Salone 2015 was, in a word, disappointing. As an ever-expanding media frenzy, the largest annual international design fair has lost sight of the essentials and diluted the meaning of good design. Even the work shown in the Ventura Lambrate area, where design schools like Eindhoven present student work that hints at the future of design, suffered from a lack of innovation. Case in point, Caesarstone had a collaboration with Wallpaper*, which resulted in … planters — and not particularly interesting ones at that.
Many such fairs become victims of their own success. Art enthusiasts bemoan the loss of a focus on art at Art Basel Miami. At Salone, the incessant need to produce new things felt irresponsible this year. Hitting the zeitgeist on the nose, Hella Jongerius published a manifesto of sorts called “Beyond the New.” In it, she says, “It’s time to rid ourselves of the obsession with the new.” Design should be about creating new solutions to problems, not simply creating objects in order to increase profits.
Even so, a handful of intriguing pieces caught my eye. I make a point of checking out the student section at the main fairgrounds, which comprises a high concentration of young and emerging designers who bring fresh perspectives to the scene. This year there were quite a few standouts; I will discuss two in particular.
L: Vanity by Ece Yilmaz, photo by the author; R: Villa Müller by Adolf Loos, photo via Wikipedia.
The first was a dresser by Ece Yilmaz. At first glance, it is a handsome thing: beautiful, rich wood cabinetry set on strong bronze legs, with a mirror set on top; beautiful, but simple and unadorned. But, upon closer inspection, the thickness of the mirror conceals two pullouts; one on each side. Each is outfitted to hold jewelry: earrings, necklaces, bracelets. Similarly, the top of the dresser slides open to reveal storage for makeup and accessories.
What I love about this piece is that it is both simple and complex, masculine and feminine at the same time. In some ways, it strikes me as the furniture equivalent of the Villa Müller by Adolf Loos, who similarly eschewed ornamentation: the house has a severe, unyielding exterior, but its interior reveals boxy volumes cleverly nested within each other, containing the necessities for living elegantly. I had the good fortune to visit the Muller house in Prague last summer, and it remains one of my favorite domestic buildings.
Loop Chair, courtesy Markus Johansson
The second item was a resin chair by Markus Johansson. The chair first caught my eye because it is playful, whimsical, and aesthetically light. It looks like a chair that has been extruded out of a large toothpaste tube; a viewer is unsure of what material it’s made of or how it’s made. I initially thought it was aluminum, but it is actually made of resin and there is no ‘honesty’ of construction here: Although it looks like it is extruded, it is actually made from a cast and is very labor-intensive — each one takes six days to make. The material makes the chair usable indoors or outdoors, and it is also stackable. It’s rare that you see a chair that is this fresh and new, yet very marketable. It’s also quite comfortable.
Other standouts were a new sofa by veterans Bassam Fellows — who, in my mind, are the Poul Kjareholms of our era — and a fantastic display of “Objets Nomades” by Louis Vuitton. Hopefully the fair will continue to evolve in the direction of quality versus quantity, design over spectacle — it will be crucial to its relevance to the design community.
Photo at top: Milan Fairgrounds, designed by Massimiliano Fuksas. Image via Fiera Milano