Simon Fallon, Senior Associate at PMDL, brings us his highlights and impressions from this year’s Milan Furniture Fair.
May 8th, 2012
After taking a brief trip to Ireland to visit family, I arrived in Milan with an intention to open my mind and to hopefully see and experience inspiring designs on all levels.
Gladly my hopes were answered if not completely overloaded – from the opening of the glamorous and refined Wallpaper hand made at Brioni and Baccarat cocktail party in the Brera district, to the intimate and youthful Spazio Rossana Orlandi’s esoteric and eccentric collection of either beautifully designed or totally under crafted pieces.
My initial thoughts on this exhibition was that each exhibit seemed to represent its own suppressed political statement (or was I supposed to read it differently?).
It was like traversing an overloaded art gallery reflecting 19th century clutter to 20th century minimal surrealism. My initial thoughts were that chalk with cheese seemed to be the ’plat du jour’.
The use of natural materials such as stone, raw steel, brass, cork and solid timbers was a welcome relief from the ubiquitous moulded plastics that have been proliferated over the past 10 years.
The true delight was to see beautiful craftsmanship in a majority of these pieces in their use of both contemporary technology as well as hand craftsmanship. Both of these combined to exceed what I thought was possible within furniture design.
From the France Design space to the exhibits within Brioni, overall my belief is that its strength was simple ideas mixed with simple materials expressing an honesty and quality that I believe is emotive of the current environmental, political and economic climate.
The honest school of early 20th century designer William Morris is back! Lets hope its stays.
PMDL
pmdl.com.au
INDESIGN is on instagram
Follow @indesignlive
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
In design, the concept of absence is particularly powerful – it’s the abundant potential of deliberate non-presence that amplifies the impact of what is. And it is this realm of sophisticated subtraction that Gaggenau’s Dishwasher 400 Series so generously – and quietly – occupies.
XTRA celebrates the distinctive and unexpected work of Magis in their Singapore showroom.
Within the intimate confines of compact living, where space is at a premium, efficiency is critical and dining out often trumps home cooking, Gaggenau’s 400 Series Culinary Drawer proves that limited space can, in fact, unlock unlimited culinary possibilities.
To honour Chef James Won’s appointment as Gaggenau’s first Malaysian Culinary Partner, we asked the gastronomic luminaire about parallels between Gaggenau’s ethos and his own practice, his multidimensional vision of Modern Malaysian – and how his early experiences of KFC’s accessible, bold flavours influenced his concept of fine dining.
PMDL and Henriksen Design Associates have recently entered a collaboration to bring together both firms’ complementary expertise in all multidisciplinary fields.
Sue Davies breaks down PMDL success in adapting to COVID-19 and how their workplace culture was key to that.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
Making a difference and leading by design, Jefa Greenaway is honoured for his achievements by Swinburne University of Technology.
The Finding Infinity Principal comments here on the question of balance in city life, with architecture and design highlighted as the key levers for making change.