The Milan Furniture Show was special this year. It was number 50 and for the last 6 years it was held in April in the superb fair grounds at Rho on the west side of Milan. I can tell you that all the exhibitors made a really big effort to bring something sensational and inviting to the stands, some of which were immense yet tasteful by and large. In Milan the show does not just grind to a halt at 6pm, Oh no, it goes into the city centre after hours and if you have not gorged yourself sufficiently on the innovations and classics at the Fair you get invited into the cocktail and canapés parties surrounding the centre where every empty shop and hotel lobby is stuffed with more products and a hubbub is created arising from the multiplicity of tongues and exotic nature of the visitors. Of course the thing about Milan is that everything is ‘design’ based. Comfort, affordability, utility are overlooked in the battle to promote the designer’s renown.
One sees a lot of designery people at the show and around town, they seem to wear the mandatory gaily coloured muffler wrapped around their ears despite the 30 degree heat and they all sport unusual names. If you want to be a designer a name like Luigi Rossi won’t cut the mustard, sorry Luigi, try something with a double ‘K’ in it or a soubriquet.
That sounds like a piece of granite crumbling under a steam hammer, and don’t forget the yellow framed specs.
Milan fair is graced by 20 halls and the Furniture show is in several parts. One hall called Satellite is full of prototype artefacts which some hopefuls have invented and are in search of an angel to back their project or better still produce and develop the invention. Hence if you think a piece of string that turns into a sofa would take off, then Satellite is your Hall.
Every 2 years the Furniture Fair hosts Euroluce, the lighting fair and this year it occupied 3 massive halls some 2 kilometres away from your arrival point. It looks like the Italians have finally made Led lighting into a viable option. How many Italians are not needed to change a light bulb? As usual there are the massive chandeliers made for palaces in the desert as well as illuminated shark fins which you are supposed to put on the carpet to create the impression that your lounge is infested with sharks. There is a section for neon lights which are amazing as well as being largely impractical unless you live in a circus tent.
Then I saw the office furniture which is dominated by examples of executive’s desks. Status is very important to the Italians and if you are not a giant like Berlusconi it is imperative to sit behind an enormous desk which sports a designer signature. As computers get slimmer and devices get smaller so the desk gets bigger and must be uncluttered at all times to denote that you have coped adequately with you daily load of garbage.
On arrival at the Milan Fair, when you have stopped gawking at the architectural marvels of the ambience, you will be asked to fork out 40 euros for three visits, bad luck if you only want to go twice, it still costs 40 euros. Then you definitely need a catalogue of the exhibitors. Prepare to fork out a further 35 euros. This catalogue covers only the furniture side so if you have the strength to carry them you need 4 catalogues before you start getting pressured by all and sundry to take a leaflet, a brochure, a coupon or a magazine at strategic points along your journey to Hall 1.
I anticipated a decline in the number of attendees at the show but no such evidence! The Chinese were out in force laying their new money on the eagerly awaiting Italian manufacturers, the Russians with large cash deposits were also prominent and loud. Perhaps there were less people form the Persian Gulf but the ones who were about seemed to be buying loads of classical furniture but perhaps more of a tasteful nature than the perennial baroque with gold leaf.
The only British I saw were the UK agents of the big firms and they seemed intent on going home before the end of the show.
My overall impression is that Italy is doing things right. They have continued to manufacture and renovate their ideas and have not turned to importing in the same compulsive way as we have in the UK. They must have had a few lean years and unemployment in Italy is still high but the people who make things are still doing their thing and are shameless about their asking prices but good luck to them. Let’s take a leaf out of their book and start making stuff again.