Design Trends – Salone del Mobile International Furniture Design Fair, Milan

Following her report from the Euroshop Retail Trade Fair in Dusseldorf earlier this year, our lovely  work experience student Hanna has been roaming Europe once again to check out the latest design trends at the Salone del Mobile International Furniture  Design Fair in Milan. The Salone del Mobile is the global benchmark for the Home Furnishing Sector and this year’s event took place from  the 8th to the 13th April, as guest blogger Hanna reports…

Salone del Mobile is  the place to go, to find the latest trends, design and interiors in the furniture sector. The event is the biggest in its field and this year, I, Hanna (who is still doing the work experience at barber design) was lucky enough to be one of the more than 350 000 visitors from all over the world. Here are some of my impressions, trends and favourites of this year’s international design furniture fair – in pictures, this seasons trends were:

Earthy tones of colour

Vibrant colours such as yellow, grass green, orange, purple, red and pink…

Pops of colour

Mirrors

Smooth and lacquered wood

Soft rounded shapes

Collaborations between different designers

Black and white

Sorbet colours like pink, pastels, peppermint…

Glass furniture

Small coffee tables

Using a range of small light bulbs as lamps

There was a focus on extraordinary lamps but also classic designs like Tom Dixon

Kitchen furniture

Kitchen furniture has risen to prominence over the past few years as it is represents the centre of the living space – or the heart of any home. Kitchen trends here included kitchen islands, sliding doors to hide the kitchen equipment behind them, industrial, mirrored and nature-related themes.

Overall,  the main characteristic of the trends was antural theme – both in the maaterials, colours and forms – and nature appeared to be very much in the spotlight at this year’s event. The selection of fabrics on display was incredibly diverse – ranging from striped to patterned and mixed materials, colours and styles.

Another interesting part of the fair was the “Off- Salone” section which featured displays that were situated offsite and downtown in beautiful and interesting venues. It made a refreshing change from the busy and business-orientated fair and also provided a welcome opportunity to enjoy the Italian sunshine and the beautiful city of Milan – which really was the icing on the cake!

Off- Salone was a great place to spot young, cool and not so well known talents beside the well established design brands, which you also see in the main show hall of course.

It was very interesting to see this big event and to be one of the huge range of visitors from all over the globe. I was surprised by the size of the fair, it’s was just huge and overwhelming. The whole city of Milan was swarming with designers, design exhibitions and showrooms.

The streets appeared to be filled with trend hunters, cool designers or just business people and you could tell they were all there for the event.

Make sure to not miss the next one in 2015, it’s amazing!