Tailored furnishing collections, unique pieces, reinterpreted materials, and collectives led by emerging young talents: the latest MDW (Milan Design Week) highlighted new dynamics and cutting-edge concepts.
From the many novelties presented during Milan Design Week 2024, a new approach to the world of design and interior emerged, particularly among companies and design studios. In past years, the development of a new product primarily focused on its aesthetics—beautiful to look at, easy to match with other furniture, available in many variants. Now, a qualitative shift is evident. Before producing any furniture or accessory, creative directors study the best process to create it with the least impact on the environment and people, not necessarily with the lowest budget possible.
On the contrary, there are many efforts from companies to invest in production cycles that can reuse consumed energy, recycle used water, and minimize waste. The final result—whether it’s furniture, an accessory, a lamp, or a line of indoor or outdoor coverings—is no longer a simple fast-market item (buy, use, discard) but the outcome of a long initial creative and productive process and a thoughtful choice by the buyer, who also appreciates its ethical and ecological value.
DESALTO
The materials used are not only performative and beautiful but also recyclable, as in the Unlimited collection proposed by Desalto. Designed by creative director Francesco Rota, it is a seating system composed of two elements that can be combined in various ways to create poufs, armchairs, chaise lounges, and daybeds. They have a sculptural and decisive design that highlights the meticulous craftsmanship in the details and finishes. Upholstered and joint-free, they have a hidden attachment system, a supporting structure in recyclable steel, and are covered in removable fabrics.
Unlimited collection by Desalto – desalto.it
FRAG
Environmental certifications, virtuous production cycles, and a careful policy on product quality and safety are also found in Frag‘s offerings. Among the first companies in the furniture sector to certify its organizational system, it ensures that the wood for its products comes from properly and responsibly managed forests, using leathers with additional certifications attesting to their origin and processing. Among the new releases is the Hug sofa designed by Werner Aisslinger: it has generous shapes, cushions, and a backrest completed with a layer of memory foam and wadding to amplify softness. Modular, it allows for personalized compositions with different shapes and sizes.
Modular Hug sofa by Frag – frag.it
TAMART
Natural, recyclable materials like wood and coverings created with vintage recycled fabrics were chosen by the English brand Tamart, which exhibited its collections in Milan for the first time. Founded by architect Amos Goldreich in London, the brand was born from the desire to bring to light the numerous projects designed by Tamar de Shalit and Arthur Goldreich, Amos’s parents, who created over 1000 projects from furniture to interior decorations in the ’60s and ’70s.
Among the many sketches and drawings that today form a rich archive of ideas and design inspirations, Amos Goldreich decided to start producing some pieces of furniture, whose simple and very detailed style, almost tailor-made, is still contemporary. Examples include the Clore lounge chair and the Central crescent stool in solid, fully recyclable wood, or the Highgate chair with a certified leather seat. Tailored pieces with timeless aesthetics.
Red Rock Club chair and stool by Tamart – tamartdesign.com
WOAK
“Instead of products, we create pieces, crafted with great attention for those who will use them and for the environment“: this is how Woak describes its activity, emphasizing the importance of sustainable raw materials. This Bosnian company, which has always combined a deep ability to work wood using various artisanal techniques—with creative stimuli from the most eclectic designers it collaborates with—presented many novelties during MDW.
Examples include furniture by Zaven, Constance Guisset, and the /Ã r-o/ studio, which also conceived the graphics printed on horizontal and vertical surfaces, depicting the section of a tree reinterpreted with a pixelated pattern in blue and green colors.
Collections presented by Woak, photo by Nicolò Panzeri – woakdesign.com
FPM MILANO & BOTTEGA BUSNELLI
Tailored detailing, fine finishes, elegant design, and high-performance technological elements: all concentrated in a wardrobe that turns into a suitcase. A dream? No, it’s the project presented by FPM Milano, a luggage and leather goods brand founded in 1946, together with Bottega Busnelli during the design week. The project is called Wardrobe Station and consists of a small wardrobe equipped with compartments, a hanging rod, a drawer for small accessories, and a mirror. Enclosed in a metal shell, it has comfortable leather handles and silent wheels for easy transport. An innovative product with a unique design born from the meeting of FPM’s cutting-edge technology and Bottega Busnelli’s craftsmanship excellence.
Portable wardrobe Wardrobe by FPM Milano in collaboration with Bottega Busnelli – fpm.it | busnellic.com
UNOBJECT
Materials are central to the project and the desire to materialize emotions and sensations into tangible objects, thus establishing an emotional connection between the work and those who experience it. This philosophy underpins all works by UNobject, a studio founded in Taiwan in 2023 by creatives Hsiang Han Hsu, Sheng Chun Lin, and Hsi Hsien Lin.
Working mainly with recycled metal, wood, glass, and plastic, they proposed furniture in the 5Vie district that invites viewers to go beyond the boundaries of conventional design, striking a perfect balance between form and function, inspired by nature itself. An example: black wooden coffee tables, soft to the touch, crafted with rounded and welcoming shapes, without visible joints or edges.
Coffee table by UNobject studio – un-object.com
DARRYL BEDFORD
Another creative who chose to use paper for lighting projects is Australian Darryl Bedford. A teacher of students with disabilities, as well as an eclectic and visionary artist, he designed a collection of chandeliers using simple paper, which was laser cut, colored, and assembled using Japanese origami techniques.
The result is large lamps that resemble 3D sculptures, reinterpreting the illustrations of microscopic marine creatures by Ernst Haeckel, a biologist and zoologist from the 1800s whom Darryl Bedford greatly admires.
Lamps by Darryl Bedford – beacons.ai
HOUSE OF SWITZERLAND
Increasingly circular and eco-friendly design and planning, developed to create a strong connection with nature: with this vision, a collective of Swiss designers exhibited their creations at the House of Switzerland exhibition, organized by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia and Presence Switzerland.
Furniture, lamps, and accessories were designed, produced, and displayed as symbols of a design that can stimulate and promote radical change, helping humans reconnect with the world around them through creativity. How? By stimulating the senses and playing with irony through vibrant colors and fun shapes, without taking themselves too seriously.
Some projects presented at the House of Switzerland exhibition, photo by Melania Dalle Grave and Agnese Bedini – design.swiss
On the cover, Clore lounge chair by Tamart.
