Back in October at Orgatec 2012 Vitra unveiled Workbay, the new concept from Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

The latest stage in the brother’s career-long “room within a room” research Workbay is a flexible system based around fleece walls and aluminium supports that resembles a cross between the Alcove Sofa and the Bouroullec’s Communal Cells from Orgatec 2010.

When we saw Workbay in Cologne we thought,  nice idea, nice extension of the Bouroullec programme… and went back to concentrating on their Cork Desk.

In Milan, Vitra and the Bouroullec’s unveiled the full majesty of Workbay.

In an installation specially created for the Salone Ufficio section of Salone Milano, Ronan and Ewran Bouroullec presented Workbay Office: a visualisation of how Workbay can be integrated into an office to create a series of separate areas based around the basic Workbay structure enhanced with very simple add-ons.

Sofas. Shelving. Desks. Storage units. Sinks.

And because the Workbay system can be constructed to practically any length, circumference, diameter or indeed form, it can be integrated as and when required into any office of any size. And then rebuilt as situations dictate.

As such for us Workbay not only offers a completely new approach to office furniture, but as a system offers architects and interior designers a new freedom when designing new office spaces.

And we thought Workbay was just a flexible fleece and aluminum wall!

Milan Design Week 2013: Review Part 1. Or, Why So Much Paper?

The above is all the paper we brought back from Milan Design Week 2013.

Three visiting cards. An Interni programme. A ten journey carnet. A couple of receipts. A page ripped out from our in-flight magazine.

We are so proud of ourselves.

Normally we return from Milan with enough paper to create a lifesize papier maché copy of Rodin’s The Thinker.

This year we were determined not to.

And had one large motivation and one important theoretical guide to help us.

The motivation was the two flits we have undertaken in recent months: new office and new flat. On both occasions we spent most of our time throwing away mounds of postcards, flyers and press releases that have accumulated over the years.

A thankless task and one we swore we would never, ever, repeat.

The theoretical guide that helped us was the ever brilliant “One Hundred. An Experiment on Myself: A Designer’s Reckoning With Things” by Moritz Grund, a book we can highly recommend.

The result was that 2013 was the year we learned to say “No, thank you!”

And in Milan one must say “No thank you!” quite a lot.

For every few metres temptation lies in your path.

And we ask ourselves, why?

In our modern, digital age is there not a better solution? In a world awash with smartphones, tablet computers and clouds, is there not a better solution?

Or put another way “You’re meant to be designers! Sort it out!!!”

Just like a football World Cup or an Olympic Games can never be environmentally friendly, so too can an event like Milan Design Week never be justified ecologically.

Alone the act of transporting the tons of largely unsellable furniture to Lombardy is to laugh in the face of all those species man has driven to extinction.

And while most of the hot gas emanating from the “ain’t it all fantastic” lifestyle blogs is virtual, the electricity needed to power their wet dreams and store their instagram images is very real.

But can we not at least reduce our dependence on paper?

The more forward thinking producers and designers have done away with paper and offer information either on USB sticks or even better as downloads.

But far too many still expect you to leave them with an armful of documents and /or an expensively printed paper bag.

And not just the big players and their corporate sponsors. One of the reasons we don’t have the names from all the Magic Moments Inside at Galleria Viafarini participants is that the information was only available in a collection of postcards. We didn’t realise this. Just assumed that students would have made the information available digitally. And so didn’t take any in-depth notes.

Assumption is of course the mother of all journalistic failure…..

At the end of the day it doesn’t matter if you throw documents away in your hotel room that evening or five years later when moving out of your office.

It is still waste.

Needless waste.

And it would be nice to think that an international design community that is always very quick to tell us how wonderfully environmentally unobtrusive their projects are, could also start using less environmentally obtrusive ways to tell us.

Ahead of Milan Design Week we received an email from a Belgian designer of our acquaintance letting us know where we could view their work. The email ended with a euphoric “This is finally Belgium’s year!”

A thought that really appealed to us, because as we wrote last year Belgium has the potential to be every bit as successful as Holland. And indeed should be.

And so with an optimistic heart we set off to the Triennale di Milano to view the exhibition “Belgium is Design”

And experienced our first disappointment of Milan 2013.

Belgium is Design was one of our highlights at Milan Design Week 2012, their 2013 show was at best a jumbled, incoherent mess.

Presented under the title “The Toolbox – Belgian Design & the Art of Making: A Tribute to Henry van de Velde” the show promised to present “… a portrait of the mastery of Belgian design”

It may very well have done.

If you could find it.

For much like locating anything useful in our toolbox, Belgium is Design 2013 forced the visitor to root through interminable chaos on the search for if not the Holy Grail that at least the correct screwdriver.

We didn’t. Life is far too short to spend foraging in the aftermath of an over ambitious exhibition designer.

What’s really disappointing of course is that following on from “Henry van de Velde. Leidenschaft, Funktion und Schönheit” in Weimar “Belgium is Design” is the second exhibition in a month associated with the name Henry van der Velde that lacked a sensibly executed exhibition concept.

Henry really deserves better.

Fortuitously that was to be our first and last experience of poorly organised Belgians in Milan.

As with 2012 the second part of Belgium is Design was on show at Salone Satellite. And as with 2012 the highlight for us was design studio Two Designers.

Specifically their “island” Curiosity.

We are at a real loss to find a term to succinctly describe Curiosity and so will have to make do with the less than snappy “A sort of  tray, shelf, table, storage box, fusion thing. With some material.”

Basically an object that stands in a room and fulfills several functions in one, while itself being an optically pleasing structure. A device to aid domestic organisation and give an impression of increased order.

Just delightful.

We admit to knowing very little about Two Designers; but having attracted our attention two years running that may soon change.

Milan Design Week 2013: Curiosity by Two Designers at Belgium is Design, Salone Satellite

In contrast to Belgium is Design the show from design platform “De Invasie” at Ventura Lambrate was a real pleasure to peruse.

Featuring a nice mix of Belgian design studios the highlight for us was without question Collectionnaire by Moupila.

As with Curiosity it’s hard to find an easy term to describe Collectionnaire. A modular storage cabinet Collectionnaire has a form language all of its own, a functionality all of its own and a size that means it will make any room its own.

As a concept we found the idea fascinating, and the realisation in wood works perfectly. In metal, for example, one fears a loss of the personality. Collectionnaire is not an object for everyone or every room. But where space and bravery collide, it should more than justify the, almost certainly, not inconsiderable investment.

Notable mentions must also go to Atelier Belge, a company whose development we have been following for several years and who never fail to produce. The Animal Desk by Fermetti on show at De Invasie perhaps not being being the newest object, but a delightful example of what they are capable off.

In addition we were very taken with the imaginatively named Coat Rack by Bram Vanderbeke, an adjustable coat rack system that can be stored in its own base, and and it was nice to see objects from Tim “Interror” Baute being shown in such a context

Tim Baute himself was presenting his latest collaborations with the graphic artist Stefaan de Croock  round the corner at “Ventura at Work”.  But more on Tim later.

Milan Design Week 2013: Collectionnaire by Moupila

Our final meeting with Belgium in Milan was “Landscapes for living in” by Muller van Severen at LAP Lambretto Art Project.

Premiered at Interieur Kortrijk 2012 Landscapes for living in is the first collaboration between the photographer Fien Muller and artist Hannes van Severen, son of Maarten.

We missed it in Kortrijk and so were all the more looking forward to seeing it in Milan. And it was every bit as delightful as we’d hoped.

Conceived in response to a brief set by the Kortjek curators  “Landscapes for living in” is a collection of objects that combine several functions in one unit: for example bookcase and chair or table and lamp. In many ways similar in concept to some of Verner Panton’s later work, no honest, “Landscapes for living in” has been realised with a charming clarity and honesty that endows it with a real familiarity.

A genuine joy to behold.

And despite the fact we’ve listed three projects here that could be described as being “fusions”. You’re not going to get the T word out of us…..

Against the bold claims of our communicant, 2013 was not Belgium’s year in Milan. It was however a further year that demonstrated the strength in depth and variety to be found squeezed in between Holland and France.

A strength in depth and variety that truly embodies the spirit of Henry van de Velde.

The concept of the so-called “Vertical Garden” or  “Living Wall” is reasonably well established in architecture.

In principle it involves cladding an exterior wall with plants in an integrated, self-sufficient system that requires little or no maintenance or external input.

The theory is that the plants provide an efficient layer of insulation that keeps the temperature ambient in summer and reduces heating costs in winter.

In addition such constructions reduce the impact of a building on its environment in that they reduce the reflection of heat and light from the outer facade.

How effective they actually are is another question…

The internal vertical garden in contrast has remained largely a curiosity reserved for staircases and large vestibules.

What, to our knowledge, doesn’t exist is the vertical garden as room divider. Or at least not as a genuine, self-sufficient vertical garden.

That may soon change.

At Salone Satellite 2013 Brooklyn based designer Danielle Trofe is presenting her Live Screen living wall concept.

Milan Design Week 2013: Live Screen by Danielle Trofe at Salone Satellite

Back at DMY Berlin 2012 we wrote about Green Lamp by Zuzanna Malinowska, a concept that excited us because of the ease with which it allowed plants to be integrated into office environments.

Live Screen is similar in that presents a system that allows anyone to establish a growing, breathing room divider without having to worry too much about watering and/or feeding the plants.

Aside from the environmental benefits of having plants in an office context, plants also provide natural acoustic benefits and all without creating solid, light interrupting walls.

At this juncture we can’t think of any negative aspects.

While we really, really like the technology and thinking behind Live Screen, we can’t admit to be any real fans of the realisation and visual appearance of the work.

For us it just looks too heavily styled, too forced, too artificial. And not particularly something we’d want in our office. Far less our flat.

For us it needs to be softer, needs to think a little less about itself and more about the plants. Potentially also a system that offers a little more flexibility and individuality in the organisation depending on the exact requirements.

That may however just be us.

And regardless of the general reaction to the physical appearance, the concept and technology is certainly something worth developing and we hope that Danielle is the given the opportunity to do just that, because we can see great potential for such a system

Milan Design Week 2013: Live Screen by Danielle Trofe at Salone Satellite

Milan Design Week 2013: Live Screen by Danielle Trofe at Salone Satellite

Many of you will remember the exhibition “Great Taste for Waste” that was staged at Dutch Design Week 2011

AGF Class 3 Bowls by Renee Boute would have been a wonderful addition.

AGF is an abbreviation of  “Aardappelen, groenten en fruit” -”Potatoes, vegetable and fruit” – and Class 3 refers to quality Class 3, so damaged examples that can no longer be introduced into the food chain. Or at least not into the “individual” food chain.

Utrecht School of the Arts’ graduate Renée Boute took these rejected/damaged goods and initially created a range of paper.

Each paper produced from a single fruit, veg or tuber. And consequently each with its own structure, haptic and colour.

What Renée did next is however what really appeals to us.

Applying a similar technique to that used to manufacture the paper, Renée Boute has created a series of bowls.

Again each created from a single item and so with its individual character.

As Renée says through the research she has created two series of objects that not only visualise the food waste generated every day, but have also transformed the role of Class 3 products by 180 degrees. Waste becomes a valuable material.

What really excites us about the bowls however is the global applicability of the production process.

Using agricultural land to produce, for example, bio-diesel is rightly a controversial subject.

Sensible as the use of renewable resources unquestionably is, one must also guarantee that basic food needs can be met before one starts using agricultural products for other ends.

But agricultural waste is a different matter.

Just to be clear, with Class 3 products we’re not really talking about objects that don’t meet some artificial, pre-set size, length or colour standard, but much more have suffered, for example, hail damage or have some form of biological infestation that makes then unsuitable for consumption

At the moment the majority of Class 3 waste is composted, burned or used for animal fodder.

But if one can use it to create biodegradable, every day objects, then for us that is a positive and sensible development.

Not only has one the obvious environmental advantages but much more one has a relatively simple process that doesn’t involve any great investment in machines or complicated training.

As such, such a production method is truly universal and can be applied on a small scale, as required basis, or even as and when the raw materials are available.

And the more communities who can produce their own household goods from locally “generated” agricultural waste, the less mass production, distribution and potential disposing of such goods is required.

Time will tell how the project develops, but for us the research undertaken thus far is certainly something worth pursuing and developing.

Milan Design Week 2013: AGF Class 3 Bowls by Renee Boute

Milan Design Week 2013: AGF Class 3 Bowls by Renee Boute

... and the bowls together with the original paper. Pear if we remember correctly.

Probably on account of all the wood, upcycling and back-to-basics on show at Milan Design Week 2013, Granoff Sofa by Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) alumna Scot Bailey, Taylor McKenzie-Veal, Ian Stell and Yumi Yoshida stood out like a burger bar in Rovaniemi on Christmas Eve.

An unexpected, inignorable and ultimately very welcome delight.

And that despite, or better put because, we completely misunderstood what was on display.

Milan Design Week 2013: Granoff Sofa by Scot Bailey, Taylor McKenzie-Veal, Ian Stell and Yumi Yoshida

Created for the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts at Brown University, the Granoff Sofa is a modular seating system – the object on display at Ventura Lambrate being but one of three base elements.

Together the three build a regular sofa, or can be freely arranged as required.

We however found the brutal cut of the piece on display much better than the images we have since seen of the complete system.

Nothing against the “complete” Granoff Sofa, but we just love the idea of an object that can’t be bothered being a sofa, an armchair or a chaise longue.

An object that functions, that could be developed further. But why bother? Would anyone notice?

Everyone is striving for the perfect form, looking for new form languages that offer users new opportunities.

Why not  just produce something that just does the very basics, and leaves the final decision with the user.

As a general rule we’re clever enough.

Despite the harsh cut and uncompromising geometry of the piece, the “Granoff Sofa Element” as we have christened it is also a very understated, well proportioned and nicely considered piece of work.

In the garish blue and red combination we saw in Milan you obviously can’t ignore it. But produce it grey tones and you have an object that vanishes into the background.

We have no idea if there are any plans to commercially produce the Granoff Sofa, far less the Granoff Sofa Element. However if you are in Rhode Island five examples in differing colour combinations can be viewed and tested in the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts.

Milan Design Week 2013: Granoff Sofa by Scot Bailey, Taylor McKenzie-Veal, Ian Stell and Yumi Yoshida

And the complete Granoff Sofa by Scot Bailey, Taylor McKenzie-Veal, Ian Stell and Yumi Yoshida

As we believe we’ve said before it is always especially pleasing when a designer you first got to know as an unkempt, idealist student, finally signs their first serious contract with a major manufacturer and so sets of a, hopefully, long and successful career.

Similarly it is always very pleasing to watch a newly established business grow and develop; especially when it’s one established with the goal of advancing contemporary design and the designer’s lot rather than simply generating a fab annual return, sorry, a fat annual return, for the shareholders.

Established in January 2010 by Brooklyn designer Jason Miller, Roll & Hill was born of a desire to both develop high-quality contemporary lighting with a North American accent and also to help advance the status, position and for all opportunities for contemporary US designers.

Two years ago Roll and Hill took their first, tentative, steps towards Europe with a small show in Milan’s Zona Tortona, this year they are showing at the bi-annual Euroluce trade fair, the lighting section of Saloni Milano.

And so the biggest and most important lightning platform during Milan Design Week. And a sign of just how far Roll & Hill have come.

Milan Design Week 2013: Roll & Hill at Euroluce

Our, admittedly slightly unhealthy, obsession with Roll & Hill started before the company even existed: namely when we saw Jason Miller’s Modo Chandelier at ICFF 2009, a lamp that immediately caught our imagination and hasn’t left us in peace since.

Modo was subsequently one of the five pillars of the original Roll & Hill collection along with Himmeli by Paul Loebach, Excel by Rich Brilliant Willing, Agnes by Lindsey Adelman and Jason Miller’s almost too kitsch for this world Superordinate Antler.

If there was one object missing from “Isn’t it romantic?” at the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln…..

In the intervening three years the Roll & Hill collection has grown steadily and now comprises some 15 product families from 9 designers, including with Canadian born, Eindhoven educated Lukas Peet the first non-US collaborator.

In Milan Roll & Hill were/are presenting a nice cross section of their current programme, including Stella Triangle by Rosie Li, Endless by Jason Miller and Counterweight by Fort Standard.

And the Modo Chandelier in a magnificent 6 sided, 21 globe combination.

Roll & Hill at Euroluce. Superordinate Antler by Jason Miller

One of the aspects of the Roll & Hill range that has always appealed to us is the unapologetic feeling of a return to the early days of Art Deco evoked by the majority of the objects.

Brass, glass, ceramic, steel, marble and wood combine to create objects whose opulence belies a simplicity and sobriety that would put your average Calvinist too shame. And which almost demand that you start dancing a Charleston.

Back in 2009 we noted how, for us, Jason Miller’s furniture evoked the popular image most Europeans have of late 1970s urban America. The Roll & Hill collection wouldn’t look out of place in a late 1920s Manhattan apartment block.

Obviously we’re generalising a little, and for all the works from Jonah Takagi and Rich Brilliant Willing contrast with the above to give the Roll & Hill collection a much more varied and balanced character.

It’s fair to say that Roll & Hill lamps aren’t the sort of objects you can buy with whatever loose change you may be fortunate enough to find down the back of your sofa.

However, as highly individual pieces made from quality materials in small workshops in Brooklyn and Long Island, you do genuinely get what you pay for.

In America the Roll & Hill distribution network is well established, in Europe there is still “a little bit” of work to be done.

It is to be hoped that after Euroluce Roll & Hill lighting will be more widely available here, and that even more of you can get the chance to understand, and hopefully share, our obsession.

Although as a general rule we don’t want to think about Vienna Design Week during Milan Design Week – as it means thinking beyond the summer, and that before we’ve really felt the warmth of the sun on our milk white skin – the touring exhibition Werkstadt Vienna showing at Ventura Lambrate is a delightful exception.

Because it brought back so many memories and ultimately reminded us just why we put ourselves through this.

Milan Design Week 2013: Werkstadt Vienna

Curated by Sophie Lovell and featuring an exhibition design by Studio Makkink & Bey, Werkstadt Vienna presents a selection of Vienna Design Week Passionswege projects from the past half dozen years or so.

For all new readers, Passionswege is an event within Vienna Design Week which pairs young designers with long established, traditional Viennese manufacturers/craft workshops to develop a new project.

The designer gets the chance to experiment and work with new materials, the company gets an injection of new ideas, new ways of looking at the company, its traditions and processes. And when all works as planned it is a genuine win-win situation.

Ideally we’d like to call Werkstadt Vienna a Greatest Hits; but for that too many truly excellent projects are missing.

However as an “Abridged Greatest Hits” Werkstadt Vienna provides a brief insight into just why Passionswege is one of the best design festival events anywhere. And by extrapolation why Vienna Design Week is always such a joy.

And as we say, for us it was just one memory after the other. If not all especially good or proud.

When for example we saw Charlotte Talbot’s Landscape series for and with Wiener Silber Manufactur we were reminded of the horrifically incompetent way we attempted to, and ultimately failed to, organise a “Making Off” report with Charlotte. Or standing in front of the results of LucidiPevere’s collaboration with Woka Lamps we saw once again how in our tired, hungry fatigue we got all stroppy because the exhibition was being presented at two locations. And stubbornly refused to visit the second. Something we obviously regretted an hour or two later. But by then it was too late.

And no, we’re not proud of such moments

But then there are also those memories that make this all truly worthwhile. The hour we and the official Vienna Design Week photographer spent “competing” with one another to get at least one usable shot in J & L Lobmeyr’s mirrored vitrines of someone looking at Mark Braun’s Fortune water carafes. We didn’t. If we remember correctly, he did. Or running half drunk through Hernals to get to Julia Landsiedl at Erwin Perzy’s Original Schneekugeln. Before returning, euphoric, to Herr Gruber and his far too welcoming bar.

As Ken Dodd would no doubt say “I’ve got no silver and I’ve got no gold. But I’ve got happiness in my soul”

Werkstadt Vienna. In the foreground Julia Landsiedl at Erwin Perzy's Original Schneekugeln

For all who haven’t seen the projects “in situ” in Vienna, and haven’t, for example, smelt the grease in Petz Hornmanufaktur or spent twenty minutes eaves dropping on conversations in Karl Sterkl Fleischwaren, it will be hard to fully place the projects in context and so to truly understand the magic of Passionswege.

However the information boards provide a good introduction, and ultimately all objects on display are strong enough in their own right to exist and be enjoyed outwith the Passionswege context. A fact that is especially true of Daphna Laurens furniture for Wittmann Möbelwerkstätten. Objects that still look as fresh and exciting as when we first saw them.

For all who feel inspired by the exhibition, we can thoroughly recommend Vienna Design Week. Late summer on the Danube is a truly wonderful thing.

And for all who can’t make it, we’ll be bringing you the highlights of Passionswege 2013 in October.

To be honest. We can’t wait.

Werkstadt Vienna can be viewed at Via Privata Oslavia 17, 20134 Milan until Sunday April 14th 2013.

And Vienna Design Week runs from 27th September until 6th October 2013.

Back at Saloni Milano 2010 Ronan Bouroullec told us about his feeling that the internet and new technology could, perhaps even should, eventually, replace the resources and time invested – and ultimately wasted -  every year in an event such as Milan Furniture Fair.

In 2013 everyone’s favourite German conceptual contemporary furniture manufacturer Moormann, have made the start.

And in doing so proved that even from the pastoral calm of Aschau im Chiemgau, one can still be part of the Milan madness.

In our conversations with Moormann ahead of Milan they told us we could “look forward” to what they were organising in place of their regular Saloni Milano stand.

Which is a nice line in modest understatement one dosen’t normally associate with Moormänner…..

For rather than investing in the faltering Italian economy, Moormann have created a celluloid masterpiece!

To make things easier we’ve embedded the film here. The original can be found at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8GwMxAsHnc

For us one of the highlights of Saloni Milano 2013 was/is Italian manufacturer Mattiazzi.

And not just because they have managed to eke a chair out of Jasper Morrison that, in our opinion, is one of his better, and certainly more interesting, of recent years.

Milan Design Week 2013: Mattiazzi

Established in 1978 Mattiazzi is, if we correctly understand, essentially a network of woodworking facilities in Udine. For three decades the company served as a supplier of wooden parts for other furniture manufacturers before deciding in 2008 to invest in their own brand.

The investment has obviously been very heavy, or better put, very, very heavy.

But has also been very successful.

Mattiazzi first reached an international audience with the 2011 Osso Collection from Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec.

The positive echo generated by Osso was not just on account of the media friendly connection with the Bouroullec brand, but because, simply put, it is a mighty fine piece of work.

As a project Osso allowed Ronan and Erwan to seriously develop a new dimension to their work, a challenge they met head on and with a result that demonstrates a wonderful degree of technical finesse and aesthetic clarity.

Since the launch of Osso in 2011 the Mattiazzi portfolio has grown steadily and in Milan the company presented the latest results of co-operations with with Sam Hecht, Konstantin Grcic and the aforementioned Fionda by Jasper Morrison.

Effectively a wooden frame with an interchangeable fabric sling, it is really hard to call Fionda a chair, at least in the classical sense.

Apparently inspired by a folding camping chair Morrison bought in Japan, Fionda doesn’t do anything that much different from either “regular” camping chairs or design classics such as the globally copied Butterfly / Hardoy Chair.

Fionda however presents the concept with a rarely seen lightness and assured calm. And as we say with a liveliness that we have missed in much of Morrison’s recent chair work.

In addition, by removing the canvas sling the frames can be easily stacked, thus making Fionda a fairly straightforward outdoor seating option for cafes, ice cream bars and their ilk.

Milan Design Week 2013: Fionda by Jasper Morrison for Mattiazzi

Equally impressive is Medici by Konstantin Grcic. Originally presented at Milan 2012 Medici is a lounge chair that takes all Konstantin Grcic‘s association with reduced down, unassuming, form languages, picks it up by the scruff of the neck and throws it out the  window.

Yes Medici is a very simple wood construction, a very simple wood construction in many ways reminiscent of the Rood-Blauwe Stoel by Gerrit T. Rietveld.

But it’s not an object you’d want to meet in a dark alley late on a Saturday night.

Much like Waver for Vitra, Medici is not something we know from Grcic. And while the motivation with Waver was largely to define the Vitra outdoor range with a form language far removed from the classic Eames dominated interior furniture; at Mattiazzi Konstantin Grcic had a clean slate. Which means the design comes from somewhere deeper. And indeed reading his comments on Medici you sense the real personal joy he got from developing the project.

Milan Design Week 2013 Mattiazzi Medici Konstantin Grcic

Ultimately what attracts us to Mattiazzi is the effortless simplicity of their furniture.

You currently can’t move in the European furniture market without bumping into a manufacturer with a new wood chair.
A lot of them very similar. Very generic. Very dull. And very “Scandinavian”

Developments in the furniture industry clearly mirroring those in the TV crime drama world where every station needs a moody Scandinavian detective in a quirky knitted jumper.

And indeed one young designer we spoke to in Milan was quite open that their current works are largely geared towards such a market. And you can’t blame them for that.

What however for us sets Mattiazzi apart is that they obviously care not only about the physical appearance but also the function, the origin, the craftsmanship and the attitude of the piece.

Older readers will associate such with the concept of “character”, an archaic term that is so outdated the Oxford English Dictionary are planning removing it from their next edition.

Mattiazzi obviously still have an old edition at home.

It will be interesting to see how the Mattiazzi brand develops in the coming years. If the investments made can bring a return.

Excellent and interesting as the current collection is, it isn’t necessarily a collection that is guaranteed to guarantee long term financial sustainability. The fact that they have secured Herman Miller as their North American distribution partner is no bad thing. Similarly the agreement with Aram in the UK.  But again these developments alone are no guarantee of sustainable success.

That comes from a product portfolio that is successful across various market sectors and that can keep reaching and exciting new buyers.

And that takes time.

We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on the situation.
And will of course keep you informed.

Milan Design Week 2013: The Mattiazzi Collection

Milan Design Week 2013: The Mattiazzi Collection