May 2014 / Think Fusion & Experimentation


Located throughout the world, the Trendease Team continues to deliver our subscribers around the globe must-know market information and inspiration straight to their computer screens.

Milan Design Week is the headliner this month, naturally. Directions noted at other events carry over to Italy. Slow crafts mix with high-speed industrial production. All imaginable surfaces are getting the design treatment. From the Salone Internazionale del Mobile fairgrounds to the external events of the Fuori Salone, 100s of happenings kept us on our toes, now 100s of images and relative reports are here for you. Get inspired with the May edition!

We attend over 100 design events a year on your behalf to bring you trend insights and design movements to help you maintain cutting-edge knowledge of the lifestyle and design markets. Currently we keep readers within 173 countries/territories in the know! Are you reading Trendease.com?

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REPORTING TO INSPIRE,
Jennifer Castoldi,
Chief Creative Director

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Features and Articles

Jennifer's May Marvels

Worldwide — As you might expect, this edition of Trendease weighs heavily towards our recent findings in Milan during design week with a sprinkling here and there of other products we have come across in our vast travels outside of Italy. Milan. What to say about Milan? Read Jennifer’s insights here as well as pick up on upholstery trends seen at events in Cologne, Paris, Bangkok, and of course the home of The Last Supper.

The results of studies in the Visualization and Materialization (ViMA) classes

Create Wealth: Leverage Your Facets

Multiple European Cities — At the 2014 edition of Milan Design Week the Trendease Team noticed a plethora of designs with pointy characteristics. What’s their angle? Diversity. Architectural features, jewelry, textiles, shelving, upholstery, wallpaper, bathroom fixtures, tables, chairs, and lighting all have something different to show for this aesthetic. Mixtures of materials and playing upon the light which adds depth, like the buttons of a Chesterfield sofa, are found abundantly.

Interweave (newspaper)

Wraps & Woven Wonders

Worldwide — Technology is full steam ahead in the design industries. On the flip side of this movement we continue to see a substantial number of creatives moving towards the handmade, slow craft, recycled and upcycled manner of producing items. There is an immense fusion of culture and craft happening in our very own backyards, as well as on the other side of the planet. All of these wondrous designs within this gallery are wrapped, woven, or give the appearance of being so.

Tabletop Tips & Tricks

Worldwide — From digital photography and printed imagery to ceramic glazes to etched acrylic, tabletops seen during Milan Design Week at the Fuori Salone and SaloneSatellite are not just a surface on which to rest your goods. They are demanding attention. See if this gallery of examples from designers in Taiwan, Chile, Germany, and Italy catch yours.

Door Jamming

Worldwide — In Milan companies exhibiting at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile and SaloneSatellite were showing that case goods—cabinets, wardrobes, and other large pieces of furniture—need not be visually heavy, bland storage pieces. Stands we visited were as global as they get with exhibitors originating from Japan, Brazil, Sweden, and Italy. Adding some surface interest to their collections, boring doors have been transformed into something a bit more special.

Bringing Museum Pieces Home

Amsterdam — Brand and Amsterdam-based design company, Droog, develops bleeding-edge merchandise, projects, and events globally in partnership with designers and like-minded clients. During Milan Design Week in the new up-and-coming San Gregorio district Droog collaborated with graphic designer Irma Boom who envisioned a studio apartment inspired by the Dutch national museum dedicated to arts and history, the Rijksmuseum. There are some intriguing stories here that bring art and culture into interiors worldwide.

Moooi & Monopoli

Milan — It is amazing how the backdrop of an exhibition display can really change the look and feel of the product being shown. This year in Milan’s Zona Tortona and Ventura Lambrate, once again, companies impressed the Trendease Team with their vignettes and merchandise skills, making the product even more desirable as we mentally decorated interiors we don’t even have.

Patio

Interior Dialogue

Milan — At the museum La Triennale di Milano during Milan Design Week this exhibit examined the relationship between contemporary art and living space. Five Italian artists created ten domestic scenarios where the furniture corresponds with the works of art. In this selection of images from the show there are different artistic languages and media showcasing home environments as visualized and suggested by artists and gallerists.

New Design Britain Relaunches

London — Where can you network with highly skilled British design talent, find fresh and inspiring outlooks to the future, and uncover newly unveiled products? New Design Britain is where it can all be found. Moving from Birmingham to London to be part of a growing event is just as exciting as the show itself as the second edition of May Design Series is due to take place later this month at ExCeL London.

Book Worm: The Woodbook

Worldwide — This winter Trendease stumbled upon a gem of a reference book, The Woodbook. It is a like an encyclopedia of woods including their family, description, habitat, and use, accompanied by three images of the wood sectioned: transverse, radial, and tangential. During Milan Design Week Trendease had a serendipitous encounter. While exploring what designers had on show in Ventura Lambrate we noticed a book perched in a bookcase on display; this was no ordinary book—it was The Woodbook…

'Proust'

NEWSLETTER #476 - Celebrate 10 Yrs. & Marble

Worldwide — It was a very special week for us at Trendease. Ten years ago, after a year of developing the business model and plans for Trendease International, on May 6th, 2004 Trendease.com went live to the public following a private VIP launch. THANK YOU Trendease Community and Trendease Team for over a decade of adventures and inspiration! It has been quite a journey!

Hand crafted process with materials: threads, wood, resin.

NEWSLETTER #477 - Embedded in Design

Worldwide — We are certainly smack dab in the middle of a lot of creative happenings now and all of the products in this week’s gallery are also embedded in design. Stools, tables, counters, floors, and even jewelry seen during our recent travels all have intriguing patterns and materials that are firmly and deeply entrenched within. Subscribers can see over 30 images here.

NEWSLETTER #478 - Tea Stains & Technology

Brooklyn — Two new textiles appropriately named “Dani” and “Makoto” are now available on Bernhardt upholstered pieces or by the yard. Bernhardt Design along with Dani and Makoto unveiled the creative process at Wanted Design. The experimental exhibition of Human Touch immersed guests. Artifacts detailing the voyage from idea to product were on show along with art pieces and demonstrations that celebrate the culture of tea, textile production, and silk painting.