Marcel Wanders and Phillipe Starck are two designers that stamped their mark at this year's Milan Furniture Fair. Patricia Urquiola is another.
Wandering the various halls at the fair and the streets of Milan you could not help notice their names popping up everywhere.
The word ubiquitous truly applies to these three designers.
They continue their dominance within and outside the furniture industry, stamping their unique designs on so many products. Urquiola is designing bags for Ferragamo and baths for Agape with both Starck and Wanders designing crystal objects for Baccarat.
Phillipe Starck's Magic Hole collection is a slightly different approach for Kartell as well as Piero Lissoni's Audrey chair which is made of a die-cast aluminum frame, meaning it's a single continuous piece of metal with no seams. This is quite a departure from their transparent and coloured polycarbonate pieces we are so used to seeing from Kartell.
Kartell has also engaged Starck to extend the Ghost Buster's range with a Night Table and Dresser.
Other new items by Starck for Kartell include the Super Impossible Chair, the King Top, Tip Top and Top Less table collection, the polycarbonate chair Masters as well as the Tic et Tac clock.
Starck developed the Mi Ming chair for XO, a very interesting chair that looks like a cross between Hans Wegner's classic Wishbone chair and the Louis Ghost range.
Marcel Wanders has been just as prolific in creating designs for many manufacturers including XO - The Eden collection consisting of tables, chairs and stools and the Babel chair.
Magis engaged Wanders to create the Sparkling chair produced from plastic using a blow moulding technique. It's transparent form and rounded legs remind us of soda/mineral water bottles. It's a fun chair with almost cartoon like features. The Cyborg chair is another of Wanders creations for Magis, as well as one chair I particularly liked - the Troy chair, with a unique motif applied to the seat and back sections (the motif derived from ancient Greek mythology). It is available with a translucent plastic or wooden back.
Patricia Urquiola's Comback chair for Kartell is reminiscent of a classic Windsor chair but with a contemporary context. This single moulded chair is made from batch dyed thermoplastic technopolymer.
Other Urquiola designs include The Bend sofas for B&B Italia, the Scriba desk for Molteni & Co and the Manga rug series for Gandia Blasco.
The Fergana collection for Moroso illustrates the extensive research undertaken by Urquoila. The textiles used for this design combine ancient weaving techniques from Uzebekistan with modern European industrial manufacturing techniques. The sofa is not intended to be placed against a wall but as an island, which is traditional for Uzbekistan seating.
Other Moroso collections designed by Urquoila include Silver Lake, Rift, New Spring and Klara collections.
One can only imagine what impact and creations these three extraordinary prolific designers, Starck, Wanders and Urquiola will have on next year's Fair?
