It has begun with I Saloni del Mobile in 1961 and fastly becomes one of the market direction determinants. This huge organisation has grown year by year. April, the one month of spring and beautiful weather conditions which allows to long walkings and discovering was the time of the design week.
In 2022, Design Week organised and open the gates to all design lovers who wait for it. This time, instead of its traditional time,design week was done in June. Designers, companies and organisers were so ready. Some of them had to opportunity to work during the lockdown. They showed what they had. All the pavilions in the fair, stands, and shops in the street were almost full.
This year's organisation was done in April, its own time. This means, all the participants who also attended last year, had only ten months to be prepared again. This situation occurs many difficulties to meet the expectation. New style, new saying, meaningful concepts and stand designs. Even for big teams in international companies, it is a challenge to find new ideas and make prototypes in this compressed time. Because only showing a good project is not enough. It has to be shown in a well-designed stand, lighting, and commercial jobs. All this stuff makes it complicated.
In addition, Design followers around the world made a plan months before to visit this huge design organisation to get inspiration and wish to see new trends. They keep their eyes open on every corner of the street.
Some brands used the showcases on the street during the design week. Even the tiny ones rented to show scaled cute interior models. Historical courtyards used for installations. Some are opposed to the environment and some are respectfully transparent to be behind.
Compare to last year, there were fewer young designer exhibitions in Brera Design District. This made this region a more commercial place. All of the brands asked for registration on their system which broke the curiosity and created long clues.
The Students of the University of Milan showed us many different kinds of installations. Thanks to partner companies, the dreams of young talents came true. There were good examples to see the level of a creative collaboration may reach.
In Tortona Design District, there was a balanced mix of commercial shows and young designers. Ikea showed us its care for nature with its upcycling approach. The brand presented 3 main art installations. One of them is a tree with wishes. Everyone wrote down their expectations on long paper pieces and tied them on the tree branches. It has a traditional background ritual in common human history which moves into the future.
Super Design Show was interesting as it has to be. There were several big brands with their new standards. For example, Samsung worked for house technologies with bio-plastics. There were also stands from different countries. Besides their designs, they showed their materials, handcrafts and technologies. Thailand, Japan, South Korea, and Indonesia attended with their objects which we can recognise their culture and understand their capabilities.
Every corner indoors or outdoors where you can relax away from the crowd was beautiful. Some companies know how to do it. These places were also used for taking photography. Natuzzi prepared an outdoor showcase with bunny armchairs in front of the store on Durini Street. The concept was Alice and 'Follow the green rabbit'. The exhibition area was looks like a small forest. Another beautiful resting area was Dedon's exhibit on Senato Street. Their concept was 'Inspired by nature' The products had calmly scattered in the wide garden. Visitors rested in this cool place. Such experiences are more memorable because of the feeling they evoke in people.
There were fascinating indoor stands at the fair. Driade showed us its heritage with colours. Ego Italiano was highlighted with the shiny colour and fabric usage. Innova, made a mind-blower inflatable stand. Campeggi made new units. Qeeboo took its place. Their deepsea fish-shaped light named Abyss is fascinating. It was designed by Dai Sugasawa.
For the seating side, companies were more focused on comfort instead of form. Seating dimensions are widening while seatings are getting softer. Hidden mechanism in soft parts bent vertical items attended over the seatings. Besides linen fabrics, there was long fur and knotted covered examples.
While home furniture getting more relaxed, workplaces are getting the comfort of home. After the lockdown, remote working is accepted by many companies as an official working type and spreading day by day. Some companies wish to meet in the office with their workers even some days of the week. They need to stay highly motivated for getting these days more productive. This makes workspaces more playful and relaxed to feel workers less stressed. Offices represent workers, personal or teamwork isolated cabins, different types of seating, and personalized lighting.
As a foresight for the next year, designers going to have larger time. I expect to be more stands and products. In my opinion, attendees will make more simple units and products to show us their sensitivity to nature. They will show us emotion-centred, upcycling applicator approaches for the key concepts to touch our hearts. We will see more simplified technology using styles because over the years, we learned that display screens and fast internet cannot be compared with socializing. Humanity needs to be connected with emotional networks like family relations, friendship and love.
As a curious design follower, I would like to thank all attendees and organisators to showed us this inspiring week. I wish to meet next year.