Trends Milan: Candy anyone?

More on Milan! Colours that looked like they belonged in a candy store were right at home this year. Brights took on a more sweet appearance ranging from pink and mauve to yellow and orange.

Image above Casamania

Quinze & Milan Make your own furniture stand - promoting their custom production for architects & designers.

Karim Rashid - no surprise in his use of bold colour, I think he may have a bit of a weakness for gorgeous pink shades

Khodi Feiz for Offect - more teeth aching sweetness

Peter Marigold

Punkalive Avanto Storage units - Love the use of the pale timber with these colours. Punkalive is a brand to watch especially as they are producing quality sustainable products.

Michael Kruijne for Zuiver. I think I had better leave it there and come back to more trends from Milan later. I really want to get my post on DesignEx published - a design trade show that was in Melbourne Last week - I have some great best of show shots for you. Coming soon...[All images via designws]

Trends Milan: Soft Texture

Trends at Milan Furniture Fair and Milan Design Week span many industries from homewares & living to industrial design & contract. I think that's why many are drawn to Milan to gather inspiration and why the show has grown to be a design mecca for more than just furniture junkies.

Soft texture is another trend that spans the genres - upholstery that resembles soft flowing silks, a loose snuggly doona or material [be it fabric or even paper] that is quilted, pleated or ruched to create volume or texture.
[p.s Doona is an Aussie term for Duvet]

[Image above Chris Kabel for Droog]

Molo Urchin lighting range, constructed with craft paper or waterproof tyvek. [Image via inhabitat]

Lazy Bastard chair by Bertjan Pot for Montis - a chair filled with polystyrene balls like a bean bag, with a quilted texture to the upholstery.

Soft wood by Front for Moroso - yes it's actually upholstery. Moroso featured the moment collection - each piece utilises photographic images to create the illusion of texture and movement.

Drape, Front for Moroso

Paper Cloud, Tokujin Yoshi for Moroso
[All images unless otherwise stated via designws]

Milan Furniture Fair : Emerging Trends

Byblos Casa, Atelier Mendini - image via designws

Sadly I was not at Milan last week viewing the amazing collections on display to inspire design lovers such as myself -but I have been scouring the net and the usual sources to see what is emerging. Some new trends are evident and some trends are simply reconfirming what I had already documented in my 2009 trend report. I thought I would share a few inspirations with you...

I have split this into a few posts here is the first -

Complex Simplicity :

Raw timber, muted colour & shades of white, unexpected natural materials, a return to traditional methods or materials for modern objects...

Moooi

New french brand Moustache (launched at Milan) with the instant table & instant seat chauffeuse by Matali Crasset

Artek, Shigeru Ban

Droog Studio, Studio Makkink & Bey

Established & Sons

Sebastian Wrong for E&S

Maarten Baas for E&S

Floris Schoonderbeek

Arik Levy for Swarovski Crystal Palace

Piet Hein Eek | Eek & Ruijgrok BV - Home

Richard Lampert, Marco Deesi - a mid century form often accompanies the simplicity trend

Thomas Eyck, the flax project

There were plenty more examples of this trend (I think its one of the strongest at the moment) but you get the picture!
[all images above via designws]