roomplanners magazine - June 2012

roomplanners JUNE 2012

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isaloni

2012

furniture trends from the largest home show in the world

Milan!

made in

from Italy’s fashion capital

Milan

from Leonardo to LaScala…

5 must-sees in the city of style

what’s hot…

trends!

2012 The recent iSaloni trade fair in Milan once again focused the eyes of the world on home.

As the largest furniture show in the world, iSaloni covers over half a billion square meters, drawing well over 2,000 exhibitors of furniture, bathroom and kitchen products - and several hundred thousand retailers and designers.

Ahead, four key themes driving today’s leading trends for home...

on the cover Dining room from Chic Atmosphere, one of many exhibitors at the Milan furniture show, iSaloni 2012.

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CLOCKWISE FROM THE TOP: Cattelan Italia Arketipo Carl Hansen & Son Divani e Poltrone

Interesting to look at, inviting to touch... materials got physical in Milan… becoming almost as important as shape in determining a product’s style.

a material world

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WHAT WE SAW... 

well-considered material choices, with a material’s intrinsic qualities, or even its peculiarities, inspiring a particular product design.

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surfaces that begged to be touched (from crushed velvet and nubby linen to polished stone and concrete).

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stained and painted woods mixed on a single piece of furniture... or wood mixed with metal or fabric in equal proportion.

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wood or stone with striated, fabric-like textures.

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upholstered beds!

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two or more body fabric mixed on a sofa, or toss pillow combos that mixed texture as much as color.

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the

lightness of being WHAT WE SAW...

The ongoing trend to eliminate clutter, pare back, and otherwise lighten our load is inspiring a lighter look in furniture.

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white or light-colored fabric, wood and stone; complemented with translucent or frosted glass or acrylic.

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floating or cantilevered counters and shelves with a new ‘thinness’.

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tall or thin (or both) legs under cabinets, tables and chairs

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wafer-thin shelves in metal or wood; offering structural strength with scantier dimensions.

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‘open’ sections of shelving (with plenty of dividing panels) intended to expand space while carefully organizing the things we want to see out in the open.

CLOCKWISE FROM THE TOP: Stua . Chic Atmosphere /Gicinque / Elmar

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JUNE 2012

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WHAT WE SAW...

Interest in more personal décor and more

visual gratification

is driving outstanding individual and stand-alone pieces.

statement makers!

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fresh and unexpected redo’s of historic design ideas.

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uninhibited shapes!

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unique patchwork effects and

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color-blacked effects on sofas, or cabinets, including contrasting wood-stained and painted woods used together.

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statement pieces for every room... an ’accent’ sofa that stood out for its shape or texture… accent chairs from pop-art-inspired to wing chair redo's... and a plethora of upholstered beds!

unexpected combinations of colors, patterns or textures.

CLOCKWISE FROM THE TOP: Flou / Erba / Team 7 / Nova Mobili Prima Fila / Marchi Group www.roomplanners.com

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The calendar may say it’s the 21st century. But some of Milan’s most interesting furniture referenced by-gone days.

nostalgia for the past WHAT WE SAW... 

historic references that were subtle and reinterpreted in a new, modern or personal way, rather than directly reproduced. Favorite inspirations? 19th century drawing rooms and industrial themes, 20th century art deco or mid century modern.

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vintage and distressed materials with an aged, worn or matte quality, including open-grained woods and French laundry linen.

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style-setting individual items, such as a bath tub reminiscent of an old washtub, industrial-style work tables and button-tufted sofas and headboards.

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CLOCKWISE FROM THE TOP: Zappalorto Chic Atmosphere Missoni Home Marchi Group Vitra

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five masterpieces from the city of style MADE IN

This fast-paced city, centered on banking and fashion, isn’t generally at the top of tourists’ must-see list. Located at the top of the ‘boot’, it’s out of the way of the touristdrawing cities and towns further south.

But Milan offers visitors some compelling attractions to see, from the very old to the cutting edge. It’s not surprising, really. After all, this is Italy… www.roomplanners.com

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The absolutely spectacular, glass-domed Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II became the model for enclosed shopping malls in the 20th century, though none quite have its flair for the dramatic! Built in 1865, its cruciform shape encloses an arcade of shops… and its awe -inspiring central dome oversees a floor mosaic below that promises good luck to any who spin around on it!

Where better than Italy to immerse yourself in opera? And where better than the LaScala to share the same ground as have opera’s greatest singers, composers and conductors?

Built in 1778, the famous La Scala Opera House is one of the most prestigious opera houses in the world. It was home to Giuseppe Verdi (house composer) and Arturo Toscanini (conductor), not to mention opera’s greatest singing stars and grandest works.

Even if you can’t take in a concert at this operatic icon, you can peak inside its dramatic hall during a visit to the adjacent Museo Teatrale alla Scala; a museum filled with opera mementos that include a strand of Mozart’s hair, original Verdi scores and costumes designed by Milanese fashion designers of centuries past.

A Gothic wonder—the Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral) is the fourth largest in Europe. Built at a time when the round arches and domes of Renaissance style were taking root, the more conservative Milanese chose Gothic style instead; and a rather flamboyant, overdone version at that. The cathedral boasts 3400 statues, 1500 stained glass windows and drain spouts in the shape of medieval gargoyles! Construction began in 1386 and finished in 1810… explaining the Italian expression that what takes forever is like ‘making a cathedral’.

The cavernous and elegant marble interior is rivaled only by the cathedral’s roof, where visitors can wander among flying buttresses, a forest of spires and statue-toped spires for a city-wide panorama that stretches to the Alps.

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Currently under construction in the middle of Milan, the Bosco Verticale will be the world’s first ‘vertical forest’. Designed by architect Stefano Boeri, this 27-story tower of tree-lined units will offer a model of the ‘vertical densification of nature’ in this dense city.

This first ‘vertical forest’ will include two residential towers, 328 and 250 feet high, hosting 900 trees (each measuring 3, 6 or 10 feet tall) and a wide range of shrubs and floral plants. Measured on flat land, the plants on each Bosco Verticale will be equivalent to 108,000 square feet of forest! In addition to offering privacy and close-up views of nature (even up in the sky!), these plant-covered buildings will help balance the microclimate and filter dust particles.

One of Leonardo's da Vinci’s most famous paintings, and star of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, The Last Supper was painted on the wall of a monk’s dining wall in a convent adjacent to the Santa Maria della Grazie church in Milan. The painting represents the last meal shared

by Jesus with his disciples before his crucifixion.

Some years after Leonardo finished painting his masterpiece on the wall of the monk’s dining hall, a door was installed… destroying the lower center of the painting!

Wanting to take his time with this particular work, Leonardo used tempera over gesso instead of the usual fast-drying fresco technique.

After the masterpiece was finished in 1498, it deteriorated rapidly.

The fresco received well-meaning but unfortunate ‘touching up’ over the centuries... in between being used for target practice by Napoleon’s troops! The room was used as a stable for a time, had a door added under the fresco (cutting away the lower center of the painting!) and even lost its roof during WWII bombs, leaving the fresco exposed to the elements for three years! A recent. lengthy restoration did away with some of the damage and all the unfortunate over-painting… leaving something a little closer to what Leonardo intended. The work isn’t just one of the most copied in history, it’s powerful… and well worth a visit. www.roomplanners.com

Santa Maria della Grazie, Milan.

Attempts to fix the painting resulted in garish versions (above) that had to be stripped away and restored to Leonardo’s quieter Renaissance color palette (top).

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