It’s without doubt the most important and influential design show for the home furnishings business anywhere in the world.
And if you weren’t there that doesn’t mean you have to miss all that happened at Salon del Mobile and the entire Design Week in Milan last month.
The show, which encompasses a huge main show and dozens of ancillary exhibitions and displays all throughout the famed Italian city, has come to be the place where international trends in home furnishings products start…eventually trickling down to the mainstream here in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world.
From reports direct from the fair, here are five big trends that will be coming to a store near you in the not too distant future:
1. Color…Yes COLOR
While European taste levels seem to naturally gravitate towards more vivid palettes than we do here in the States, color really exploded in Milan this year. Companies like Armani Casa – previously a bastion of all things gray – Hermes and Louis Vuitton all went the color route.
2. Marble Marvels
Never far out of trend, marble was the material du jour for a whole range of products, from furniture to accessories to especially lighting. Key intros came from Natuzzi, Flexform and Bloc Studios.
3. Patterns Upon Patterns
Again, another look always more popular in Europe than here, this time around patterns received a 1970’s influence with no amount of layering being too much. Kartell’s La Double J furniture collection seemed to get a lot of attention from observers.
4. Soft and Easy
While there were still plenty of hard edges to be found at Salon, soft shapes were everywhere, from furniture at Dedon, Se and Roche Bobois to a collection of soft wall hangings from designer Kiki van Eijk inspired by Google hardware, which sponsored the installation.
5. Falling for Waterfall Lighting
Accelerating a trend we’ve seen globally, lighting debuts were heavily into waterfall and cascading looks, on vertical sticks, hanging ropes and all manner of multiple arrangements. Among the designers getting attention were Lindsey Adelman and Apparatus.
Lots of media from Architectural Digest to Dwell and others had extensive coverage if you want to know more.