 Cool
Britannia Goes to Milano
Jeremy Lord, director of the Colour Light Co Ltd, recalls
the highlights and lowlights of the Salone Satellite show
Exhibiting at any international fair is hard work, and
walking around as a visitor is just as bad – but what a pleasant change to show at
the Salone Satellite. This was a parallel exhibition for new designers in Milan's Salone
Internazionale del Mobile.
Organised to bring in many of the small designers from the
outer "Fuori-Salone" events, Salone Satellite offered a spacious, relaxing and
colorful atmosphere for exhibitors and visitors alike.
Gone were the regimented, overheated and cramped isles so
reminiscent of New York on a hot day. Instead, exhibitors’ stands formed spokes of a
wheel, with visitors being drawn in to the central hub from which different corridors led
off to different sections of the circular show. Music played through a high quality
speaker system, the air was cool, and a good time was had by all. The food and drink made
available for the exhibitors party was second to none – the only question is, will
they have us back again next year!?
But on to the lighting exhibits: the organizers had put on
an excellent "history of the lamp," which included many classic designs. I was
sharing space on the Eurolounge stand with Mark Newson, Inflate and Tom Dixon. Chromawall
always draws people to the stand with its ever-changing colours, and the Kundalini stand
showed their fabulous colored fiber glass forms – both short and tall, with internal
illumination making them reminiscent of a ‘60s TV science fiction show.
Perhaps less noteworthy were creations of tin boxes with
lots of holes and a GLS lamp inside, or the illuminated cardboard flowers.
Of much more note were the wonderfully organic shapes made
from pleated fabric with internal illumination by compact fluorescents and also a cute
little flying saucer, which could be raised and lowered on a pulley system.
But for me there was one outstanding creation in the
entire show. It came from a Scandinavian designer named Harri Koskinen [launched at the
Frankfurt ProArt exhibition and available from Design House Stockholm. ed.] As with all
good ideas, it was beautifully simple. It consisted of a two-part glass block and a light
bulb. The block was molded so there was
sufficient space inside for a standard GLS lamp: the glass
was frosted internally and the light shone through the slightly uneven glass to produce a
remarkably satisfying and complete art object. You just place it on a shelf, switch on and
look. Somehow it came alive, somehow you forgot about the fact that it was just a lump of
glass with a lamp inside and you marveled at the light. Which I suppose is what all of us
should be doing and why we suffer these exhibitions: in the hope of receiving a little
inspiration and ultimately producing our one "great" design.
More groovy stuff out of london
Furniture artist Peter Harvey’s new London showroom
opened last month, showcasing lighting as well as furniture. The Tongue chair, in Paloma
Picasso lipstick red, complements Harvey’s initial two oral pieces. The sculptural
piece operates, like all good design, on a variety of levels, leaving the viewer to
determine the outlines, form and meaning.
Modular
No rest for the wicked
The common complaint of "nothing to do on a Monday
night" was rendered inaccurate, if only temporarily, by Modular and Fractal. The
party these two companies threw in their Belgian factories drew 800 revelers and heavy
drinkers as well as some local color: vagrants were hired to serve the sumptuous hors
d’oeuvres, including piles and piles of oysters, and cocktails were attractively
packaged in colostomy bags. The theme was continued in the variety of sideshow style
diversions: robotic performance art, massage, and plus-sized dancers. The party followed
the Hanover show by two days and attracted overseas suppliers and lighting designers from
as far away as Hong Kong and Australia. |
