The design week in Milan can be a journey too. A journey into your past, because if you have been there for 15 years in a row it is quite likely that you have memories to deal with. A journey into a present of rock-star designers, smoke-into-your-eyes displays, pretentious furniture manufacturers, third-world public services (the subway, more crowded than in Tokyo at peak hour; taxis, impossible to find; and 3-star hotel rooms available only at 500+ euro per night), a show- the Salone del Mobile - that looks more and more like a Fellini movie: a shiny mess where, if you manage to stay alive, the real challenge is to spot the small bunch of people who have interesting projects, ideas, dreams (usually, down-to-earth people - and here is my question: why people with great ideas usually look relaxed and almost humble, never over-the-top? perhaps because they don't need to show off?). A journey into the future: probably a cloudy future for the furniture business, I am afraid... but hey, here we don't care about business: we care about our own lives, our own future. And you know what? It's springtime. Whatever our future will be, let's make it smell of flowers, of grass after the rain, of wind that comes from a land that we still don't know.
Now, a few high-lights from the 2008 Milan Furniture Fair:
Rosario and Roberto's EL ULTIMO GRITO new collection, part of a project coordinated by Javier Mariscal for Uno Design (other designers involved in the project are Emiliana Design Studio, Enrique Martí, Fernando Salas and Lagranja Design). Rosario and Roberto remind me of Bruno Munari who used to say "give children too many things to play with, and they do nothing; give them a few simple things and with those simple things they build a castle": even if time pass by for everybody, Rosario and Roberto didn't throw away the child in them (how else you get in tune with Mariscal?) and keep on making products that are serious and playful at the same time, that make always sense, that are never made just to marvel but to be actually used, instead... and every time by assembling a few simple components. Minimalism may be dead, but do we really want to go over-decorative? why not go for simplicity + imagination? A combination that seems easy but it is so difficult and complex. I believe this is where Rosario and Roberto are so good. As someone said (many years ago?): it's only rock'n'roll, but I like it.
A little bit of irony never hurts. "Her" chair designed by Fabio Novembre for Casamania. a homage to Verner Panton and his famous Panton chair. Who is sexier? the chair, or the woman sitting on the chair and touching its (her?) bottom?... perhaps this is not rock'n'roll, but we like it too!
The decadence of the Roman Empire became obvious when the Emperor Caligola nominated his favorite horse Incitatus as senator. Here we have a real-size horse nominated a lamp by a designer. Any guess?
My guess is: in the design business a few guys open the way and the rest follow (copy). I thought this while taking a picture on i Navigli on a saturday morning (yes, I went to i Navigli and run away from the design crowd... what a relief!)
And then I have a question: is design meant to be there to create better products for us or to allow producers to make more money?
But at the end, what really matters is our friends. Not easy to make real friends in the design business (perhaps, in any business) but Milan is always a good opportunity to meet few of them. Here I am with Ildiko - the first time we met in Budapest (1997?) she had a little showroom in a basement, now she has a beautiful showroom with high-end products in the city center (and from time to time some headache due to the arrogance of Italian manufacturers who believe they are the masters of the world), and in the meantime so many things changed in her and my life but we managed to stay in touch. The same happened with Tzaneta, Tom and Luke, Marisa, Claudio, Ron, Rosalinda, Irina, Paolo and Alessandra and few others... (a big hug to Paolo and Alessandra who give me a roof and good vibrations every time I go to Milan... and a great terrace to smoke a Montecristo number 4 and meditate at night...)
And the last thought: this was my first Milan show without Ettore Sottsass. He was the last of the Mohicans, and from now on the design world will never be the same. His life was a fantastic journey, I guess. To him its dedicated the last picture below, taken on a street behind I Navigli: "The one who throws seeds in the wind will make the sky blossom". So long, Mr. Sottsass.
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