Luxury Interiors just got back from another fantastic trip to Milano for Design Week. The event was spread across the city and included the RHO Fiera Isaloni Milan Furniture Fair, Euroluce (Lighting), Salone Satellite (Young Designers), Salone Ufficio (Office Furniture), Tortona Design Week, Brera District, Ventura Lambrate (all three are pop up design exhibits) as well as some smaller offshoots through the city.
I had many favorites from the trip and thought it would best to give a brief rundown of the show with links and articles. In following articles I will up with a more in depth look at a few of the brands.
My TOP 10 experiences of Milan Design Week:
1. MOOOI
Moooi Showroom in Tortona During Milan Design Week 2013. Including Mannequins from Haans Boodt and large scale photo collection by Erwin Olaf. Event photos by: Laura Bielecki of Luxury Interiors Blog
The number one best and most unexpected show in all of Milan was certainly the Moooi warehouse in Zona Tortona. The Dutch design giant lead by Marcel Wanders pulled out all the stops to make his showroom evocative, show all of his latest collection, showcase a few of his buddies and be incredibly photographic. Marcel teamed up with world famous photographer Erwin Olaf who is famous for his dark and quirky portraiture. His photographs came to life on oversize prints as backdrops to the fun and magical furniture and lighting collection. In addition Moooi teamed up with Haans Boodt the mega creative mannequin company who made some stunningly sexy, cool and poised high gloss characters to accent each design vignette within the space.
Moooi Showroom Zona Tortona Milan 2013 – image via Moooi website
Take a virtual visit through the booth on the Moooi website.
Moooi Showroom Zona Tortona Milan 2013 Photo credit: Laura Bielecki
For more on photographer Erwin Olaf check out his website, or – as it is blocked in the UAE – check out this tumblr page. A friendly warning that his photography contains some nudity, dark subjects and often perverse humor…
Haans Boodt, Erwin Olaf and Moooi collaboration
For more on the sexy mannequins check out the Haans Boodt website.
2. LEE BROOM
The Lee Broom “Crystal Bulb Shop” was adorable and ultra chic with its vintage till, shop boy, packaging and all! The British designer is on top of his game at the moment with various designs that I have fallen head over heels for such as his Salon, Parquetry and Carpetry collections. With his previous experience working in the fashion industry for Vivienne Westwood, Lee Broom has learned the importance of dramatic, theatrical and historically remade pieces is drawing crowds. In fact, the shop was packed with a line up out the door to see his magical bulbs.
Lee Broom Crystal Bulb Shop Milan 2013
Their was a feel to the space as if these were the newest hot commodity, the first bulbs ever made… I could hear the photographers camera bulbs bursting capturing every angle of the space and its merchandise.
3. BUDRI
Budri Italian Marble Inlay is a company that left me jaw dropped and tickled pink about marbles infinite possibilities for over 30 minutes (a very long time when it comes to design week attention spans). Labeling themselves as the tailors of marble work they have sure come out with a bespoke and exotic range of marble items. Teaming up with the ever present design master Patricia Urquiola from Spain, the 50 year old company made a masterpiece of tragedy. As the Abitare article describes, the companies collection of rare stones was devastated in May 2012 by a massive earthquake. Making the best of the situation the company teamed up with Patricia to create the Earthquake 5.9 collection. Such a lovely story for an already beautiful creation.
Budri Italian Marble Inlay Isaloni 2013.
For some more stunning examples of Budri’s work and collaborations with numerous high profile designers take a look at their website. As a side and fun fact related to the Middle East where Luxury Interiors resides, Budri is the manufacturer of all of the luxury stone work installed in the Grand Mosque Abu Dhabi.
4. BOCCI.
Bocci 38 series flexible copper suspension system
Go CANADA!! The Canadian glass company “Bocci” went from being a west coast design house of heavy and often expensive sphericle pendants to an internationally recognized leader in innovative glass techniques and designs. Showcasing their take on the botanical trend they embraces plant and glass…
“38 is a surrealistically motivated re-exploration of a technique of making originally developed for a previous project called 28, whereby air is pushed in and out of glass that is intermittently heated and cooled. In the case of this project, the technique is stretched to the limits of possibility. Large glass spheres are blown, and then a multitude of white cavities are introduced into them haphazardly, intentionally intersecting and colliding with each other. Several of these are deep enough to contain earth and succulent and cacti plantings. Others are used as housings for lighting elements. There are two or three lighting elements per large sphere, and one or two planters. Electricity and suspension are achieved using stiff copper tubing, which is allowed to tangle and crinkle, seemingly without regard for gravity. Once in a while, these copper tubes loop around satellite white planters, appearing to have escaped from the confines of the lit clear glass spheres.” (source: Bocci.ca website)
5. KARIM RASHID FOR NEWFORM.
The designer did a great launch of his new hook desk system for Newform office systems. I had a chance to meet with Rashid who took a fondness to my fuchsia camera and colorful apparel 
. Below is my video from the show of Karim explaining the concept behind his desk design. With over 3000 designs in production, more than 300 awards and working in over 40 countries, Karim has certainly become top of the design world.
6. MORET ITALY.
Not a large company or an overly known one, this carpet manufacturer has developed an incredible collection of art rugs. http://www.moret.it
Moret Italy Art Rugs
7. PHILIPS LIGHTING
The masters of innovation, Philips Lighting presented more of the capabilities of OLED’s (“O” Standing for Organic). I had the chance last year to see the OLED factory in Aachen Germany, just a short drive from the Philips Eindhoven Light innovations center. I was blown away by the technology and its possibilities. Who needs a bulb anyways? While the chandelier itself from first look is not as exciting as some of the other displays at Euroluce, the technology behind it is ground breaking. Have a look further into the innovation here.
Philips OLED Lighting
8. BOLON
Bolon Commercial Flooring
I love this company for many reasons and am dying to get them on a commercial project. The patterns and colorway fit so effortlessly into today’s interiors as they have been designed to gel with the latest color/pattern and design trends.
New Bolon flooring collection 2013
9. PRECIOSA
Unite Chandelier by Klara Sumova for Preciosa. Her description of the piece ” The central concept was to place varying numbers of candles in bowls of different shapes, colours and cuts; to hold on to fragments of the chandelier’s history while moving it into aesthetically new areas. The substance remains unchanged, the candles are carried by bowls, the bowls are carried by glass arms. The arms are held together with ribbon which hold another tradition—the physical weight of the chandelier.”
Fun, quirky and so very much Czech styled, I am loving this creation by Klara Sumova of the Unite chandelier. Preciosa is an industry leader in custom classic and contemporary chandeliers for residential and hospitality projects worldwide. They have done numerous items for Palaces as Hotels across Dubai and the Middle East some of which you can see on their website.
Preciosa Inspiral LED Chandelier designed by Jaroslav Bejvl Jr.
Preciosa lighting display at Euroluce 2013
10. SCHEMATA ARCHITECTS
‘ColoRing’ by Schemata Architects
This vibrant collection is an exploration of paint and sanding processes to achieve an individual and unique colorful pattern to otherwise low grade wood. find out more on the Schemata Architects website.
11. FLOS
String Lights by Michael Anastassiades for FLOS (Photo via Dezeen.com)
I fell in love with this collection along with apparently every other person attending Euroluce. Michael Anastassiades designs for FLOS were flawless! Simple lamps strung between walls on fine cables. These flexes are hung with black conical or spherical pendants, fitted with LED light sources. A system of tensors gives volume and three-dimensionality to the form outlined by this lightweight cord that plays with space, while the two LED lamps emit a warm light.
Utilizing White Space. String Lights by Michael Anastassiades for FLOS (Photo via Dezeen.com)
“Every time I take the train, I sit by the window and watch the series of perfectly parallel strings connecting the pylons, as we move at high speed. I love the way they divide the landscape and how spheres are occasionally beaded through the wires at random intervals. I also love how, in Mediterranean cultures, strings of lights are stretched between posts to mark an outdoor space for an evening party in a village square. And finally, I love how human ingenuity works around problems created by everyday things in the house (like switches and power points) that others have chosen to position where we don’t want them.”
Connecting spaces and leading the eye of the viewer. String Lights by Michael Anastassiades for FLOS (Image via Dezeen.com)
12. FRITZ HANSEN
Ro Chair by Jaime Hayon
Not only is he a complete cutie but Jaime Hayon is also a brilliant designer. Watch the video above to see the creation and concept of the new classic Ro chair.
Fritz Hansen Ro Chair by Jaime Hayon launched at Isaloni 2013
Speaking of Fritz, they have a cool new showroom in Media City, Dubai. (p: +971 4 4380244)
Alright I know… I broke the top 10 things boundary, but hey – how can you narrow down design week into 10 items?
Stay Inspired!
~Laura of Arabia~
