A report by Karen Rosenkranz and Mariel Brown Every year the Milan design fair heralds a tidal wave of new concepts and products, the sum of which allows trend researchers to spot patterns for the year ahead. Mariel Brown and Karen Rosenkranz from design and innovation agency Seymourpowell, filter through this seismic swell of the new and uncover the standout projects that will set the design mood for 2014.

1. MILAN IN PERSPECTIVE 2014
A report by Karen Rosenkranz and Mariel Brown

2. Every year the Milan Design
Fair heralds a tidal wave of
new concepts and products,
the sum of which allows
trend researchers to spot
patterns for the year ahead.
Karen Rosenkranz and
Mariel Brown, from design
and innovation agency
Seymourpowell, filter through
this seismic swell of the new
and uncover the standout
projects that will set the
design mood for 2014.
INTRODUCTIONINDEX
4-5
8-9
12-13
14-15
10-11
6-7 16-17
18-19
22-23
20-21

3. 4-5
PROTRUDE & LIGHT
by YOY
Our increasingly digital lives can
feel very predictable; big data
is anticipating our needs before
we know them ourselves, whilst
geo-location services make
getting lost virtually impossible.
All this certainty makes us crave
a little uncertainty. We desire
surprise, magic and wonder.
Excitingly, Japanese design
studio YOY gave visitors to
Milan exactly that with their latest
collection of designs that play
with illusion and “bring humour
to an ordinary room”.
Our favourites from the
collection were ‘Protrude’, a
tray that looks as though it’s
about to fall yet doesn’t and
‘Light’, a table lamp and floor
lamp that project their shade
onto a nearby surface.
The design duo’s theme is “to
create a new story between
space and objects”, and we
anticipate that many more
designers will explore stories
of illusion in the coming year.

4. Highlights included kinetic
sculptures of spinning feathers
evoking the seasonal migration
of birds; an acoustic installation
sampling the climatic sounds of
Venus and Neptune, the hottest
and coldest planets in our solar
system; and tropical plants
frozen in ice blocks, slowly
melting in the warmth of Milan’s
spring sun.
Set in a huge white space, the
exhibits were accompanied
by poetic and informative
temperature facts printed on
beautiful iridescent boards, all
contributing to a wonderfully
serene and calming display.
6-7
As the Earth’s climate
becomes increasingly volatile
and society is striving to adapt,
designers and artists alike are
inspired by weather extremes.
A beautiful example of this
trend was the ‘Hot & Cold’
exhibition by Fabrica in
collaboration with Japanese
air conditioning manufacturer
Daikin. Taking temperature
as a starting point, a series
of multi-sensory installations
invited visitors to participate in
an immersive laboratory of hot
and cold experiences.
HOT & COLD
by Fabrica for Daikin

5. properties of stone to get rid of
traditional constraints. Inspired
by wooden laminated panels,
this material is designed as
a sandwich of stones glued
together and then cut into 6 cm
by 6 cm battens. This method
significantly increases the rigidity
of the rock by creating a new
raw material. It then becomes
possible to produce pieces
of a much greater range and
gives the opportunity to use the
leftovers from this industry.”
To show off their new material,
the duo created a large-scale
hanging rail with a beautiful
brutalist aesthetic, which could
not have been achieved using
traditional cuts of marble.
8-9
The role of the young
designer in Milan seems to
be increasingly seeking to
challenge the norms of the
design establishment, rather
than becoming a part of it.
This year, we were pleased to
discover recently graduated
collective Grande at the Salone
Satellite questioning convention
with their new project ‘6x6’.
This project explores how
to make use of the waste
generated when using marble,
a material which the design
industry has had an excessive
appetite for in recent years.
Grande explain, “6x6 is a
project optimising the physical
6x6
by Grande

6. Another highlight from the fair,
responding to the acceleration
of change, was ‘De Natura
Fossilium’ by Formafantasma in
collaboration with Gallery Libby
Sellers. Its widespread acclaim
demonstrated people’s growing
desire for archaic and eternal
materials as things become ever
more ephemeral.
Inspired by the concept of
locality and the power of
nature, the Italian design duo
once again stood out with their
innovative approach towards
material exploration. Inspired by
the eruption of Mount Etna in
November 2013, they started a
holistic investigation into lava as
a design material.
The applications range from
the more familiar use of basalt
stone, to more extreme
experiments with lava in the
production of glass and the
use of lavic fibres for textiles.
This stunning collection
of stools, coffee tables,
wall hangings and smaller
assemblages embodied by
contrasting geometric volumes
use: rough stone, basalt in
varying levels of porosity
and high gloss glass in the
deepest shade of black. The
pieces beautifully highlight the
multifaceted characteristics of
this timeless material.
10-11
DE NATURA FOSSILIUM
by Formafantasma

7. Images by Tom Mannion
12-13
ISLANDS
by Studio Raw-Edges
Spending time with loved ones
and nurturing our wellbeing
have become important social
themes in recent years. More
and more we are reassessing
our value systems in the wake of
long-term global instability. With
raised emphasis being placed
on quality of life, the kitchen has
taken on renewed significance
as a healthy hearth to the home.
Offering just this was Studio Raw-
Edges who created the concept
‘Islands’ for Caesarstone. This
playful piece focuses on the
importance of enjoying food and
its preparation. It reassesses
the typical interior arrangements
by elevating the worktop
surface to hero. Cabinets and
appliances are slotted into
purpose-built voids rather than
being placed atop or around.
The piece created a wonderful
contemporary contrast to Milan’s
18th Century Palazzo Clerici
where it was exhibited.

8. 14-15
MOOOI SHOW SPACE
by Marcel Wanders & Casper Vissers
We are living through a period
of great flux; never before in
human history has life shifted at
such a fast pace. Amidst all the
new at the Milan fair, it was a
pleasure to visit ‘Moooi’s
Show Space’, which had
grounded its new collection in
the past amongst the historical
architectural photography of
Massimo Listri. “In a world which
is dominated by the new, we like
to see our works in the context
of eternity,” explained the show’s
co-creator Marcel Wanders.
To achieve this feeling of
timelessness, new pieces from
designers (including Studio
Job, Bertjan Pot, Kiki van Eijk
and Joost van Bleiswijk) were
arranged into small room
layouts with older works from
the Moooi collection. What
particularly impressed us was
the way the exhibition had
turned 1,700 square metres of
show space into an exhibition
that felt both impressively
grand yet distinctly intimate.

9. Studio WM presented a series
of beautiful scent diffusers
as part of the fantastic group
show ‘010-020’ at Ventura
Lambrate. Their project
‘Senses Unfold’ explores the
symbiosis between scent,
sight and material. The duo
created a range of bespoke
room fragrances and beautiful
objects, each offering a
different multi-sensory
experience, diffusing scent
through various techniques.
A black soft touch pump
releases a fine aromatic spray;
a wooden sphere unlocks a
fragrance-filled glass vessel;
and an upside down bottle
dispenses drops that slowly
evaporate on a stone surface.
We particularly admired the
emphasis the designers
placed on creating new rituals
around scent.
16-17
SENSES UNFOLD
by Studio WM
Scent, it seems, is the next
frontier in design. Intrinsically
linked to our memories, scents
are able to evoke moods in the
most primal and direct way.
They enable designers to create
immersive olfactory experiences,
transporting us to a different
time and place – an escape we
occasionally all long for in our
digitally powered lives.

10. RED RIDING HOOD
by Hanna Emelie Ernsting
Austerity fatigue is creating a
strong desire for escapism, a
charming sense of which was
offered by German designer
Hanna Emelie Ernsting. Her
‘Red Riding Hood’ chair, is a
cozy escape from the humdrum
of day-to-day life.
‘Red Riding Hood’ is a felt
armchair with an attached grey
blanket that has a vibrant red
underside. When a sitter draws
the fabric around them, the
red is revealed, creating a cape
like effect reminiscent, as the
name suggests, of the iconic
apparel of Charles Perrault’s
popular heroine.
Ernsting explains, “Evenings
are the time for stories, dreams
and fairytales. After a strenuous
workday, we long to escape for
a time from everyday life and
lose ourselves in the world of a
book or film. These contrasting
circumstances underlie the
design of this armchair… With
a turn of the hand, you can flip
the drapery of the armchair over
your shoulders and legs in any
way you desire like a sensual,
red protective cape, thereby
ensconcing yourself in your
own individual other world.”
18-19

11. 20-21
SERENISSIMA COLLECTION
by Giorgia Zanellato & Daniele Bortotto for Moroso
The trend for distressed surface
finishes remained strong at
this year’s show. People value
individuality and character, and
materials that have a story to tell.
Never failing to impress, Italian
design powerhouse Moroso
presented a stunning new
collection by Giorgia Zanellato
and Daniele Bortotto, taking
the city of Venice as a starting
point for their ideas. The alluring
atmosphere of the traditional city,
often referred to as Serenissima,
was put into contemporary
context by the young design duo.
Inspired by the patina of its
corroded walls, they created
fabrics in beautiful colour
schemes, contrasting pale green
with rusty orange. The textile is
casually draped over flat cushions
in cool, chalky tones sitting on a
simple wooden base, producing
an unconventional sofa with a
charming layered effect. The
seating arrangement ‘Doge’ is
accompanied by a small side
table ‘Alta Marea’ featuring the
same design elements of simple
tubular legs supporting a softly
rounded wooden top. Here the
design is intersected with a layer
of glass; paying homage to the
typical tonal gradations of the
Venetian lagoon.

12. 22-23
ENSO & PALO
by Studio Joa Herrenknecht
The growing focus on health
and exercise has sparked a
desire for all things sporty. Just
as fashion is currently awash
with looks straight from the
locker room, we are noticing
the influence of sports culture
in other categories such as
furniture and lighting too.
At Salone Satellite, the area of
the fair dedicated to graduates
and emerging talents, we
particularly liked a set of
wooden lamps by Studio Joa
Herrenknecht named ‘ENSO &
PALO’. The two playful pieces
are inspired by traditional
gym equipment. ‘ENSO’ is an
illuminated ring that can be
hung or can lean against a wall.
Reminiscent of a trapeze, ‘PALO’
can be adjusted in height by
simply pulling one end down.
Equipped with a light plug, they
can be placed anywhere in the
room and easily moved to suit
the user’s needs.
At the Satellite, we felt
designers responded strongly
to our increasingly nomadic
and fluid lifestyles, where we
want things that are flexible and
not too descriptive in use. “The
essence of the new collection
is the word ‘flow’ - meaning to
be light, able to change, not
static and able to move freely,”
says Joa Herrenknecht, the
Berlin based designer.

13. 24-25A report by Karen Rosenkranz and Mariel Brown, Seymourpowell
Mariel has over nine years of
experience working in design,
technology, and social trend
forecasting. Since joining
Seymourpowell eight years ago
she has worked on a diverse
range of projects including user
research, product strategy, and
global trend studies.
Mariel won a D&AD Award for
Product Design and a D&AD
Award for Environmental
Design, before gaining an MA
in Design Products from the
Royal College of Art.
In her current role as associate
director and head of trends,
she translates her trend, market
and user insights into tangible
future directions for numerous
clients including Samsung,
Panasonic, LG, Dell, Ford,
Unilever and ASICS.
Mariel has contributed trend
commentary to numerous
international publications,
most recently, Contagious and
Viewpoint Magazine.
Mariel Brown
Karen is part of the Research,
Trends and Strategy team at
Seymourpowell. She joined the
company in 2007 after having
worked in design consultancies
in Amsterdam and New York.
Karen’s experience covers
many facets of the design
process - from uncovering user
insights to translating them into
brand relevant propositions,
from spotting emerging trends
to defining a brand’s visual
language.
Currently head of social & lifestyle
foresight, she is responsible for
global user insight and trend
studies for clients such as
Unilever, LG and Nokia.
Karen Rosenkranz

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