Creative Furniture at Milan Design Week 2016

 Compiled by Team IAnD

Photography: Courtesy the designers  

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With so much design buzzing in everyone’s heads at the Milan Design Week, Team IAnD decided to zero in on some unusual furniture options being presented. Here you go…

Exhibitions, interactive installations, design collectives, country representations, design collaborations, explorations… have brought the city of Milan into the limelight this week! Every year, several design trends take birth at the Saloni and the Milan medley in general, contributing to a great extent to global influences through the year!

Sifting through the deluge of design influences, we see that a lot of new furniture designs are born out of a deep respect for a historical past that matters; drawing deeply from them, culling out nuances and connecting them to mainstream contemporaneity.

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IoT Sofa

Topping our checklist is the world’s first IoT sofa - this most common piece of furniture in almost every household has been technologically empowered to reconfigure itself (either by the user or if left unattended for too long, it self-initiates its transformation). Based on the newest technological experiments on Internet of Things, the sofa is made of individual modules, which when combined in different configurations will yield a new piece of furniture.

Here, activating a single stool will trigger a broader effect, with the entire system recalibrating and generating a potentially infinite number of arrangements. Two elements together can make a chair. Four elements - a chaise lounge. Nine elements - a large sofa. Dozens can radically redefine any setting!

Designed by Carlo Ratti Associati studio, Lift-Bit as it is called is being exhibited at the Triennale di Milano and shall remain on open to view until September 16, 2016.

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Small Scale Architecture

Going beyond ‘perfect polished’ spaces, Architect and designer, Matteo Casalegno studies every form of contrast, to arrive at a concept of aesthetics based on perfect imperfection! The Bed Illusione Rem  is a unique piece of furniture with clean minimal lines and is composed of 3 overhanging layers: 2 layers in antique stone and 1 layer in wood on which lays the mattress.

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Sealed in Time Chair

Designed by Hongjie Yang, this chair is a tribute to the influence of globalization -  where western influences have left an indelible mark on Chinese culture and shifted its values away from the authenticity of the past.

Sealed in Time is a project that creates singular design objects composed of fragments salvaged from ancient structures, reflects and offers insight into these evolving values, acting as a commentary on China’s diminishing relationship with its heritage. Both the above are available at Spazio Rossana Orlandi, Via Matteo Bandello, Milan.

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MindCraft16 by Danish Arts Foundation – showcases works by some of Denmark’s leading designers and craftspeople spanning from experimental, innovative and conceptual design to technical proficiency and material knowledge from crafts. The Circolo Filologico in central Milan is lit up to show interpretations of the theme “interpret the theme “In My Mind Craft”. The exhibition is curated by GamFratesi and will be n view till Apri 17, 2015

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Drama in Black

Made in Ratio’s Cowrie Chair in Leather is being launched as part of its collection being featured at LaboArt in the Brera Distrcit. Creating a moment of theatre, the tableau unites the sinuous dynamism of Made in Ratio furniture with the minimal elegance of the Labo.art collection.  The gently folding monocoque structure features a moulded fine-leather seat-pad that mimics the contours of the chair’s undulations. Inspired by the concave lines of sea shells, the curvilinear form of the chair is the result of an extensive research and innovation process that bridges the handmade with the digital.  Until April17, 2016 at Labo.art via Maroncelli.

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Individuality is Key

The Solanio screen by bonottoeditions focuses on individuality and uniqueness by proposing extra-ordinary objects where the fabric, with its endless variations, creates an absolutely unexpected world. Designed by Matteo Cibic, the collection draws references from the Victorian and art deco eras, meticulously interpreted with a contemporary approach and artistic references.

Three brass oval frames, padded with precious velvet jacquard on either sides are sustained by round brass plates and set in place by three vertical panels, linked together by satin brass hinges.  Adorned with a single central mirror, it serves to both, separate and decorate the room. Bonottoeditions is showcasing its range of furniture at its showroom at via Durini.

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Personalized Valets

For Valet, designer David Rockwell explores a new furniture typology that supports everyday living, working, and entertaining. With tactile and refined materials and details, including full-grain saddle leather, American walnut, black steel, and brushed brass, each piece redefines the essentials of modern living and fits seamlessly into home or hospitality environments.

Valet merges expressive materials, craftsmanship, functionality, and elements of surprise, while it blends storytelling, creating a furniture collection that demonstrates a fresh and innovative approach to American classics.  The Valet collection is being shown from 12-16 April 2016 in The Wallpaper* Arcade, via San Gregorio.

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Yin & Yang

Two side tables composed of two different materials – 94% Quartz slabs made of reclaimed materials - solid, absorbent and repellent are juxtaposed with transparent, reflecting and refracting Dichroic glass as the dominant material to give birth to “Spectra” representing “a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary infinitely within a continuum”. Check out their exhibition "What's the Matter? Design for a Phygital World" – at La Posteria from 12-17 April 2016