Impressions from Salone Internazionale del Mobile 2012

In the last three parts of Architonic’s photo coverage of the nucleus of iSaloni, The Fiera, we’ve gathered no less than 600 images with some of the best, most innovative and inspiring new products and collections from a vast array of international furniture brands. So, here’s what’s in store:

Architonic’s photo tour of Salone Internazionale del Mobile 2012, Part 5

including: Pedrali, Sancal, Vondom, Maruni, Ritzwell, Estel, Rolf Benz, Zilio, Bruehl, Miniforms, Fast, DeCastell, Braid, Punt, Ego, Tuuci, Plust, Raumplus, Expormim, Magg, Alternative, Kriptonite, Toulemonde Bochart, Capdell, Erba, Manutti, Koo, Kenneth Cobonpue, Gaber, Rossin, Ton, Scab Design, Kenkoon, Deesawat, Fjordfiesta, Hag, Alma Design, Tao Design, Sovet, Cane Line, Valdera, Boca do Lobo

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'Branch' chair by Staffan Holm; photo by DDR GBG

To celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of Milan’s SaloneSatellite, this year its organisers invited fifteen international designers who presented their designs under the theme of ‘Design<->Technology’. Among the the exhibiting designers, all of whom were either former or current participants in the Satellite, was the award-winning Swedish designer Staffan Holm who showcased this delicate, bentwood chair. Inspired by nature, the aptly-named ‘Branch’ was created with the use of complex wood bending technology, Compwood. (more…)

Josef Albers and students in a group critique at the Bauhaus Dessau, 1928-29. The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation. © Phyllis Umbehr/Galerie Kicken Berlin/ DACS 2012 © Otto Umbehr (Umbo

‘Junge Menschen – kommt ans Bauhaus!’ read a 1929 promotional brochure written by the Swiss architect and second director of the Bauhaus school Hannes Meyer. Now, more than eighty years later, the same slogan has been inscribed above the entrance to London’s Barbican Art Gallery where a new, extensive exhibition surveying the world’s most famous modern art and design school has opened earlier this month. Set among customarily black, red and white walls, the Bauhaus: Art as Life is an impressive showcase (the biggest show dedicated to the 1919-founded school and its masters to be held in the UK for more than four decades) of more than 400 works spanning across the mediums of architecture, product design, furniture, painting, textiles, photography, film and theatre. (more…)

Miami Beach SoundScape West 8 2011 © Robin Hill for West 8

It could be argued that the pinnacle of urban landscape architecture was reached in seventeenth century France and the French formal gardens of Jacques Boyceau and André Le Nôtre, or in Britain in the nineteenth century, when Joseph Paxton and John Nash were transforming former Royal Hunting grounds into places for Victorian gentry to promenade. Contemporary urban architects and designers are rarely afforded the same amount of space, money and time as their antecedents and are more often tasked with transforming abandoned plots, redundant structures or characterless inner city areas into suitable places for public recreation. Here, Architonic looks at some recent successes that add value to their surroundings by pushing the boundaries of park design. (by Alyn Griffiths)

read the ‘Park life: the evolving approach to designing urban public space’ article in full on Architonic

'Paul & Paula' tables by Matthias Ferwagner for Moormann; photo © Nils Holger Moormann GmbH

Having previously designed an elegant, minimalist ash side table ‘Minimato’, the German designer Matthias Ferwagner continues his collaboration with the Bavaria-based manufacturer Nils Holger Moormann and his two latest side table designs, ‘Paul & Paula’, were recently unveiled in Milan. (more…)

Bayadere Orange flooring by Missoni for Bolon

Two family-owned businesses: the legendary Italian fashion house Missoni and the Swedish flooring specialists Bolon have collaborated on this latest collection of woven vinyl floor coverings. Bearing Missoni’s unmistakable bold patterns, the vibrantly coloured collection comprises three different designs: reminiscent of Missoni’s trademark zigzag ’Optical’, linear ‘Bayadere’ and equally distinctive but toned-down in its colourway, the monochrome ‘Flame.’ In total, the entire range is available in nine different versions and it was launched earlier in April during Milan’s Salone del Mobile fair and will be presented again in less than two weeks during the upcoming Clerkenwell Design Week in London (22 – 24 May). (more…)

Detail of Burri's Landi bench materialised in Natwood

Wood in the Public Space – an Exciting Challenge: we identify a city based on its buildings, its landscape architecture, and its density – however, it is above all the city furniture that makes a cityscape unique and distinctive.

City furniture must have a timeless design, be extremely resistant, and above all must stay beautiful for a long time at minimum maintenance. The life cycle costs of a city infrastructure are an important factor for investment decisions. With wood especially, there may be long-term problems caused by standing water or moss which damages the surface and adversely affects aesthetics, safety and user comfort. This means that life cycle costs could be significantly reduced if these weaknesses could be eliminated without a coating while at the same time substantially increasing durability.

read this article in full on Architonic

This year's edition of Milan's Salone del Mobile, as seen by Architonic

With its innumerable coinciding events, exhibitions, shows, launches and lunches that somehow always end up happening simultaneously – and at opposite ends of town – getting to see everything Milan has to offer during the widespread, one-week design frenzy, also known as Salone Internazionale del Mobile, might frequently (read unfailingly) prove to be a Tom Cruise-less mission impossible. But, if, despite that carefully-planned and executed with a military precision schedule, you still have a hunch that you might just have missed what’s going to be this year’s most-talked-about design, worry not. We’ve seen it, captured it and it’s now among some 2000 images which we have conveniently grouped into several thematic galleries. Here’s round one, two, three and four with images from the main battleground, The Fiera.

Architonic’s photo tour of Salone Internazionale del Mobile 2012, Part 1

including: Fiera, Moroso, Viccarbe, Mdf, Zanotta, Tacchini, Arper, Bolon, m114, Gufram, Henge, Tribu, Sicis, Rexite, B&B Italia, Casamania, Opinion Ciatti, Thonet, Covo, Parri, Nils Hoger Moormann, Montis, Caimi (more…)