Milan Furniture Fair

Milan Furniture Fair - pictures

Spanish architect and designer Patricia Urquiola revisited the classic Windsor chair in her 'Comeback Chair' for Kartell. The backrest of the glossy seat is comprised of seven jowls that spread out toward the lower back where they fit into a horizontal bar that is fastened to the seat with thinner shafts.
French designer Philippe Starck drew crowds with his 'Miss Less' chair, a plastic creation for Italian company Kartell, so minimalist that the designer has boasted he had managed to break the limits of scaled down furniture design. The chair, a solid block of glossy black plastic " which also comes in a two-toned version with a transparent back-rest " starred alongside Starck's towering, long-legged bar stool and white table with a lustrous black top.
Lapo Elkann of the Fiat-making Agnelli family for the second year rolled out a line of automobile-inspired furniture. This year, he honoured the iconic 500, the car that got the Italian masses driving after World War II. Elkann reproduced front ends of the 1970s-era 500 to make a loveseat and a pair of tables topped with crystal surfaces in co-operation with Meritalia. The electricity-powered headlamps actually work.
Doriano Mattellone,whose family business is in a chair-making district in northern Italy, took the techniques of making a fine, wooden chair and applied it to making wooden eyeglass frames. The super-light W-eye frames (weighing just 7g) are made from seven layers of fine wood, with two layers of aluminum (to allow a proper fitting). The frames have no joints and were shaped in a press, then smoothed out by hand.
Lapo Elkann of the Fiat-making Agnelli family for the second year rolled out a line of automobile-inspired furniture. This year, he honoured the iconic 500, the car that got the Italian masses driving after World War II. Elkann reproduced front ends of the 1970s-era 500 to make a loveseat and a pair of tables topped with crystal surfaces in co-operation with Meritalia. The electricity-powered headlamps actually work.
A visitor relaxes in an outdoor seating creation called "Driade", by Philippe Starck and Spanish designer Eugeni Quitllet, at the Statale University during the Milan Furniture Fair. Picture: Luca Bruno/AP

Published May 13, 2011

The Salone Internazionale del Mobile held last month - the biggest event in the design calender - celebrated its 50th year with more than 2 700 companies on exhibit. The six-day event spilled into Milan’s galleries, boutiques and open spaces.

French designer Philippe Starck drew crowds with his “Miss Less” chair.