In the first of a three part deep-dive into the 2023 Salone del Mobile, More Space looks at the new products and ideas that define this year's Salone. From a focus on circular materials and innovative manufacturing processes to a flashback on designs from the '70s, we look at B&B Italia, Porro, Listone Giordano and Arflex who are leading the way with collections that are rethinking craft, materials and production. While we chat with leading Australian designers Eva-Marie Prineas at Studio Prineas, and Tom Mark Henry's Cushla McFadden, who share the directions and standout designs that drew their attention.
The Salone del Mobile is Milan’s biggest annual event and on top of the sheer scale, it is the visceral backdrop of the city juxtaposed with contemporary design that sets Milan apart from every other design festival from Stockholm to New York. Private villas and palazzos, a railway workers club and military base, and this year a public swimming pool and a rambling industrial site at Porta Vittoria, came alive as almost every street from the Brera to Zona Tortona flew the Fuorisalone flag.
With hundreds of exhibitions and more than 300,000 visitors: designers, architects, buyers and the design cognoscenti from 181 countries, including a large posse from Australia, this year it felt like the city had exploded with new showrooms, installations and an increasing number of fashion brands participating for the first time. Bottega Veneta, for example, launched a Gaetano Pesce installation inside their Montenapoleone store, along with two limited edition, highly crafted bags. As Eva-Marie Prineas, Principal of Studio Prineas remarked, ’It was invigorating to feel the history of Milan, whilst experiencing the unpretentious and brave layering with incredible contemporary design and innovation. There was an overwhelming sense of rich colour and reflective, highly polished materials, the finishes juxtaposed with the patina and layered history of the old city. It was inspiring and the energy, palpable.’
The high colour optics of the Linea storage collection from the Alessandro Mendini Archive by Porro. The three storage units, each produced in a series of 50, includes this cupboard with an open compartment and a drawer. Photo c/o Porro.
Furniture brands B&B Italia, Arflex and Porro paid tribute to their back catalogue and the designers who have helped shape their collections. B&B Italia with Gaetano Pesce, Porro with Alessandro Mendini and Arflex with Cini Boeri, presented pieces that continue to grab attention. A golden version of the Up 5&6 armchair first designed by Gaetano Pesce for B&B Italia in 1969 is still a best seller more than 50 years later. At Porro the launch of Alessandro Mendini’s Linea storage units was produced for the first time in collaboration with the Alessandro Mendini Archive. The bold collection with optical motifs in combinations of fire engine red, yellow and blue, has a decorative richness that made it one of the most photographed collections during the week. While at Arflex, Cini Boeri’s 1973 Botolo chair has been re-released for its 50th birthday with forest green legs to complement its caramel coloured sheepskin seat as well as the Neptunia armchair by BBPR, the rationalist architects who also designed Milan's tallest modernist building, Torre Velasca. While the Alba shelving system by Bernhardt & Vella has new finishes and details, including a brass storage ring and bookend that Eva-Marie Prineas remarked, ‘breathes new life into the elegant and sculptural system’.
Chatting with Australian designers about the directions that shone through, Cushla McFadden, a director of Tom Mark Henry, pinpoints the huge shift by brands towards circular materials and re-use. ‘From chairs produced from recycled plastics, tables produced from compacted discarded textiles. We came across a product called Smile Plastics, which has a beautiful resin look to it and was made from waste plastics collected from a variety of post-consumer and post industrial sources. While a lot of thought was given to how the displays themselves could be disassembled and later re-purposed too.'
The Tortello sofa designed by Barber Osgerby for B&B Italia is made using recycled polyethylene and no adhesive or glues so that is can be fully disassembled and easy to recycle. Photo c/o B&B Italia.
’It was invigorating to feel the history of Milan, whilst experiencing the unpretentious and brave layering with incredible contemporary design and innovation. There was an overwhelming sense of rich colour and reflective, highly polished materials, the finishes juxtaposed with the patina and layered history of the old city. It was inspiring and the energy, palpable.’
Eva-Marie Prineas, Principal, Studio Prineas
B&B Italia joined Listone Giordano in launching collections that focused on sustainable manufacturing and circular materials and supply chains. For premium wood flooring manufacturer Listone Giordano, that meant sharing the story of their timbers sourced from the Burgundy region of France that has a century-old tradition in sustainable forestry management, and the group’s innovative production methods. As well as launching a new collection called 'Butterfly' designed by K.P.D.O.'s Kerry Phelan and Stephen Javens, the duo's first collaboration with the Italian flooring group.
At B&B Italia under the art direction of designer Piero Lissoni, the Via Durini showroom lit up in a kaleidoscope of colour and 3D graphic 'Solids' that framed the spaces as well as new collections. The Tortello sofa and armchair by London-based designers Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, and Quiet Lines by studio Gabriel Tan, based in Singapore and Portugal, are the latest examples of B&B Italia’s research into circularity and recycling. The 1960s influenced Tortello is composed of what the designers describe as ‘several unexpected elements’. The supporting structure is rotational moulded from recycled polyethylene and its construction technique means no adhesive or glues. Tortello can be fully disassembled and consequently easy to recycle. While this same technique means that each part of the writing desk, bench, bedside table and screen in the Quiet Lines collection can be individually reupholstered, refinished or repaired.
The iconic 1973 Botolo chair by Cini Boeri for Arflex re-released for its 50th birthday with green legs and a caramel sheepskin seat. Photo c/o Arflex.
The new Tokio sofa by Claesson Koivisto Rune, adds to the original sofa system with additional curved elements allowing almost every imaginable sofa combination. Photo c/o Arflex.
The Neptuna armchair designed by BBPR for Arflex in 1973, re-released to celebrate its 50th birthday. Photo c/o Arflex.
Milan remains the world's most visited design festival earning it the title 'home of design'. Photo c/o Heidi Dokulil.
View from the top of the Duomo looking out to the 1958-designed Torre Velasca, one of Milan's most striking moderist buildings. Photo c/o Space.
Bottega Veneta's Montenapoleone store, here and following, transformed by Gaetano Pesce's 'Vieni a Vedere' installation. Photos c/o Bottega Veneta and Heidi Dokulil.
Gaetano Pesce's limited edition 'My Dear Mountains' bag for Bottega Veneta. Photo c/o Bottega Veneta.
K.P.D.O.'s Kerry Phelan and Stephen Javens at the launch of their first collection, 'Butterfly', for Italian flooring company Listone Giordana. Photo c/o Space.
The eye-catching 'Solids' installation with its kaleidoscope of colour and 3D graphics at B&B Italia was designed by the brand's art director Piero Lissoni. Photo c/o B&B Italia.
Inside B&B Italia, the Tortello sofa and armchair by Barber Osgerby, with the Lemante table by Kensaku Oshiro. Photo c/o Space.
The Up 5&6 designed by Gaetano Pesce for B&B Italia in 1969 was re-launched in gold. Photo c/o B&B Italia.
The Lemante glass table collection by Kensaku Oshiro, here and following, pays tribute to the iconic Alanda by Paolo Piva. Photos c/o B&B Italia.
The Dambo sofa by Piero Lissoni for B&B Italia. Photo c/o B&B Italia.
The Alcova installation at Porta Vittoria featured 90 installation across a sprawling industrial site. Photo c/o Alcova.
Australian designer Tom Fereday, well known internationally for his work for brands including SPO1, presented ‘Cor’ at Alcova, a sculpted and illuminated series of timber totems for Agglomerati. Photo c/o Heidi Dokulil..
The Louis Vuitton collection, 'Objets Nomades', at Palazzo Serbelloni featured work by Marc Newson, Estudio Campana and Marcel Wanders. Photo c/o Space.
Dogs on show, the many faces of Milano. Photo c/o Space.
The Alba shelving system by Bernhardt & Vella for Arflex, here and following, features new finishes and details that include brass storage rings and bookends. Photos c/o Arflex.
The Tetrami credenza, here and following, designed by Naoto Fukasawa for B&B Italia. Photos c/co B&B Italia.
The Alys 10 bed designed by Gabriele and Oscar Buratti, here and following, for B&B Italia. Photos c/o B&B Italia.
The Quiet Lines collection includes a writing desk, bench, bedside table and screen designed by Gabriel Tan. Each piece can be reupholstered, refinished or repaired in tune with B&B Italia's focus on circular production. Photo c/o B&B Italia.
The Linea storage collection from the Alessandro Mendini Archive, features highly crafted solid parts with optical geometric motifs. Here, the closed cupboard with two hinged doors. Photo c/o Porro.
Alessandro Mendini's colourful Linea writing desk with flap top, internal partitions and dark base. Photo c/o Porro.
The Porro showroom in flux, with an installation designed by Piero Lissoni and featuring work by the iconic Italian designer Bruno Munari. Photo c/o Porro.
While the big names dominate the high streets, the grittier city fringe is a treasure trove of ideas that often underpin where design is heading. At the former Porta Vittoria Abattoir, Alcova’s Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima’s quest to show the work of independent designers delivered some fascinating projects within Porta Vittoria's historically significant urban setting. Huge industrial warehouses were filled with over 90 projects from traditional pottery to furniture made with recycled materials. Highlights included Australian designer Tom Fereday (well known internationally for his furniture collections for brands including SPO1), who presented ‘Cor’ a sculpted and illuminated series of timber totems for Agglomerati. While French research team Atelier Luma, showed their experiments with agricultural by-products including rice straw, salt and algae that echoed the investigations and material developments presented by the 'Prada Frames: Materials in Flux' symposium curated by Formafantasma.
This year, the quest for environmental solutions was central to everything, with material innovation, new processes and manufacturing techniques the underlying theme for collections, and the modus operandi of designers and manufacturers committed to reducing their impact on the planet.
Stay tuned for part two of More Space's Salone del Mobile series, as we continue our deep-dive into the brands and new products that stood out, and share more insights from leading Australian designers and members of the Space team who were on the ground.
