If you’re going to Milan (Be sure to wear…good shoes) Part 2

In my last post I showed you some of the highlights of this year’s International Furniture Fair in Milan. Since we’re well into spring, I thought I’d start this post with outdoor furniture. 

Nestrest

Dedon is a great producer of outdoor furniture. I love them. They’ve given us beach chairs shaped like leafs, lounge chairs arranged like the yin yang symbol and sun loungers with promising names like orbit or summer cloud. Outdoor furniture would not be the same without Dedon. Now, with Nestrest, they’ve made mankind’s last dream come true. After all, who doesn’t fancy the idea of snuggling up against dozens of cushions inside an oversized bird’s nest floating above the ground? See, told you—you can always rely on Dedon to make your dreams come true.

Collection Puzzle

Here’s another innovative piece of furniture for outdoorsy folks. I should probably say pieces. Collection Puzzle by Ego Paris consists of nine different furniture pieces: four lounge chairs, one side table, two sun loungers and one table. The reason it’s called “puzzle” is because you can arrange it however you like. Take two lounge chairs and a sun lounger on top, take one of the sun loungers and complement it with the side table, or take all four lounge chairs to get a super comfy sun lounger with canopy. Your outdoor furniture has never been that flexible. And when the outdoor season is over, you can just puzzle it all together and store it away.

Coffee table by Raphael Charles

“Flexibility” seems to be the new buzzword in furniture business. With Raphael Charles’ coffee table, the concept of flexibility seems to have reached its peak. His table consists of single wooden cylinders that are covered with magnetic finishing so that they stick to each other invisibly and can be molded into any shape. A product that surely keeps its promise: try me, move me, love me.

 

Ploum by Ligne Roset

Ligne Roset is one of those brands that always make a difference. That’s what they are known for. Whenever there’s a furniture fair you can be sure that the Ligne Roset stand is one of the places you’ll actually see something new. This year they came up with Ploum, a sofa whose designers, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, were obviously inspired by marshmallows. I’ve also been told that it feels like sitting on a marshmallow—in a good way. Plus, it’s a nice piece of pop art and if you buy one, I’m sure Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol will be smiling down at you.

Green Wall by Deesawat Industries

This year’s most innovative furniture concept, at least in my opinion, comes from Deesawat Industries, a Thailand based teak-wood company that produces all kinds of furniture pieces. From bedroom to living room and bathroom, there’s something for every room in your home. Now they’ve presented their new modular wood system called Green Wall. It consists of wooden shelves that you can use for storing books, CDs, DVDs and so on and it has boxes for planting, well, plants. Isn’t that great? With this one single piece of furniture you can make your living room look nicer, add additional storage room for books and improve the room climate. I say, go green with the Green Wall.

Since there’s so much more to show you, I suggest you simply take out your calendar, mark April 17-22 2012 and go see for yourself. But don’t expect to see much else of Milan—you’ll probably pass out as soon as your head hits the pillow, with your mind still trying to wrap itself around everything you’ve seen and your feet burning away.