Italian Lessons

Mary Gaudin surveys shows and installations at Milan Design Week – the world’s biggest furniture fair, which takes over the city for one crazy week.

The experimental and avant-garde were, once again, with some of the world’s leading furniture brands – and those who fly with a much lower profile – showing what we can expect to see from interiors in the coming years. We review the current shift from minimalism to hedonism.

1 Glam rock: the 70s are (definitely) back. Forget minimalism. Forget polite Scandinavian blonde timber and leather. Look to the 1970s for excess and glamorous combinations such as velvet and chrome.

At their debut exhibition in Milan, Dimoremilano built on the trend that started gaining momentum a few years ago. The furniture and fabric brand, owned by Milan-based design duo Dimorestudio, ran with burntorange velvet combined with chrome and mirrors, leopard-print carpet, round tables, and brass with exposed light bulbs, while a collection of gold candlesticks sat with cane furniture on a bright pink carpeted plinth. It was fun, outrageous and compelling.

2 Blush isn’t going anywhere. You may be relieved to hear that we’ve moved past millennial pink, a saccharine shade that made itself known in 2017.

However, blush is sticking around, albeit in deeper, darker and moodier tones. It’s part of a general trend to rich, dense colours. In its altered guise, it’s also hanging out with good friends navy, maroon and tan.

3 Even the Swedes no longer do ‘Scando’. You might remember the interior-design trend the world came to call ‘Scando’ or ‘Scandi’, which featured mid-century lines, bleached timber, white walls and turned legs. Simple proportions and a sensible sort of minimalism drove the trend.