These design trends are heading to a tastefully-decorated apartment near you.
Launched in 1961 to focus on high-end Italian products, the Milan Furniture Fair is now the highpoint of the design world’s calendar.
Each year, the event’s 300,000 visitors decide which chairs, sofas, avant garde light fittings and terrifyingly costly made-to-order shelving units will set the standard in home furnishings.
The talk this year was of traditional craftsmanship meeting new technologies, and innovative concepts pushing furniture beyond anything you’ll find in your local Ikea.
For us, the items on this page stood out: five leaders in their categories sure to set the pace of modern design for months to come.
Konst lamp by Thinkk studio (top)
With a design that slots together in a very satisfying fashion, this desk lamp from Bangkok designers Thinkk Studio has a heavy marble base that usefully doubles as a stand to hold pencils. thinkk-studio.com
Marni furniture
Fashion brand Marni exhibited 100 PVC pipe-wrapped chairs, deck chairs and tables, each manufactured in Colombia by former prisoners in a rehabilitation programme.
The first production batch of 100 units totally sold out, but our fingers are crossed for a second run. marni-anticamera.com
Pieces of Time by Discipline
This clock was just one of a host of accessories and furniture pieces by new Italian brand Discipline. Aiming to make simple, high-quality everyday items in strong, solid and sustainable materials, it’s worth seeking out the brand’s online store for some extra inspiration. discipline.eu
Borghese by Noé Duchaufour Lawrance for La Chance
Inspired by the stone pines of the Villa Borghese in Rome (naturally), this is landscape seating at its most literal. Furniture to walk around as well as lie on, the design has a branch-like structure, which looks as good from the back as from the front. lachance.fr
Rocky by Charles Kalpakian for La Chance
If MC Escher had been a cabinetmaker, we might have seen this credenza warp our domestic quarters years ago. But he wasn’t. Instead, it was a job left to Paris-based Beirut-born designer Charles Kalpakian, who has admirably stepped up and devised this 3D variation of a classic pattern for new French furniture brand La Chance. lachance.fr
