Even before the recession hit, luxury was being redefined. It was not to be found in a designer chair, but lived as experiences that deepen one’s understanding and appreciation of life. So where were these meaningful experiences at Milan Design Week? Sadly there weren’t many. It was all about the product, and very quickly, I and others, reached the stage where a chair is a chair is a chair.
In the West, we crave experiences that help us know ourselves better, and better express ourselves. The companies showing at design week needed to use ‘illumination’ as the filter from which to deliver their brand experience as the world doesn’t need another chair, light fixture or cabinet. The world needs design steeped in meaning. And as many social commentators keep reiterating, meaning is the new currency.
Without meaning there is no relevance. And with no context, you are at a loss for how these items of furniture fit into your life. It’s the ‘how’ of living that’s important. How you drink your coffee, sit on the couch, sleep in your bed or carry your bag defines the quality of your life. The reason for needing, desiring or wanting any of the items on display was rarely delivered with emotional impact. Granted, many exhibitions were conceptual, but concepts need to speak to our emotions . . . our feelings . . . our well being, rather than be a mirror for a narcissistic designer ego.
In the current economic climate, Milan Design Week was the perfect opportunity for the companies involved to say they weren’t a particular model of sofa, but that they embodied a particular state of mind – a distinctive direction. Buyers, consumers, journalists, design aficionados and the general public were seeking emotional expression and relief. They wanted new perspectives and new realities to be provided.
Where was the colour of time in products? Must everything be new? Instantly replaceable? Is there no such thing as aged beauty? Personal fulfillment is not achieved by sitting at a brand-new kitchen table. Active clothing company Howies lives by the motto: ‘that which has the greatest use, possesses the greatest beauty’ but that sentiment seemed to escape many of those exhibiting in Milan from big names like Cappellini, Boffi and Marcel Wanders, to smaller studios and student works. Many of the chairs looked so fragile I didn’t dare sit on them (or wasn’t allowed to), and I just wonder how many of the sofas on display were designed with machine washable covers in anticipation of that spilt glass of red wine that so often occurs at house parties?
There were though glimpses that did nourish the spirit. Lighting installation ‘The Three Baskets of Knowledge’ based on New Zealand Maori mythology retold how demigod Tane was given knowledge in three baskets that mankind needed to live on earth. These are knowledge of the earth and the natural world, rational knowledge, and knowledge of the spiritual world. The first knowledge is for all (body), the second we keep for ourselves (mind), and the third we give out for others (spirit). All three need to be in balance for us to live harmoniously on earth. Designer David Trubridge believes our ‘rational knowledge’ is currently dominating our spirit and empathy for the earth, and the installation – with the three lights shining equally on the earth, overlapping at the centre in harmony – suggests a redress to a balanced state.
Another highlight installation was Arpa Industriale who took something rather non-glamorous – high pressure decorative laminates – and spoke about their creative process (dreams, perceptions, feelings and themes) in a real and meaningful way; while seven installations showcased non-conventional uses of laminates. Design week is not just for individual design enthusiasts but for larger clients like hotels, restaurants and property development companies and this installation spoke perfectly to this audience.
Rather than stirring up false desires, Milan Design Week was the perfect opportunity for those involved to demonstrate positive contributions provided to all affected by their creations – not only the international design set. There is an increasing demand for products, services and experiences that make us go inward, rather than outward. So rather than better products, where was the better way of living??? It was the display we all came to see.
