1. the way something has been made : the way the parts of something (such as a building, machine, book, etc.) are formed and arranged for a particular use, effect, etc.
2. the process of planning how something will look, happen, be made, etc.: the process of designing something.
These are the first two definitions that The Britannica Dictionary gives for the word “design”. The two aspects are closely linked, and both – aside from what may be the aesthetic trends of the moment – are two of the key protagonists of Milan Design Week, a major global event both in terms of business generated and as a laboratory of ideas.
We could say that what emerges from the thousands of previews – by companies, schools, individual designers, from the famous to the up-and-coming – that we have examined is that we will see a lot of green in relaxing shades, many rounded forms and a return to some of the great classics that have come onto the market. But it is worth going deeper.
What we are witnessing is a continuous evolution of processes that are both upstream and downstream in the production of furniture: such as managing inventories or logistics, how to reduce the carbon footprint of an object, how to get as close as possible to mass customisation. New forms of collaboration, of communication, of use of materials are established. New professions are born. This is what made us to put an “antique” object on the cover, a radio but one made from recycled plastic using 3D printing. Because in the end design (2nd definition) is also about giving form to ideas. And these from Milan are spread around the world.
For us, an online/print platform dedicated to the world of design and products, the Salone is a formidable window onto the market and what it has to offer. So it is also to describe this movement that we have decided to add to our programme a new edition of the .Wonder Book, a collectible print publication, dedicated precisely to the existing relationship between architecture and furniture, conceived as an extensive collection of pieces able to inspire the reader. Including a depiction through images of Milan Design Week. An event that lasts seven days but this is an arbitrary limit – because in reality it is the expression of a world that never stops.
