Moroso creativity

Courageous Moroso during the design week in Milan accepted the challenge of transforming the gorgeous Moroso showroom in an installation which was part art and part design, using vintage pieces of the past production.

The walls patterns were found in an old book on cactus, transformed to signify the degradation of our planet. The space looked like a desert with night shadows and silhouettes of pieces of furniture. The result was surreal and beautiful.
To see more images and read more about Moroso’s exhibitions see here
Upstairs the usual display of iconoclastic or simply inventive and innovative pieces of furniture, like the iconic sofa Victoria and Albert, below, designed by Ron Arad.

A detail of the armrest, soft leather embroidered.

Bohemian designed by Urquiola, a tribute to the past with an eye to the present.

The following are a few pictures taken instead at the Fiera in the amazing Moroso stand.

M’Afrique

Sushi

Patrizia Moroso is a courageous lady, I can also proudly say that she lives and works in the same region where I was born, Friuli Venezia Giulia, in the North East of Italy.

She is always researching new ideas and bringing a smile to our homes.

Photography by Albarosa Simonetti (only top picture from Moroso’s website)

A garden in the city

I fell in love with this “Fuori Salone” installation during the Design week in Milan.

You may not know but during the week and many times during the whole month every available space, like former factories, former garages, warehouses in Milan is rented by various Companies to exhibit the latest creations for interior design (in this case I would say exterior design…) so it was only natural to walk around in Zona Tortona and suddenly enter this magic space where nature was prevailing.

The chairs may not be functional but surely they are like sculptures and can add flair to every space outdoor.

A greenhouse full of charme.

Furniture, Art or Nature? Look at this beautiful use of Ivy freely (or not so?) climbing on

 iron table and chairs.

You may recall this picture from a previous post, it is only a small portion of the whole sign of the installation on the street side.

Inside we found other surprises, like this old weaving loom.

and vegetables, seeds, plants, everything to stay in touch with our mother Nature.

A few doors away another green discover, a great vertical wall.

Contemporary furniture in front of the magnificent green wall.

An unusual mirror reflecting the vertical arrangement of plants.

A relaxing hour spent in a very green, in every sense, environment.

Photography by Albarosa Simonetti

Rugs and more rugs

One of the things I really admired during the Design Week in Milan was the variety of rugs exhibited at the Fair and around the city in different installations.
Here are just a few examples:

I+I Rugs

Paolo Giordano from I + I creates new rugs with traditional patterns, a clever mix of old and new.

A different, whimsical shape for Patricia Urquiola’s rugs.

The look of an antique rug for a contemporary one at Moroso’s showroom.

An extravagant rug by Luca Nichetto for Nodus, the different pieces are tied together with several short ribbons so I guess they can be composed in different shapes and sizes.

An explosion of colors and patterns.

And talking about color of course Missoni (more on the brand new Missoni Home Milanese showroom in a future post) who this year has chosen a pattern of Pixels for some creations, quite appropriate for the digital time we are in.

A rug creates and defines a space and can enhance any interior, making it more luxurious or just more comfortable, colorful and elegant.

Reflecting on Milan Design Week

I will write again soon about the intense week of “I Saloni” in Milan but today I just want to give you some of my thoughts to summarize the experience.
It was a fairly good success, considering the world economy still recovering and the chaos of the European skies created by the ashes of the Icelandic volcano, which stopped for days flights in and out of Europe, with cancellations of participants and major consequences for the economy.
I can easily say that this year at even a greater level the winners were companies devoted to research, to the use of new materials and to a sustainable way of production.

Tubes has the most appealing heaters for a bathroom, a sculpture that gives warm and dry towels, a necessary luxury.

It was clear that companies instead of crying on the crisis have taken the courageous path to new territories with the willingness of renewing themselves, this was evident and we will see the results later on this year. Design returns to serve who uses the objects, which need to be useful not just beautiful. Function first then form.

Zanotta chairs, so comfortable and beautiful.

Comfort and the use of modular pieces, sectional sofas, bookcases we can arrange as we like and everything in modules, only changing dimensions and colors, create a simplified way of living our house and easily furnish a small apartment or a much larger loft.

With a clever use of a groove all these elements can be easily moved, gently sliding the pieces in and out, and they can be reassembled in any other forms or dimensions. Martino Gamper bookcase is also free standing and it does not need any support to the wall.

Moroso Sushi pieces.

The timeless beauty of Thonet furniture.

The innovative design of the Campana brothers.

Black is back.

 

An interesting table with a concave space in the middle for flower arrangements, fruit, bottles or whatever comes to mind, candles perhaps?

MagnetiKa leaves the composition of the elements to us, pieces can be repositioned in a moment.

Gorgeous lights by Moooi can bring a touch of nature to any room.

A kitchen with a herb-garden ready to be used.

Tom Dixon Mesh chairs.

Could we call all this attention to:

comfort

nature

lightness

freedom

the New Deal of Design?

Photography© by Albarosa Simonetti