The latest Milano Design Week almost universally banned hard edges, wagering on a plump scenario. Since little room seems to be left for slender straight lines, we have plunged into a new paradise of softness.
The password for May is Plumpup, towards a new style that does not avoid a few extra kilos – often only in visual terms, actually, since today’s materials know how to be light – and postpones all diets, at least for the moment, until the bathing beauty image returns to the fore.
Entirely sinuous, except for the walls, our moodboard overlooks the orthogonal and zooms in on the rounded side of design. Starting with wallpapers in the background. Like a theatrical wing, a brick partition, getting away from the 2D essence of the usual walls, thanks to openings made – obviously – with a compass.
Then comes a sofa shaped like a tortello, created oddly enough by an English duo, lovers of Italian cuisine, no doubt; followed by an enveloping table with impressive legs, a historic chair that is the apotheosis of the roller as the matrix of form, and several lamps that pass the circular geometry exam with flying colors. Everything in a mixture of hues straddling the 1960s and 1970s, vigorous tones combined with brown, gray and black. A not very scholastic way to create harmony through contrasts.
The neutral box of this setting is covered with materials from the Set collection by Ceramica Sant’Agostino, offering different finishes in concrete-effect porcelain stoneware.
For the background, pieces from Jali line designed by Patricia Urquiola for Mutina, a terracotta drawn and glazed by hand, decorated with a series of openings. Here again, the protagonist is the circle.
For the wall in the foreground (frame): Fenix NTA in the Oro Cortez finish, for a matte metal effect. A warm shading that adds luminosity to the whole.
Inside, the Intersections wallcovering by Mae Engelgeer for Wall&decò. A setting made of ellipses that intersect to give rise to a small domestic universe.
The new Bol table created by the studio Zaven for Zanotta (a new entry at the Salone del Mobile) has a round top with a cylindrical leg conceived as a module for single or multiple use, also in large compositions.
The 121 Scarpa dining chair by Afra & Tobia Scarpa, in the Karakter catalogue starting this year, stands out for its solid, sturdy design in wood, creating a vivid contrast with the lightness of the seat and back.
On the table, the Sideris lamp from the Domus Ginori 1735 collection designed in collaboration with designer Luca Nichetto: a globe of Venetian glass, blown and decorated by hand with a double layer of gold leaf or silver leaf.
The Tortello sofa by Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby is one of the high points of the new collection of B&B Italia. With a monolithic design and sustainable “stuffing,” it has a structure that can be completely disassembled for easy recycling.
The Soda cabinet created by Draga & Aurel for Gallotti & Radice is a geometric theorem with a circumference in lacquered wood and a door in tempered glass.
A light source that aims the beam in an unusual, strategic way, like a beacon. Luna is the first series featuring Fireball, the light source patented by Occhio, an idea to recreate the magic of our romantic satellite even in the home.
With its central column that acts as a support for the circular tops available in various finishes, the Brady table by Rodolfo Dordoni for Minotti is the demonstration that Euclidean geometry is always in vogue.
Céramique is the new collection of lamps created by Ronan Bouroullec for Flos, composed of three table models with body and conical diffuser in ceramic with crystalline lacquer finish, free of lead.
Decorative lightness and careful study of forms conducted by Missoni, naturally accompanied by soft lines. The new collection of poufs comes to life through the use of cylinders, rings and loafs. Obviously clad in the typical colors and patterns of the brand.
The new Flux collection of carpets produced by Carpet Edition in collaboration with the design studio Stormo is a panoply of curves, composed by abstract forms and waves, bringing character to the living area.
Never industrially produced before, the Due Più chair by Nanda Vigo for Acerbis is composed of two rollers that permit different sitting positions: regular, lateral with placement of one arm on the upper roller, and seated in the opposite direction, where the roller back becomes the perfect support for the forearms.
