The design world turned out in force for the triumphant return of Salone del Mobile Milano in its 61st year. After two 'reduced' years, the most celebrated event in the design calendar was again in full swing, alive with events, shows and presentations. Let’s examine our five key macro themes from the week, extracting the insights that can be applied in a wider context.
Five trends from Milan 2023:
1. Transparency
2. Adaptation
3. Ginormous
4. Energy
5. Provenance
1/ Transparency
Transparency featured heavily across the fair, on both a physical and value-driven level. In a sustainability context, many brands took a transparent approach to communicate their manufacturing and supply chain processes – a response to a heightened consumer awareness around a product’s origin. Transparent materials were harnessed to inclusively divide a space, creating zones which reflect the needs of different users and communities, while maintaining a sense of fluidity. This unrestricted and open aspect of transparency was celebrated in examples of unbound joyful expression from designers, such as Markus Benesch and Audrey Large.
Get Ahead
Celebrate and communicate transparency throughout your supply chain and manufacturing process. Technical literacy is increasing amongst consumers and information on material and industrial processes holds value.
Explore ways in which you can utilise different levels of transparency in order to open up or section spaces to make them more inclusive and accessible, better reflecting the needs of communities and individuals.
Experiment with new techniques and mediums from other creative industries. Source inspiration from across categories to remove barriers within the creative process: what elements could interiors sample from beauty, for instance?
2/ Adaptation
Both the global pandemic and increased consumer awareness around inclusivity and access have changed the way in which we consider and use space. As a result, a new evolution of modular has evolved. Across industries and disciplines, brands are blurring the boundary between modular and adaptable, moving away from singular modular products towards adaptable systems. The repurposing and transformation of space to create indoor/ outdoor interactions, which better meet the needs of those in the space was notable. From adaptable seat cushions to portable lighting and kitchen turntables, the emphasis was on creating spaces which are adapted for comfort, whilst still being fully-operational, flexible and able to change at pace.
Get Ahead
Design interiors to reflect the evolving needs of multifunctional spaces, both at home and work. Go beyond modularity to adaptability, enabling users to continually co-create spaces at speed, utilising quick fastenings, lightweight materials and multifunctional textiles.
Fixed lighting fixtures limit opportunities to change and create new atmospheres within spaces. Explore opportunities to design portable lighting solutions fit for multi-occasion and personalised use.
Kitchens have always been social spaces, reimagine how to integrate entertainment solutions into traditional kitchen surfaces, seamlessly transforming the space.
3/ Ginormous
Ginormous is a trend characterised by extroverted, voluminous and supersized design. Brands have been experimenting with scale, creating fun and 'friendly giant' forms which contrast with the restrained designs born out of the financial crisis. This theme builds on our 2023 trend unmasking joy: 'seeking to inject more moments of joy and optimism into our lives'. We're seeing a focus on play beginning to develop, evoking boldness and personality, whilst encouraging users to challenge themselves through personal exploration. Both Davide Groppi's The Moon and Amaze by Anna Maria Nilsson, Clara Storsten and Lisa Wagner, create unique interactions which enable consumers to play and explore, creating deeper analogue, emotive connections.
Get Ahead
Play with maximalism in both wellness spaces and beauty products to transform existing rituals, allowing for personality and encouraging confidence through personal transformation.
Draw inspiration from the theme ginormous: create a sense of friendliness within your brand through volume and scale.
Create memorable retail and exhibition experiences which allow consumers to challenge themselves through play: supersizing to encourage physical interaction and engagement within the phygital world.
4/ Energy
The cost-of-living crisis, fuel shortages and climate change all demand that we urgently find new sustainable energy solutions. We explored this in our 2023: In Perspective report, where the theme empowering resilience came to the fore. This theme was evidenced at Milan – particularly in student-led projects. Harvesting energy from both under-utilised forms and unconventional sources provides an innovative response to the shortage. The impact of the cost-of-living crisis means that now, more than ever, consumers are invested in the conversation around energy. From Boffi's kitchen stoves to ECAL's turbines, there's an increased emphasis on redesigning existing energy solutions with a greater focus on interaction, appearance and local symbolism.
Get Ahead
Reimagine fossil-free energy solutions to aid sustainable lifestyles by introducing new interactions and industrial design principles which harness energy on a local level. Energy facilitates connection with users, their communities and their environment.
Harness underutilised forms of energy (e.g. static, sonic and kinetic) within products to help address sustainability issues.
Investigate potential opportunities to harvest energy from unconventional sources (e.g. body heat from transportation systems).
5/ Provenance
The pandemic exposed the fragility of the global supply chain. During its peak, material production slowed and demand continued to build, bringing these once hidden logistics and processes into the public consciousness. In response, we are seeing a rise in design which pays homage to machine processes and finishes, and a sense of reverence for virgin materials. From creating a new vocabulary of forms for scrap metal to designing machines which recycle local sustainable materials, designers are taking accountability by challenging the traditional form-first design process, placing materiality and sustainability at the heart of the thinking.
Get Ahead
Celebrate your manufacturing processes with exposed joins and finishing techniques. Design for disassembly to encourage end-to-end accountability within your products.
Evaluate how you could optimise your production and packaging, exploring single-moulding techniques and ecological materials to transform your supply chain.
Embed materiality and function into the heart of your design process, working with existing materials and feedstock. When using a virgin material, treat it with respect.
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