Our new interiors columnist, designer Philip Cohen, headed to Salon Internazionale Del Mobile in Milan, the biggest industry event of the calendar, where trade secrets are spilled and fabulous parties abound…

To those of you who know me in my guise as restaurant reviewer for this illustrious publication, it will come as a surprise to know that I have another life, and in that life, I am a designer of interiors and furniture. Following my appointment as official design correspondent to the Notebook, I will be communicating regularly my thoughts on the world of design.

And a big world it is, a mammoth industry employing millions of people. Its biggest event, the event, is Salon Internazionale Del Mobile or the Milan Furniture Fair (which, as luck would have it, I am recently returned from.)

The size and importance of the Fair in Milan is hard to overestimate. Hotels are booked years in advance, prices have quadrupled, thousands of related events are springing up, and of course, the parties are famous (more of the parties later).

The fair itself is held just outside Milan at Rho Pero, a complex of dozens of exhibition halls designed by Massimiliano Fuksas. As exhibition complexes go, this is a revelation. The individual halls are linked by raised, shaded walkways, travelators and shallow pools of still, cool water. I think this is supposed to have a calming, contemplative effect, which is just as well because the fair is huge. Imagine Earls Court or ExCel and multiply by ten (then imagine, many halls have an upstairs…)

So, you arrive at 10am at the train station, relaxed, comfortably dressed, effortlessly chic and in comfortable shoes (is this physically possible? No). And so does every other designer in the world. The trains are not designed to accommodate all the world’s design alumni in six carriages and it is not a happy experience. Of course, nobody speaks to each other. We are designers.
We flood into the fair, having planned our itineraries meticulously, and off we go. I immediately engage in Italian conversation with a prospective new supplier, who listens to me intently and asks if I wouldn’t prefer to continue our conversation in English. I assume my Italian is too technically sophisticated for him.

The fair this year included Eurocucina, a biannual offering of all that is new in the world of kitchens. Many of the stands were deeply impressive (manufacturers spend fortunes exhibiting here) and there was a very strong move in the direction of less fitted and unfitted spaces with emphasis on low-tech materials and shapes. Lots of open shelves, herbs (lots and lots of herbs) crates, metal stacking shelves, mismatching chairs.

This is a strong pull away from minimalism and I do not think it is a gimmick. Economically and emotionally we are increasingly looking for security and comfort and this more open and friendly design is a way in. Have a look at the latest from Salvarani and Poliform, you’ll see what I mean. Elmar went a stage further with open metal shelving that would be so easy to copy. (Habitat by autumn, Ikea next year?)

Of course much of the furniture is exquisitely chic (look at Ceccotti). It seems like leather gets subtler and softer each year (Walter Knoll) but generally, it was very accessible design, not intimidating and cerebral.

The fair is only a part of Milan; the whole city becomes an event. Every showroom is dressed spectacularly to receive the world’s press. Kartell’s headquarters is a beautiful old palazzo on Via Manzoni, one side of the famous Quadrilatro d’oro, the Golden Square (this is where flagship stores of every designer you have heard of are located).

On the other side of town is the Via Tortona, a reclaimed industrial district, with a much more experimental feel, and is now Milan at its coolest. Tom Dixon exhibits here, and just so you know, Dixon is currently the last word in global cool, his offering this year, hip and witty, was received rapturously by the design world. New districts spring up each year, all with a concentration of new designers, you could be here for a month and not see everything (I can afford two nights, three maximum.) Milan is a deeply exhausting event but, but, but… the famous parties.

Truthfully, they are nothing more than product launches,but people get really excited about being invited (or not). However, as far as I, and everyone else, is concerned, the only party in town is Established & Sons (second evening, Via Pellota). This is the one with cordons and bouncers and designers from all over the world trying to blag their way in.
Did I get an invite? Did I go? Need you ask? Of course, I did.

© Philip Cohen, July 2010.