Europe's largest, most prestigious industrial design trade fair, the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, made its first edition in 1961. Attracting thousands of exhibitors and hundreds of thousands of visitors every year for six days, the Salone del Mobile turns Milan into a meeting place for interior and furniture designers, manufacturers, agents, architects, journalists and design aficionados.
With an area of over 200,000 square metres designed by Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas, the main trade-show buildings are located outside of Milan in the town of Rho. Additionally, the Salone del Mobile event turns the entire Lombardian capital into an outdoor trade fair known as the Fuori Salone or the Milan Design Week: exhibitions, installations and happenings taking place in museums, furniture shops, in palazzo courtyards, backyards and car repair shops. With over 600 presentations illustrating international achievements in design, the 52nd edition of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile opens under the theme "Milan: interiors of tomorrow".
Polish design, increasingly sought after and displayed, has secured its place in today's Italian furniture trade shows. A dozen Polish designers, firms and design collectives who create unique, universal objects will present themselves at the fair this year. Interesting names include Aleksandra Gaca, Maria Jeglińska, Kosmos Project, Kristoff, Lorens, Malafor, Mamsam, Baskho Trybek as well as Zieta Prozessdesign.
At a press conference in early April on the promotion of Polish design 2013/2014, Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka, design expert and programme director of the Poznań School of Form, spoke of the current interest in Polish design and Central Europe as its "15 minutes in the limelight" that should be taken advantage of. Polish manufacturers have been recognised internationally and have been producing furniture and lighting for foreign brands, and it's time "to encourage the industry to cooperate with (local) designers", as Jacobson-Cielecka remarked.
Polish Innovation in Milan
"In the last decades, Poland has positioned itself as a manufacturer of furniture that is mainly exported to the West," say the team behind Polish Innovation in Milan, one of the six exhibitions presented at the Salone, with the support of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. They explain,
The development of this industry was boosted by foreign capital and consisted in the execution of ideas and designs put forward by Western investors. For a couple of years now Polish companies have been taking over the initiative and create brands based on the ideas of Polish designers. In the creation of their own collections, they implement innovative ideas and resort to modern technologies [...].
One of the locations hosting Polish designers is the Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia (MOST), which houses a permanent exhibition of the world-renowned London brand Tom Dixon. The Polish Innovation in Milan project focuses on three companies: Zieta Prozessdesign, the design and engineering studio, Lorens, the architecture and design studio, and the porcelain factory Kristoff. Entirely made in Poland, innovative in design, the manufacturing process and technology, the designers and their products are helping alter Poland's market position to that of one putting innovation forward and utilising its rich production supply base.
Zieta Prozessdesign and Lorens, using leading-edge materials and technologies, have innovative approaches to design intelligent home, office and production management systems, of which the 3+ Zieta Prozessdesign collection and Lorens's modular table Cloud are sterling examples.
Mapped out and patented by designer Oskar Zięta, Zieta Prozessdesign will showcase objects created with unique treatments of material. The studio is associated with Zięta's patented FiDU technology (free interior pressure transformation), which fills metal sheets with air under pressure. The Plopp stool, created with this method, is highly praised by industry experts. This year the company is preparing to show new products made with 3+ technology, an innovative technology that stabilises the thin metal sheets applied in producing movable and interchangeable systems of furniture and elements for offices, workshops, apartments and store exhibitions.
Lorens, the architecture and design studio led by Anna and Marek Lorens, won the grand prize in 2008 in the urban planning competition for parts of central Warsaw. They were among the few Poles to have an individual exhibition at Salone del Mobile 2012.
Lorens' work is set between design, sociology, art and architecture. Their 2013 collection presented in Milan brings to life the idea of co-working and working from home. Their presentation includes the plywood-aluminium Cloud modular table whose unusual structure allows the owner to arrange it however he or she sees fit, the Tralala table entirely made of recycled wood balusters, and the gender-personalised bureau collection Adam and Eve. The porcelain lamps Lace Trace and Twins, produced in cooperation between Lorens and the Kristoff porcelain factory, transform traditional Polish-pattern vase shapes in the porcelain-production process.
The porcelain factory Kristoff, the oldest factory in the Silesian region at nearly 200, is the third participant of the MOST museum exhibition. Its most popular product, the Italian-style Fryderyk porcelain set, was first produced in 1936. As part of Poland Innovation in Milan, Kristoff showcases an original line of decorations and utilities, the result of its cooperation with young designers.
Fusing new graphic design to existing Kristoff styles, the firm comes to Salone Internationale del Mobile with a collection of porcelain by young graphic designers Maria Jeglińska, Honza Zamojski and Kaja Kusztra, presented for the first time.
Kristoff's collections of decorations in and on enamel have been created by a group of designers, illustrators and graphic designers, and reflects current trends in Polish graphic design and illustration. It was shown for the first time at the AMBIENTE trade show in Frankfurt on Main, in early 2012. One of Kristoff's original porcelain collections, Marek Mielnick's Circus, received the "Must Have!" special mention at the Łódź Design Festival 2012, and a nomination to "Event of the Year" from the Association of Polish Graphic Designers (STGU).
Kuka Cooking - Let's Cook the Future
The Poznań School of Form, a creative and educational hub for the new generation of Polish designers, makes its presentation next door to the MOST exhibition. The school's second-year students of Industrial Design, led by Oskar Zięta and sociologist Agata Nowotny, program the Kuka industrial "cooking" robot shown at Salone, which combines culinary arts with technology. The Milan exposition marks the next stage in presentating this kitchen of the future, which was first demonstrated at the Arena Design show in Poznań in 2013. Its will also be shown in August 2013 at Poznań's Transatlantyk film festival.
Polish Design
After the main Rho trade show, the most prestigious, most visited district of Milan during Salone is the Zona Tortona, home to Superstudio Piu. During the show the space is named Temporary Museum for New Design. It has housed the work of Samsung, Foscarini, Canon, Diesel, and famous designers including Alessandro Mendini, Tom Dixon, Paola Navone and Patricia Urquiola.
Under the heading Polish Design, organised by Dorota Koziara Studio, the Temporary Museum for New Design presents young design from Poland for the third time. The exhibition includes such brands as: ASTRINI, LANDOR, PLANIKA and the work of their Polish and European partners.
ASTRINI is a new brand created from the initiative of ASTROMAL. The furniture and public space objects are produced with advanced technological lines and 3-D production machinery. It's Polish Design exhibition presents the collections City Alphabet letters, made by Piotr Wełniak and Michał Bartkowiak, and Dorota Koziara's public space furniture Due, or Dialogue.
The second brand, LANDOR, focuses on the experimental use of traditional materials. In Milan they present the felt armchair Bufa and the Klina dresser, made by Monika Elikowska Opała and Wojciech Opała from the MOWO studio. Among the most interesting young designers at Salone del Mobile 2012, their design was part of a publication in the Interni King Size magazine.
PLANIKA, specialising in the production of Bio Fireplaces, was one of the first Polish firms to cooperate with designers from abroad. Within the framework of Polish Design, they will present objects for interior and exterior use: Fire Coffee, based on a project by Arik Levy, Christophe Pillet's Jar Commerce, Serge Atallaha's Bubble Commerce and Pyramid Commerce, based on a project by Planika Studio (Joanna Leciejewska, Tomasz Tubisz, Maciej Kłuś, Łukasz Malicki).
Collective Unconscious
The Collective Unconscious exhibition was prepared by the Kosmos Project team and includes Masks, a table with a bio fireplace, a chandelier and a candleholder. Some of their objects are entirely or partially made of steel, and others, such as their wool tapestry carpet, wicker seats, straw vases and a glass decanter in the shape of a heart, make use of traditional materials.
Exhibition curators Ewa Bochen and Maciej Jelski, the curators of the exhibition write,
Throughout human evolution, a collective unconscious was shaped by the repetitiveness of experiences of several generations. [...] It's a phenomenon exists in all cultures, but despite the repetitiveness of the archetypes, in different countries and cultures, every nation has its characteristics and we dedicated our project to the Polish characteristics.
The Kosmos Project exhibition will also be presented at the London Design Festival (17-25.09.2013), the DesignTide in Tokyo (2-09.11.2013) and at the Stockholm Design Week (8-12.02.2014).
Designlink.pl
Serving as another Salone locus, called La Pelota, is the Brera neighbourhood, Milan's old hotspot for artists, with its famous salons and galleries. Poland shows its cutting-edge design, new ideas, places and design personalities through the Designlink.pl project organised by the Creative Project Foundation within the framework of "EDIT by designjunction".
With new Polish designers, inventive furniture, architectural fabrics, objects of everyday use and lighting fixtures, alongside "refreshed" icons of Polish design from the 1960s, the exhibition and its special publication present works including Roman Modzelewski's RM58 armchair, which has made its comeback in polyethylene piece, put into mass production by the brand Vzór. A prototype of the RM58 armchair is at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, and was among the first pieces of European furniture made from plastic material. Other exhibitors in Designlink.pl are Aleksandra Gaca, Maria Jeglińska, Jan Lutyk, Malafor, Baskho Trybek, Velt, Vini Design and Zieta Prozessdesign.
Designlink.pl's space in La Pelota will be a meeting place for visitors and designers, a place to inquire about Polish creativity and discuss common projects.
As in 2012, this year's Salone includes a special publication, the Designlink.pl magazine, providing an overview of the Polish Salone presentations. Along with the Salone guide, the magazine gives insight into Polish design culture, highlighting hot initiatives and spots on the design map of Poland, and provides information on young designers and award-winning brands. It includes information on additional presentations of Polish design at this year's fair, such as two seats designed by the Rygalik Studio produced and displayed by the Italian manufacturer Moroso.
The guide can be downloaded on the designlink.pl website. To download, click here.
Must Have From Poland
Situated in Milan's post-industrial district, the Ventura Lambrate zone has been an integral part of the Salone Del Mobile since 2010. After last year's successful precedent, Łódź Design Festival is again selling Must Have From Poland items. Over 30 works of Polish designers will be available in Milan.
With an aesthetic referring to the 1960s and 1970s, the exhibition displays T-shirts from the label Pan tu nie Stal, Mamsam bar mugs, Mikołaj Wierszyłłowski's Teddy Bear sofa, and Tomasz Augustyniak's outdoor coffee house inspired garden furniture. Must Have From Poland includes projects that can be actively co-created by the visitor, such as Marta Krupińska's furniture collection Young Users, a variety of bicycles for self-assembly from Fera Bikes, and Jaga Hupało's detachable fringe.
Coming months bring other occasions to become acquainted with Polish creativity and entrepreneurial spirit. The Adam Mickiewicz Institute leads a programme for the promotion of Polish design on the international arena in 2013. Upcoming presentations take place during the 25th International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City (18-21.05.2013), at the London Design Festival (14-22.09.2013) and the Business of Design Week in Hong Kong (2-7.12.2013). Intensive workshops for the students of the Poznań School of Form and the London Royal College of Art take place in the Ćmielów factory, and a joint extra-curricular exhibition by the students of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts and the New York Pratt Institute are planned in addition to the trade shows.
Further presentations of Polish design over the 2013/2014 season include showcases in Hamburg, Saint-Etienne, Basel, Moscow, Göteborg, Copenhagen, Istanbul and Tokyo. A number of publications on the subject have been released in Polish and English, such as Polish Design: Uncut, a review of contemporary design, and Print Control 2, a compilation of top projects from young designers. The October issue of Wallpaper magazine will feature a section on Polish design.
Author: Agnieszka Sural, translated by Marta Jazowska 31.03.2013
For more information see:
Salone Internazionale del Mobile 2013
9th till 14th of April 2013, Milan
POLISH INNOVATION IN MILAN
Zieta Prozessdesign, Lorens, Kristoff
Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia (MOST), via Olona, 6B
KUKA COOKING – LET'S COOK THE FUTURE
Poznań School of Form
Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia (MOST), via Olona, 6B
POLISH DESIGN
Dorota Koziara Studio
Temporary Museum For New Design – Superstudio Piu’, via Tortona, 27
COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS
Kosmos Project
Ventura Warehouse, via Privata Oslavia, 8
DESIGNLINK.PL
Creative Project Foundation
La Pelota, via Palermo, 10
MUST HAVE FROM POLAND
Łódź Art Center Foundation
Curator: Ewa Solarz
Italy Ventura Lambrate, via Privata Oslavia, 8