- Port’s design editor Alyn Griffiths rounds up the highlights from this year’s Salone del Mobile
This year’s Milan Furniture Fair had a more contemplative feel to it than some of the more progressive and disruptive editions of recent years. While the explosion of interest in 3D printing and hacking gave last year’s event a distinct theme, 2013 will be remembered (or not) as a more subdued affair, although an introspective focus on intelligent ideas and attention to detail provided some standout examples of rational design.
French fashion house Hermèspresented its third collection of home furnishings, including beautifully crafted products and furniture in luxurious materials by French designer, Philippe Nigro. The pieces offer different functions and several contain hidden drawers or containers for small accessories. The GROOM valet stand is particularly practical, with a rotating mirror backed by a leather upholstered panel with a hanging hook and pouch and an accessory holder, jewellery compartment and bag rest all mounted on a walnut covered metal frame. 
A former industrial space in the Porta Venezia area hosted JUICE, an eclectic exhibition curated by journalist and art director, Cristina Morozzi, and Michela Pelizzari and Federica Sala of creative consultancy, PS.
One of the highlights was the on-trend collection of postmodern Ziggurat containers by Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte and Jakub Zak of Milan studio, Oueffice. The stacked wooden boxes are inlaid with wood and acrylic in graphic patterns that evoke traditional Middle Eastern decoration.
The Mafalda chair is one of several new pieces by the consistently brilliant Patricia Urquiola for Italian brand, Moroso. A wooden frame supports a seating pad and combined back and armrest made from recycled polyester fibres. The back is moulded into a shape that adds structural rigidity as well as comfortable padding and comes in two different heights.
The simple form and intelligent application of materials is typical of the ongoing and hugely successful collaboration between Urquiola and Moroso.
At Euroluce, the biannual showcase of new lighting design, Italian brand FLOS presented two products by Cypriot designer, Michael Anastassiades. His String lights are a stripped back reinterpretation of the traditional pendant light, with a simple conical or spherical lighting element suspended from a black cable that can be arranged in a multiplicity of tensile formations.
Inspired by power lines and the strings of lights popular at Mediterranean festivals, the elegant and intriguing design drew quite a crowd to the FLOS stand.
Click for more information on this year’s Salone
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