Four Key Trends from Milan Design Week

With more than 2,000 exhibitors from over 165 countries showing during Milan Design Week, it’s no wonder that the annual city-wide festival is regarded as a launchpad and forecast for the most anticipated design news and launches of the coming year. In addition to the week’s economic anchor, the Salone del Mobile trade show held at the Rho fairgrounds a few miles outside of the city, Fuorisalone (which literally translates to “outside Salone”) sees Milan’s showrooms, galleries and 19th-century palazzos taken over by installations, events, and parties for a six-day celebration of design, beauty, and innovation. All told, around 1,500 Fuorisalone events are scattered throughout the city this year. Sound overwhelming? Here’s a recap of the most buzzed-about sights and the four biggest trends to emerge from Milan Design Week this year.

Organic Fluidity

Is it possible for bubbles to be trending? Apparently so. Now in its sixth year at Milan Design Week, minimalist apparel brand COS has cemented its place as a design-driven entity. Following previous installations by Brooklyn-based studio Snarkitecture and Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, COS paired with London duo Studio Swine this year to produce New Spring, an immersive, multi-sensory installation that engages sight, smell, and touch to evoke a childlike sense of wonder from even the most jaded skeptic. Set in a darkened hall of Cinema Arti, a large tree-like sculpture with branches evoking a public fountain or street lamp emits soft, cloudy globules of scent that vaporize into thin air upon bursting.

At h+, the Brooklyn-based company Calico Wallpaper—best known for its marbled graphics that elevate wallcovering to an art—premiered its first collaborative collection with designers Ana Kraš, Faye Toogood, Snarkitecture, and BCXSY. Among the highlights was “Microcosmos,” a watery graphic featuring enlarged bubbles. Elsewhere, as part of an installation called Invisible Outlines at the Jil Sander showroom, Japanese studio nendo submerged a series of its translucent jellyfish silicon vases in an aquarium tank, causing the fragile vessels to softly undulate with each motion of water and highlighting their ephemeral, delicate beauty.

The Mega-booth as Pavilion

Tackling the rows upon rows of Salone del Mobile’s 20 exhibition halls is a test of endurance. At the Rho fairgrounds, design brands with the biggest market share and high-caliber designer rosters tend to congregate among each other, which means plenty of healthy competition is on full display. You’d be remiss to refer to these structures as simply booths—with companies like Kartell, Vitra, Knoll, Arper and Poltrona Frau each occupying thousands of square feet within steps of one another, and the tendency for immersive, over-the-top backdrops for a variety of furnishings runs high.

Head to the lighting brand FLOS for one of the best of the bunch. Walking through the installation offers an architectural experience in itself, in which finding the entrance is the first step: Circle its monolithic perimeter and you’ll find that despite peeks through the pale gray stucco-like walls that all but guard its contents from the show floor, there’s only one possible entrance that leads to a series of gallery spaces that unfold in a unique storytelling sequence. A lush courtyard with plantings sets the scene for the brand’s new outdoor lighting releases, then leads through to several galleries showcasing a range of releases from designers including Michael Anastassiades, Konstantin Grcic, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, and more.

While some of the other elaborate, pavilion-size booths at the fair require a timed entry ticket this one doesn’t, which also means you can expect it to be a bit more crowded—though with neighboring structures evoking shoji screens, shipping containers, a giant wooden crate, and even a prefab Eames House, the architecture is sure to lure you in. It’s a Disneyland of design.

Geometric, Kaleidoscopic Color

Striated, ribbed glasswork casting complex compositions of shadow, light and color played a big role at Euroluce, the biannual lighting-focused exhibition presented under the Salone umbrella. New York City-based showroom Roll & Hill exhibited a new rectangular Kazimir pendant, a layered, dichroic piece designed by Ladies & Gentlemen Studio and named after the Constructivist artist Kazimir Malevich.

At La Triennale di Milano museum, an exhibition by Lexus Design Award features the work of emerging designers and an ethereal installation by biotech-inspired designer and architect Neri Oxman. Oxman presents a series of 3D-printed glass monoliths created in collaboration with the Mediated Matter group, which she leads at the MIT Media Lab. The works cast complex shadows when illuminated from within, creating an effect that’s like a lightning bolt suspended in time.

Elsewhere, some of the most vibrant, colorful works came from various offerings by Atelier Swarovski Home, Studio Formafantasma, Caesarstone, Nude, Herman Miller, and Moroso, collectively spanning furniture, lighting, textiles, and even surfaces. Color is everywhere, alongside a still-prevalent millennial pink.

What’s Old Is New Again