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Milan Design Week

April 16, 2024

Milan, Italy

Introduction

Milan Design Week is the world’s largest international design event in the world that is held at Fiera Milano, Rho.

In 2024, there was a record-breaking attendance with a 20.2% increase from 2023 with 53.9% of attendees from overseas.

This year’s culmination brought together a variety of designs, art, installations, and exhibits that increasingly focused on sustainable approaches.

Leather + Materials

Leather + Materials

Leather throughout the show was more natural with combinations of different grain sizes. Natural markings and large wrinkles were shown on nubuck and soft nappa construction leathers.

Leather + Materials

Large scale furniture with rounded designs were commonly seen. The rounded designs gave a sense of comfort due to the way they wrapped around the entire body similar to a cocoon.

Leather + Materials

Leather enrichments such as inkjet printing, embossing, and perforation were showcased on various furniture décor items.

Leather + Materials

Leather was used to make beautiful wovens, buttons, and handles in several furniture pieces. Leather was combined with various materials such as boucle textiles, fabrics, metal, and wood.

Leather + Materials

There was a large range of leather products on display in the Fendi Casa, Cassina, and Giorgetti displays. There were various leather techniques of pleats and stitching on the objects displayed.

Textiles

Textiles // Soft Tactiles

Many of the textile sofas and chairs included rounded corners to emphasize comfort and relaxation to a space. Plush boucles and cozy woven materials help elevate everyday items.

Textiles // String

There were many sofas and chairs designed with strings or large scale woven motifs. There’s a sense of playfulness in the unique products while also representing connection and unity.

Textiles // Small Scale Patterns

The small scale natural patterns create a mindful and relaxing feeling.

Color

Color // Teal

Soft sage greens and tranquil teals work well across a wide range of materials, from matte woven textiles to glazed ceramics. These colors create a sense of calmness and comfort within an interior space.

Color // Terracotta & Orange

Deep autumnal tones work well on upholstered designs to elevate a space. The use of wood and leather material combinations help to enrich seating and storage.

Color // Indigo

Dynamic blues with cool tones will help uplift and rejuvenate home furnishings while also conveying serenity. This color direction works well across an expansive range of materials, including tactile upholstery and high-shine lacquers.

Color // Yellow & Purple

Yellows gain more traction and evolve into impactful brights that energize interior spaces. The unexpected pop of color uplifts home products and create a sense of optimism.

The combination of softer yellows and purples appeal to younger generations by creating a more soothing atmosphere.

Color // Pastels

Pale tints continue as a commercial color direction, elevating everything from furniture to accessories. Pale blues, soft pinks and light purples soften contemporary hard goods and bring a lighter feel to heavier furniture pieces such as sofas.

Design Motif

Design Motif // Water Inspiration

Textures resembling puddles and lake surfaces were seen everywhere. The reflections, transparency, and uneven surface finishes brought movement and healing to the space.

Design Motif // Transformative

In various exhibits, objects and furniture based on amorphous life forms such as plant cells and jellyfish were on display. Their designs were dynamic, evoking the transformative power of life through dynamism, expansion, and division.

Design Motif // Natural Microstructures

There were many pattern textures inspired by microstructures of nature.

Moooi, A Dutch furniture brand established in 2001. This year’s theme is “A Life Extraordinary,” a dynamic concept that makes the living room not just a physical space, but breathes life into the design. They define “light” as a living and breathing entity.

Design Motif // Universal Values

In a Hermes exhibit there were 16 different patterns laid out on the floor in a dark room where you can experience a novel installation by walking along a bridge between them. One of the concepts was to ‘provide visitors with a tranqil space away from the hustle and bustle of Milan Design Week.’ The floors were made of natural materials such a brick, stone, slate, and wood, which are linked to traditional Italian patterns and Hermès designs.

Design Motif // Large Patterns

Most of the sofas were large in size overall, but the larger pattern sand part compositions gave them even more individuality and made a large impacton the space.

Design Motif // Lines & Stripes

Lines and stripes although basic, created sophisticated expressions throughout the various furniture pieces.

Design Motif // Sparkling Effects

There were chairs and carpets in dazzling fabrics with a combination of textures and thread colors. Many of the furniture pieces were chic in crisp clean whites and creams.

Patterns

Patterns // Wood Inspiration

Various expressions of wood, metallic paint, and natural surface finishes were on display.

Patterns // Asia Inspiration

Gervasoni had a display that created a sensory journey through the culture and beauty of ancient China. Like a harmonious dance between history, culture and creativity, each brush stroke is a captured emotion, a fragment of life immortalized on pottery.

The decorations, steeped in symbolism and tradition, speak of ancient tales and wisdom passed down from generation to generation. Around the seat, various elements evoke the imagery of the Rising Sun, including a fortune ideogram thatadorns one of the walls, conveying a sense of prosperity and harmony.

Patterns // Gradation

Several designs combined translucent materials and saturated color gradients.

The installation “Straordinaria” by Elica was designed by the Japanese studio we+. They were inspired by the natural elements and focused on the theme of air. The relationship and contact with the shapes, materials, shades and depth transport the visitor into a unique dimension of connection with the element.

Patterns // Material Combinations

There were many exhibits that used unique combinations of different materials, colors, and forms.

  • Textiles + Metal
  • Natural Materials + Resin
  • Wood + Metallic Paint
  • Smooth + Rough
  • Glossy + Matte

Automotive

Automotive // Lexus

The installation “Beyond the Horizon” embodies Lexus thoughts of mobility, where the vehicle is constantly updated with software and goes beyond its traditional role as a vehicle. In the center stands Lexus’ next-generation battery EV concept, the LF-ZC, as a symbol of exploration and innovation for the future.

Automotive // BMW

The theme “Future of Joy”, BMW designers introduce the site where they are developing innovation solutions for the next-generation electric vehicles and digital mobility. The colors and design of the exhibition space reflect BMW’s new design language and provide visitors with a place to encounter and be inspired.

Automotive // Porsche & Voyah

A ‘dream pattern’ inspired by houndstooth seat fabric is on display, and a 1967 911L Coupe is displayed in the courtyard with a similar pattern in the background. The exhibit in corporates design elements from Porsche’s traditional houndstooth pattern, using a black and white net with a large, lightweight construction.

Visitors can also ride on a hammock-like net at the exhibit, which was so popular that there was a line of nearly 70 meters outside the venue on the first day.

Automotive // Audi

The Audi exhibition venue was the same as last year’s Portrait Milano, a luxury hotel owned by Ferragamo. The Q6 e-tron was unveiled to the public for the first time in the world, with giant mirrors arranged in the shape of a cross. The name of the installation is “Reflection”

Automotive // Ferrari, ITAL Design & GAC

The pavilion was opened with the slogan “We are Generation Ideneers.” Mock-up of new concept EV “Asso di Picche Movimento”

From recent works by Ital design’s product design department. A crystal glass made at the request of the producer association of the highest grade DOCG wine “Altaranga”.