes a critical view. “I devised the drawings for all seven Euro banknotes intended to call attention to the weaknesses in the monetary system. The idea is that my drawings fit seamlessly into the design of the banknotes, enabling these ‘Reasons to Rethink’ to be absorbed into the cash supply and disseminated by the very system they criticise.”

Projects such as Livia Lima’s ‘Time Shop’ (also part of the RCA Paradise show) explored the possibility of a very different economic model – trading time and skills for commodities. Coupled with our deep social networks, this suddenly seems like a very feasible and aspirational option.

Although only on the fringe of the event this year, we believe there is a lot of potential in such areas of social innovation

that go far beyond the current remit of the fair. Making use of such unacknowledged resources as time and skills feels very sustainable, especially if money is no longer a measure of value for the next generation of designers.

The Allure of Imperfection

Milan saw another big change this year. As the slick, shiny new products that Milan is so famous for showcasing seemed to have less of an appeal for visitors, products with a sense of individual character caught our eye instead.

Dutch designer Lex Pott’s work (which featured in numerous shows throughout the fair) is a beautiful example of how products with unique patina can charm. His philosophy of using the origin of the material was reflected in his ‘Transience’ project, created in collaboration with David Derksen. This piece uses the beauty of the natural oxidising process to transform mirrored surfaces over time, which was celebrated, accelerated

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© Reasons to rethink by Michael Kluver, Design Academy

© Time shop by Livia Lima, RCA Paradise


and manipulated. This was shown in a gradation across three different geometric patterns. By ageing some elements of the mirror’s surface in this way ‘Transience’ doesn’t feel so conspicuously new, but rather it feels timeless.

They both demonstrated the desire for products with aesthetic longevity, as well as the growing importance and value of products with individuality and a sense of personal character. Mariel Brown

Tom Dixon’s new Lustre lighting collection shared this imperfect allure. The ceramic pendant lights were finished with an iridescent glaze, which is fired twice to give each piece a unique finish. Dixon describes the effect as, “reminiscent of hidden colours in nature, seen in peacock feathers or oil slicks on water.” It was an exciting new direction from a designer who has previously made his name with highly polished metal lighting features.

Both Dixon and Pott’s pieces had a weathered and somewhat timeless quality to them. They both demonstrated the desire for products with aesthetic longevity, as well as the growing importance and value of products with individuality and a sense of personal character.

Wonder and Surprise

One of the most magical projects on display in Milan this year was an experimental LED lamp by Swedish designers ‘Front’ for new Dutch company, Booo. The all-female design studio came up with a wonderfully simple, yet mind-blowing concept. Their ‘Surface Tension Lamp’ is a bubble blowing light fixture that uses the bubble to create the most ephemeral and delicate lampshade. Each bubble lampshade is unique, reflecting the light in the room with a wonderful rainbow shimmer, lasting for only a few seconds, which stands in stark contrast to the LED light source that lasts for about 50,000 hours.

Impractical maybe, but it certainly pulled the crowds - it goes to show that people long for a bit of magic in their lives. Transformative objects like this have the power to make us stop and wonder; they make us feel like a child again, stimulating our curiosity. It is this sensation of wonder and surprise that we also

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increasingly expect from technology. For many people life has become too controlled and predictable.

Our ‘always on’ culture can make us feel like slaves to our smartphones; always knowing and anticipating every little step ahead. Such designs demonstrate there is a real need for spontaneity and unpredictability, allowing us to reclaim the sense of surprise that has seemingly disappeared from our lives.

Daniel Rybakken, one of our favourite designers at last year’s show was again showing more beautiful pieces that captured a similar spirit of wonder. His ‘Coherence’ light consists of a compact light source that illuminates a massive dome suspended above. Although on first sight it is not immediately apparent where the light comes from, the designer creates a nice little ritual around the idea that light is another object that you set at the table, alongside cutlery and crockery.

On reflection, spaces that invite us to daydream and wonder provide an almost spiritual dimension. Objects and rituals that allow quiet contemplation help us to be in the moment, a much-needed antidote for our hectic and hyperconnected lives. We feel there is a strong desire for people to escape and retreat in an attempt to regain emotional stability and composure, hence our excitement when we see designers responding to this growing need with such inspiring creations.

On reflection, spaces that invite us to daydream and wonder provide an almost spiritual dimension. Objects and rituals that allow quiet contemplation help us to be in the moment, a much needed antidote for our hectic and hyperconnected lives Karen Rosenkranz

Mariel Brown - Head of Trends, Seymourpowell

Mariel Brown is part of the Research, Trends and Strategy team at Seymourpowell. Mariel gained a first-class honours degree in Design Futures at Napier University and a Masters degree in Design Products from the Royal College of Art, London. Whilst studying she won a D&AD Award for Product Design and a D&AD Award for Environmental Design. Since Mariel joined Seymourpowell over six years ago she has worked on a diverse range of projects including user research, product strategy and global trend studies. Currently Head of Trends, Mariel translates trend, market and user insights into tangible future directions for numerous clients including Samsung, Panasonic, LG, Dell, Ford, Unilever and ASICS.

Karen Rosenkranz – Head of Social & Lifestyle Foresight, Seymourpowell

Karen Rosenkranz is part of the Research, Trends and Strategy team at Seymourpowell. She joined the company in 2007 after having worked in design consultancies in Amsterdam and New York. Karen’s experience covers many facets of the design process - from uncovering user insights to translating them into brand relevant propositions, from spotting emerging trends to defining a brands’ visual language. Currently Head of Social & Lifestyle Foresight she is responsible for global user insight and trend studies for clients such as Unilever, LG and Nokia.

For more information, please contact Tim Duncan at [email protected]

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