The question that kept doing the rounds of the insiders in the run up to the 48th Salone Internazionale del Mobile is this: "How will manufacturers and designers respond to the crisis that has the world economy in its grip?"
Although most of the pieces to be showcased at the Saloni 2009 were chosen and made ready well before the crisis blew up, there is no sign of its having led to a damping down of creative energies, or to homologation. If anything, it has generated a different slant, a greater critical awareness of the positions everyone is being called to take up within this new scenario.
Some designers, and some firms, have striven for greater pragmatism, a more balanced relationship between object and cost and a greater focus on consumer demand. Others have sought refuge in dreams, in rarity value. Both approaches have borne extremely interesting fruit.
In terms of trends, the first approach has brought with it an unexpected "return to minimal" which seems to be scaling down the decorative explosion of the last few years. The mindset now seems to be one of project cohesion, consumer satisfaction and timeless objects that are built to last rather than to pay lip service to passing fashions.
The mindset we mean favours simplified shapes and often a "reduction in size". In this 2009 edition, there is a shying away from the "gigantic" effect out of all proportion to the reality of our homes in favour of "gracious", non-aggressive designs for furniture that can "stray" from one room of the house to the next, with designers no longer focusing merely on the living room.
Minotti embraced the theme of lasting elegance in their 2009 collection. The collection, fully co-ordinated by Rodolfo Dordoni, has resulted in 24 different products that join together in a uniquely harmonious style. This allows the interior designer to seamlessly co-ordinate different combinations of elements.
The other reaction to the shockwaves engendered by the crisis sees furniture design as being much closer to the world of art, the world of nature, the world of fashion, conceiving objects and people in a dreamlike dimension that serves to provide a refuge from a not very happy reality.
Flower by Pierre Paulin for Magis brings the two worlds of fashion and nature together. It unfolds like a petal with its distinctive, enticing curvature. Yet is it also evocative of the high-necked cloak that an enigmatic seductress might don while negotiating the shadowy streets of misty Prague.
In 2009 the term "luxury" has undergone a radical and timely reworking. There are still nods to it and traces of it, but always accompanied by an adjective justifying and qualifying it. For example of this might be "globetrotting luxury", or the luxury of "fine tailor-made".
Giorgetti have again invested in the finish of their range demonstrated by fine stitching on leather and velvets, organic curves and beautifully patterned wooden tabletops resembling kaleidoscope images.
Lighting design finds itself at a very well-defined crossroads in 2009: on one hand there is LED, technology, which is now established at global level and ideally geared to mass production, thanks to the better performance and lower cost of its sources, which postulates a potential miniaturisation of appliances; on the other hand there is a very significant move towards "large scale", towards "richness of imagination".
It comes as no surprise that this edition of Euroluce is incontrovertibly marked by the theme of the hanging light. It is fair to say that the return of this particular type of lighting appliance, after lying forgotten for many years and which brings with it a return to central lighting, has reached its apogee.
It is a theme declined by all the major companies at the Exhibition, through various different approaches: from simple geometric shapes, to fairytale solutions: first and foremost Ingo Maurer's poetic installation, "Le lacrime del Pescatore", a triple layer of "fishing net" supplied with 350 large and slightly phosphorescent crystals that can be positioned at will, altering the light's configuration. Then there is a variety of shiny approaches and approaches that are evocative of natural worlds, trends that are echoed in furnishings.
The work of one of the great British designers, Ross Lovegrove, warrants a place in this "organic" strand. He is showing an abstract "gigantic leaf" suitable as either a floor lamp or a pendant for Artemide, a cocoon that wraps around itself, realised in transparent textured methacrylic.
As we said, at Euroluce, the alternative to "huge" is small, or even very small, now made possible thanks to LED technology. One of the best interpretations of this theme comes from Antonio Citterio for Flos: in the collection focusing precisely on "Led", the potential of this new energy source is valorised to the hilt while conserving a programmatic formal dryness.
Again for Flos, Rodolfo Dordoni has designed a sconce, lit by both bi-emission and energy saving sources, a perfect foil for the grandeur of the installations mentioned above and to the "rarity value" of some pieces. Take for example the floor lamp conceived for Artemide by Zaha Hadid, "scultura in produzione", injection moulded in polyurethane foam and then varnished white or black: a faithful interpreter of the Anglo-Iraqi designer's deconstructivist poetry.
These new furniture and lighting designs are featured on the ECC website in the Milan 09 Product Showcase.
Enjoy!