Milan Furniture Fair 2015 – the highlights

Ruth Aram of the Aram Store picks out her favourite pieces and most exciting up-and-coming designers from this year’s Milan Furniture Fair.

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I am now a veteran of the Milan Furniture Fair, having been every year since the early 1990s when it was held at the old fairgrounds nearer the city. You might think I would have become a bit jaded with the whole experience, but I still look forward to the week with a mixture of excitement and anticipation. Here are my highlights from this year’s Saloni:

5 Key pieces

Spokes pendant lamps by Garcia Cumini
Spokes pendant lamps by Garcia Cumini

Spokes pendant lamps by young design practice Garcia Cumini for Foscarini suggested the delicate spokes of a bicycle or the bars of a birdcage. Launched in two colours and two shapes, they have two LED lamps within the base to create both up and down lighting.

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Superloon by Jasper Morrison

 

Superloon by Jasper Morisson for Flos is a floor-standing tripod lamp with a large disc of LED lights which can be flipped up or down to create different effects. The designer may have drawn inspiration from the old projecteur style lamps still popular today but the Superloon is a thoroughly up-to-date product which I believe will have many applications.

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Mobile Chandelier 9 by Michael Anastassiades

 

Mobile Chandelier 9 by Michael Anastassiades was perhaps my favourite product of the fair. I am familiar with his collections for Flos, (the IC collection seemed to be everywhere on furniture stands), but the designs produced under his own label were so beautiful as to take my breath away. More sculpture than lighting, they never the less are functional lights which I would love to display in our store.

Kaari range by Rowan & Erwan Bouroullec for Artek, comprising tables, desks and shelves, has a simple, timeless appeal which successfully updates Artek’s current collection without alienating devoted Artek fans.

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Cypris mirror by Nina Mair for Classicon

 

Cypris mirror by Nina Mair for Classicon is reminiscent of 1950s elegance with its subtle rounded brass frame which surrounds the mirror like a ribbon giving it grace and elegence. Available in two sizes, the long mirror can be hung in the more traditional vertical position or horizontally to stunning effect.

3 newcomers to look out for

Garcia Cumini is the design partnership of Spanish Vicente Garcia Jiminez and Italian Cinzia Cumini. Based in Italy, although they only set up their studio in 2012 they have produced successful designs for Foscarini and Tacchini.

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Tilda Table by Nina Mair

 

Nina Mair is an Austrian architect and designer based in Innsbruck. Her designs for Classicon and others are restrained but at the same time luxurious.

Tal R, the Danish/Israeli artist, has created a stunning new colour palette for the Series 7 chair by Arne Jacobsen for Fritz Hansen. The eight complex and expressive colours are a real departure from the muted neutrals favoured by most Danish brands in recent years. My favourites are Opium red symbolizing the mystique of Shanghai in the 1930s, Huzun green meaning wistful in Turkish and Chocolate Milk – who couldn’t like a colour with that name!


 

Ruth Aram is director and co-owner of the Aram Store.

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