Bisazza, InterfaceFLOR, Established & Sons, Cassina, Cappellini, Poltrona Frau | Milan 2011.

Good morning yellowtrace friends and happy new week to you all. Now, now… You guys didn’t think I was finished with the Milan report for the year, did you? No way man! I have lots more stuff to show you. Well actually, I don’t. There’s only a little bit left to go, but I am determined to share with you (almost) everything I saw. So good of me, right? Right.

Today is a bit of a mixed bag of the things I saw and places I visited in various areas on different days throughout the week, which I had trouble grouping with other posts. So that’s how they get their own separate day. Enjoy!

Bisazza exhibition at Trennale di Milano design museum paid homage to Mendini and Bisazza successful collaboration for more than twenty years. Shown above are Mobili per Uomo (Furniture for Man) by Alessandro Mendini for Bisazza (1997–2008) from the Bisazza Foundation. These iconic sculptures were mostly covered in luxurious 24K yellow gold Bisazza mosaic tiles. Wowee.

More from Bisazza – top left image shows Il Cavaliere di Dürer (The Knight of Dürer, or as I like to call it “The Knight in Shining Tiled Armour”) was on display for the first time anywhere in the world. This beautiful and imposing statue was covered in blue and white gold mosaic tiles. Other images are of the exterior and interior of La Petite Cathedrale (Little Cathedral), which was on loan from Fondation Cartier in Paris.

Also at Trennale di Milano, InterfaceFLOR presented a brilliant exhibition titled “The Positive Floor”. The concept for this installation was developed by the designer Francesco Maria Bandini, founding principal of Milan-based B3 Design Studio. The idea was to turn the role of the flooring on it’s head – literally. Instead of finding the carpet underfoot, carpet tiles were placed on top of a series of white vertical prisms which were reflected in a mirrored ceiling above. The pattern of the ceiling recreated the effect if the ground cracked by the heat of the sun, a subtle reminder of the dangers of global warming.

Definitely THE most inspired and creative exhibition design for carpet tiles I have EVER seen.

Extreme love.

Beautiful mosaic floor (and my tired feet) + fantastic bookshop at Trennale di Milano. Don’t you just love how my pants coordinate with the colour of the floor? Slightly embarrassing, yet kinda cool.

Installation by MINI at the entrance of Trennale di Milano. Visitors were invited to write messages with marker pens, which they most certainly did!

Returning for their seventh year with Sebastian Wrong as a new creative director, Established & Sons presented whopping 27 new pieces at an event held at Versace Theatre. This year the company also added a more affordable in-house collection called Estd. Sign of the times, perhaps?

Top – Cape by Konstantin Grcicis an upholstered sofa with an overlay cover. The inspiration came from the informal way in which loose fabric is draped over furniture in hotels or country estates for their preservation off season. Multiple fabric and colour options are available making it more usable all year round: heavier fabric for warmth in the winter, lighter fabric for comfort in the summer. Mr Grcic, you are such a clever dude.

Bottom left – Glaze lamps by Anders Ruhwald with a lovely tactile and imperfect-looking Flinstonesque base.

Bottom right – Corner Light by Peter Bristol, made especially for that sweet-spot where the wall and ceiling meet.

Top left – definitely not new, but definitely one of my favourite lights around is Lighthouse by the Bouroullecs. Extreme awesomeness and atractiveness.

Top right – again, not new, but extremely amazing Limited Edition Kebab Lamp (what a name!) by Clare Page and Harry Richardson of Committee. Each unique lamp stand is hand made by skewering a selection of found objects and antiques. Words cannot express the extreme levels of love I have for these lamps. Seriously.

Bottom – Ok, this one is new! Balance desk lamp by Nathalie Dewez, bent aluminium tube with integrated LEDs.

Top left – Dame by Luca Nichetto.

Top right – Topp lamp by Hallegheir Homstvedt Design. The base is made out of resin available in black, white and yellow, with spun aluminium shade.

Bottom – Volcano rug by Klaus Haapaniemi & Mia Wallenius with strong influences from Finnish folklore. Couldn’t help but wonder if this particular motif was influenced by last year’s Icelandic eruption which was more talked about than the Salone del Mobile itself… Who knows.

Top – Hay Bale ottomans by Richard Woods & Sebastian Wrong. A Wrong Woods collaboration? Too funny.

Bottom images of Established & Sons exhibition design and branding. I couldn’t really work out the relevance of 7 to the current collection. Could you?

For the third year running, the Poltrona Frau Group ( i.e. Poltrona Frau, Cassina, Cappellini, Nemo, Gufram and Gebrüder Thonet Vienna) ditched the Fairground at Rho and exhibited their products at Milan Design Villageon Via Savona. These images were taken during their launch party, where it was extremely difficult to take good photos of the product as the place was slammed with hundreds of people.

Images above are from Cassina. Isn’t that just the most divine looking bookshelf ever? Argh! I love it so much!

More from Cassina, showcasing new pieces and and classics from the collection.

Cappellini stand had that 80s interpretation of ‘futuristic’ look going on, which made it extremely difficult for photo taking – so frustrating!

Bottom two images show the latest products designed by Nendo – Thin Black Table & Sekitei Chair. Ok seriously – I think I would easily give up a kidney for one of those tables. Extremely love!

The Rolls-Royce of leather furniture – images of Poltrona Frau new and classic pieces. Chester One sofa in powder-blue leather anyone? Oh baby – YES PLEASE!

That’s Poltrona Frau showing off about their superior framing and under-structure skills in top image. Oh puh-lease! Surely everyone does that stuff these days. KIDDING! These guys are the true masters.

Oh and I spy a cute little lamp by Barovier & Toso – 10 points if you recall me blogging about their installation in Milan last year.

[All images © yellowtrace.]