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Milan Design Week 2018: Top 10 Trends – Furniture

Every April thousands of people descend on the northern Italian city of Milan for its annual design week. This was the 57th year of Salone, as it is known, and it’s the largest of its kind. Last week there were over 430,000 visitors from 188 countries in six days visiting nearly 200 exhibitors.
The City is full to bursting with installations, parties, exhibits and everyone vying for the attention of the buyers, bloggers, designers and instagrammers.

warm neutrals at Gubi
warm neutrals at Gubi

On the outskirts of the city there are six airport hangers of exhibitors all hoping to make a sale, bring in a new client or get some attention. In the city itself, brands such as Gubi and Hay take over the grand palazzos making a spectacular backdrop to their wares. Other brands, like Fornasetti, simply open their shop doors while others create amazing installations to show off their products in the palazzos, parks and gardens of the city.

the only flowers were at Rubelli
the only flowers were at Rubelli

I went for two days (out of the six) last week to have a look at what was going on. I walked 36 kilometres in 48 hours and this post is the first of three that I will share with you on furniture, bathrooms and kitchens.

curves and leather at Milan

I was lucky enough to be invited round the furniture sites with DFS who had sent their designers round the day before to gather ideas. They then invited a small group of us to walk round with them and see what they had seen. While they were there to gather ideas for future designs – and to see how this year’s ideas could be adapted to the high street, it also meant they had done a lot of the legwork – literally – and allowed us to pick up on the trends more easily as they had already made a note of the ideas and colours that were prevalent. The following is a distillation of ideas and shapes that they saw several times in their journey round and which they then felt spoke to a prevailing mood. They will then take these ideas back and work them into future DFS pieces.

hard surface patterns on soft materials at Diesel
hard surface patterns on soft materials at Diesel

So here we go. This is what we saw last week and this is what you will see filtering through to the shops over the next year or so. Some of it is already here and is a continuation – that’s the pink. Some of it is new and will take just long enough to arrive that you will have forgotten about it and then suddenly it will be everywhere – that is the fringing.

THE NEW NEUTRALS

warm neutral and curves at Gubi
warm neutral and curves at Gubi

This is perhaps the first thing to note. While grey is still around there was much, much less of it about. The neutral colours were warm creams and beiges and mink, which is a hybrid between grey and beige and goes with everything. It’s warmer than grey. The whole mood was restful and elegant and grown-up. And there was a lot of it about.

MINIMAL PATTERN

mink and warm tones at Rolf Benz
mink and warm tones at Rolf Benz

I saw flowers only once and that was on a Tram decorated by Rubelli. In fact there was very little pattern. Where it existed it was often carved or woven into the material in the same colours to create texture rather than printed onto the material. There was very little pattern on the soft furnishings but lot of vibrant designs on the hard surfaces – marble tables, tiled tables, vivid printed cupboards. Or the pattern was used in a different way – at Diesel, for example the pattern on the sofas and lamps resembled marble and concrete so the hard patterns were transposed to the soft materials and the prints were  moved to the furniture. There was a lot of tweed around where pattern was on show.

RICH COLOURS

warm tones and fringing at Salone
warm tones and fringing at Salone

Lots of blush pink but this has become stronger and more defined – a continuation of a trend that has already begun – so plenty of orange, terracotta, burgundy as well as warm yellows, green and strong blue and teal. There was talk of ice cream colours but I didn’t see so much of that. There was some at Vitra but, as above, the pattern was very much woven into the fabric rather than printed.

ORGANIC SHAPES

curves were everywhere at Salone 2018
curves were everywhere at Salone 2018

Curves were everywhere. Rounded sofas and chairs with curved backs. Everything was soft and comfortable and inviting. Coupled with the warm neutrals and the rich accent colours, it was all about creating a home environment that is warm and cosy and, yes, homely.

SHOW US YOUR LEGS

pattern on the walls and elegant legs
velvet rugs and elegant legs

Gone are the short wooden legs or furniture that sits close to the floor. This year it was all about a gently angled leg – slightly mid-century – in feel, or a so called ski leg. The advantage of this, apart from being more elegant, is that the more floor you see the bigger the room looks so by lifting the furniture you create the impression of having more space as well as a more airy feel. These legs are not chrome – which can look office-like – but more often powder coated steel or black. If they were wooden it’s dark wood – see below and have a look at the DFS Hackney at the end of this post to see their ski legs on a leather sofa.

TEXTURED DETAIL

pattern was woven not printed
pattern was woven not printed

This is what Michelle Ogundehin, former editor of Elle Decoration, has called Posh Povera. The detail is in the texture – woven patterns, visible seams and stitching to add interest (see the orange velvet chair from Diesel lower down). There is pleating and quilting and a lot of texture adding in woven designs – that look like garden furniture rattan but is actually made from material. See at the end for the DFS Hoxton sofa which includes a small leather strap for holding the cushion in place as another example of this trend.

DARK WOOD RULES

walnut was everywhere - here at Natuzzi
walnut was everywhere – seen here at Natuzzi

Alongside the rich dark colours, the wood has also become darker. In the hangers there was lots of walnut which works well against these colours and the warm neutrals. In the city there was more oak and pale wood but the overwhelming impression was one of dark wood adding to the overall richness of the look.

ASYMMETRICAL SHAPES

asymmetric furniture and detailed stitching
asymmetric furniture and detailed stitching were all on display

It will be interesting to see how the High Street deals with this one. In addition to all the curved sofas, which take up a lot of room, there was also lots of asymmetry. Chairs with one arm. Sofas that were half high-backed and half low. Often the single arm was very wide, which is perfect for resting a gin but leaves less room for actual sitting.

 VELVET ON THE FLOOR

mink and warm tones at Rolf Benz
velvet is still strong and was seen on floors as well as cushions

Velvet isn’t going anywhere and it was still strong on furniture but also in rugs. Lots of carved rugs with velvet details so the softness and comfort starts from the floor up. Talking of materials there was also lots of suede – warmer and softer than leather although perhaps more temperamental. This may be when faux suede comes into its own. Lots of faux leather and real as well – we were in Italy remember.

LAYER THOSE CUSHIONS

animal prints at Roberto Cavalli
animal prints at Roberto Cavalli

Cushions will always be strong as a decorative element but this year they were often small and there were lots of them. I saw leather, suede and even an acid yellow PVC one but that was Roberto Cavalli and was placed on a zebra print sofa so it’s not necessarily a look that will take off here.

hard surface patterns on soft materials at Diesel
hard surface patterns on soft materials at Diesel

So there you have it. Now it’s true that in that much space you will find every trend under the sun but these were themes I saw repeated again and again so there’s a good chance you will see at least some of them filtering through. There was one I saw only once but it’s one that’s being talked about and that was fringing. It began at Maison in January and is still fairly new but it will come eventually.

the hackney sofa by dfs includes on trend ski legs and is made from natural leather
the hackney sofa by dfs includes on trend ski legs and is made from natural leather

Above  is the leather Hackney sofa by DFS as part of their collaboration with French Connection. Note the ski legs (just visible) the natural textures and the wide arms. This sofa is already available but these three trends were all strong at Milan last week.

the hoxon by dfs includes sliim elegant legs and the leather detailing to hold the cushions in place
the hoxon by dfs includes sliim elegant legs and the leather detailing to hold the cushions in place

And here is the Hoxton – part of the same collaboration. Note the slim legs and the leather detailing holding the cushions in place.

 

With thanks to DFS who guided me round the show in return for me writing this post. I was invited to Milan by the organisers of the fair who paid for my plane ticket and hotel accommodation. 

Kate Watson-Smyth

The author Kate Watson-Smyth

I’m a journalist who writes about interiors mainly for The Financial Times but I have also written regularly for The Independent and The Daily Mail. My house has been in Living Etc, HeartHome and featured in The Wall Street Journal & Corriere della Sera. I also run an interior styling consultancy Mad About Your House. Welcome to my Mad House.

9 Comments

  1. So the warm creams and beiges are on the way back? Wow didn’t see that coming for a while yet. Love the look of the Hoxton Sofa

  2. Bravo DFS for doing the hard leg work in advance. Their sofa does look very stylish. I too would never have shopped there but perhaps it has been their off putting adverts that have lost sales due to our “Snobism”? I am sure that you can help to improve their image Kate.

  3. Great update and some exciting new ideas and it will be interesting to see which end up in our shops here in the UK. The sofas by DFS are very stylish and I particularly love the leather version.

  4. Love the look of the Hoxton sofa. Looking forward to reading more from your Milan visit.

      1. Laughed at that … then again when I realised it said ‘by 2018’: 2108 possibly?

  5. Looks like a hectic but fun 2 days. I like the softness coming through in a lot of the trends and I have to admit would never think about shopping in DFS but I do like that Hoxton sofa

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