Three Layer Cake

            For ideas about the home, from high-end to low and every style in between, table-top to bathroom rug, the fairs to see are Paris, Frankfurt, and Milan.  So they say.  Cologne is a fence sitter because most visitors to the fair find themselves inevitably and repeatedly attracted to the Italian stands.  In this arena, Italians really do do it better, so why go anywhere else but Milan’s Salone del Mobile?  Even the manufacturers pull out the big guns for Milan.  So most people wait.  Cologne gives ideas, true, but the launches and presentations for furniture come through Milan (even though Zanotta presented a few new products at imm Cologne this year.)  But even the Salone del Mobile in Milan has undergone significant transformation over the past few years with the “big ones” choosing off-site launches at nearby Superstudio Più and various other chic venues.  If you’re looking for the superduper Karim Rashid Edra stand with the live DJ, or the B&B Italia stand, homage to Antonio Citterio, fitted out like an ultra sleek apartment, not only do you have to wait til the Salone rolls around, you have to find an invite to their parties elsewhere.

            Not so for Paris.  Paris takes place two times a year, in September and January.  September is probably the better show, but going to fairs is about choices, like the rest of life.  The Milan International Home Fair (MACEF) runs concurrently in September and but a week before in January (and in the middle of imm Cologne).  You can choose Paris or Milan in September, leaving the runner-up for January.  If you’re serious, both as an exhibitor and a visitor, you’ll focus on the now! design à vivre and scenes d’intérieur pavilions at Maison and Objet, which is where to go for the cream of the crop in home accessories, new design talent, and visual stimulation. 

             It’s hard to identify trends in a fair so varied.  The best place to look is at the textiles, which were presented in two pavilions, the racier and more trendy of the two being MAISON and OBJET éditeurs.  These high-end exhibitors confirmed what imm-Cologne already told us.  The laser cutting technique will be served to consumers six ways to Sunday.  It’s on wallpaper, curtains, fabrics, stencils, handbags, you name it, if it can be cut it will be, and if it can’t it will be printed or sewn to give the same impression.  The INSPIRATIONS No. 8: Paradise limited-edition trend book published by the Maison  and Objet Observatory “pinpoints and analyzes the micro-signs and indications of changing influences and trends.”  In this edition it predicts an evolution toward water, nature, geometry, symmetry, ecology, technological papers and technological production.  Its lexicon includes words like silvery, deformed, coral, diffraction, foam, fluid, fractals, undulation, reflection, adventure, bivouacking, salvaging, freedom, utopia, industrial & quaint, clean & well-behaved, overalls & apron…

               But a big picture summary of the products exhibited reveal the following picks:

 Colors:  lime green, pink, orange, yellow, turquoise and teal (and a range of blues transitioning to the lighter shades of green), chocolate brown, charcoal grey, deep purple, deep reds. See also chart on next page.

 Color Combinations: lime green, turquoise, reds and pinks on chocolate brown, charcoal grey, deep purple

 Patterns:  Laser-cut floral motif, floral motif, leaves, flowers, stripes, circles (empty and full), dots, squares, line drawings

 Materials:  recycled (and natural), wood, fur, feathers, wool and silk and long Puli (or dreadlock)-type shag, textured designs like raised dots)

Next fair:  Salone del Mobile, Milan, April 5-10.

Upcoming interviews from featured designers at imm and Maison and Objet include:  Reddish, Frank Willems , Janne Kyttanen, Susan Bradley, Anon Pairot, R&Y Augousti , Herve' Matejewski , and more .

(Intro photo of Pepe Penalver stand.)