Our Journey

This year, I grabbed a few industry friends and kicked it off at the 2011 Milan Furniture Fair, where I had a remarkable time and an absolute blast soaking up my surroundings.

For me, Milan is a great inspiration and opportunity to visit my suppliers and good friends and talk about the best and worst of times. In the traditional Italian way we did this with a glass of Vino, Panini's and lots of Parmigiana! But it wasn't just all work and no play, as my journey to Milan grew we had fun too, we visited beautiful places, we dined well and shopped well too!

Although the trip may have started with an emergency landing in India, it ended with great friends, beautiful surroundings and access to the world's greatest furniture fair. We love the Milan Furniture Exhibition as this is when we see the best of the best, and learn predictive trends, but it also means serious business as there is work to be done.

Milan Furniture Exhibition 2011

Marking its 50th year, the -Salone Internazionale del Mobile- was bigger and better than ever! It is the worlds most innovative and renowned exhibition dedicated to the world of interior design. With 2775 official exhibitors and 321, 320 visitors, it was an event not to be missed. Every year Milan showcases some of the hottest new design talents and this year was no exception. 

Hundreds of designer's flocked to the exhibition in the hope to make their own statement and show us what they are capable of.  Creativity was found in abundance, together with those technologically savvy and astute. It was also an opportunity for suppliers to reveal their new products. Companies like Inno, Segis and Pedrali, who are well known in the industry, exposed their new and exciting products, displaying that year after year originality, creativity and innovation has not been lost.

The extent of the creative mind cannot be limited, as shown in the picture below. At first glance it looks like a fine dining table with a selection of designer cakes, however this table is made entirely out of plaster by a creative design team to represent their newest selection of handles.

Zona Tortona

Zona Tortona has been Milan's creative epicentre ever since Italian Vogue art director Flavio Lucchini and photographer Fabrizio Ferri brazenly opened studios along a row of abandoned warehouses back in 1983, spawning a creative migration and economic metamorphosis to the once industrial locale. Now fully established and recognized as a cultural hub with designers and artists abound, Zona Tortona plays annual host to newly branded Tortona Design Week, a satellite celebration of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, where design enthusiasts revel in sun drenched courtyards while DJs spin an eclectic mix of drum and bass. This is where we find a new school of design, ripe with innovation and fervour for doing things different and better than before. Young and established designers alike whose thoughtful design and manufacturing processes consider more than just the bottom line. It is here at Zona Tortona 2011, that we find design philosophies and principals that will save the world.