Design thinking Milan Design Week 2018 DESIGN RESEARCHDESIGN THINKINGEMERGING TECHNOLOGYFUTURE LIVING & HOMES Bryce Booth & Yui Komatsu This spring, we ventured to Salone del Mobile Milan, also known as Milan Design Week. The world’s largest design fair showcases furniture and products from today’s brightest brands, designers and innovators. This year’s show occupied nearly 2.5 million square feet of space and included 2,500 companies, along with 350,000 attendees from more than 150 countries. Throughout the week, we compiled the various trends and themes presented within exhibits spread across the city. The next few paragraphs include our observations and outline what’s on the horizon for this year and beyond. We hope this virtual journey leaves you just as inspired as we are. Enjoy! Perspective play Many exhibits explored playing with perspective, evident through the use of material dividers, extreme lighting effects and mirrored surfaces creating a “selfie-friendly” space. The design world is undergoing a transformation toward experience. As a result, designers intentionally puzzled us with unexpected aesthetics. Bvlgari COS Santa Margherita Wine Group Evoking the Five Senses The Lexus space contained lights, illuminated objects and complementary sounds. A table filled with handmade lollipops brought in the element of taste, which accompanied a series of unique scents being released throughout. Our current culture craves connection through unique experiences that create memories across all five senses. More and more, brands are leveraging senses beyond touch and sight to build memorable brand experiences. Panasonic Lexus Modularity Modularity continues to trend upward as people increasingly demand customizable solutions and companies seek portfolios with strong economies of scale. Modular solutions were seen across furniture, but were especially prevalent in lighting as designers played with varying combinations, sizes and complexities. Flos with Sarfatti Hay x WeWork Softened Tech Brands are making tech more tactile. We saw the convergence of traditional manufacturing and digital technology in more digestible forms. Brands are drawing users into their world by creating an ideal environment that humanizes their products and showcases their skills. The flexible sheet is bent flexibly, dry and hard tile turned soft and moist, the house air filter is formed into sculptural art. Making the impossible possible. Google Google Experiment X Design allows us to challenge tradition. Once again, reinvention was prevalent throughout Milan – spanning fashion, tech and products. Designers were more keen than ever to showcase their process to perfection as they exhibited unconstrained creativity. They designed provocative and joyful installations, adding additional layers of thought-provoking complexity onto otherwise modern minimal design. Fondazione Prada Fondazione Prada Nendo Sustainability en Vogue Sustainable design was at the forefront of many exhibits in Milan. Designers tackled pollution, recyclability and air purification with creative and aesthetically driven solutions. Sculptural air filters, architectural pollution absorbers, sustainable living solutions and recycled plastic furniture were all the rage. Audi Kengo Kuma for Dassault Containerwerk Maximal vs Minimal Last year, Milan was chock full of maximalist design. This year, minimalism faced a minimalist revival. Making things even more complicated, otherwise minimal brands like Hay showed off their relatively minimal furniture in a maximal way, covering simple tables with countless items stacked on top of one another. Hay Hay Norwegian Presence McKinsey Design – part of McKinsey & Company – is a global community of designers working side-by-side with our clients to solve some of the world's most complex and important challenges. We partner from strategy to reality to deliver the full business, environmental, and societal value of design. Yet we are so much more than a design firm. We marry the world’s best creative talent together with McKinsey’s proven strategic, analytical, and technical capabilities. The result is extraordinary experiences, products, and services that delight people, drive growth, and creates change that matters for our clients, their communities, and in turn for society. People design innovation Veryday AB Missionsvägen 24 167 33 Bromma +46 8 506 672 00 email request People insights Design impact Business Innovation Terms of Use Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Veryday uses cookies to improve site functionality, provide you with a better browsing experience, and to enable our partners to advertise to you. Detailed information on the use of cookies on this Site, and how you can decline them, is provided in our cookie policy. By using this Site or clicking on “OK”, you consent to the use of cookies. This can be observed at any time by clearing your browser cookies and visiting veryday.com OK ×