MILAN
On a bustling cobblestone street, shoppers laden with bags halted at the glint of an AK-47 -- an 18-karat gold-dipped replica made into a lamp. The window of the Flos lighting showroom displays Philippe Starck's entire Gun Collection, from Beretta-shaped table lamps to floor lamps modeled after the M16.
A few blocks away, in the plush lobby of his five-star hotel, Starck explained why he can't resist pushing the boundaries of design at Milan's international furniture fair, which opened Wednesday.
Lamps in the shapes of M16s and AK-47s by Philippe Starck for Flos. "Design is my only weapon, so I use it to speak about what I think is important," he says.
(Santi Caleca For Flos)
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"Why doesn't furniture show that everything is a political choice?" says Starck, who outfitted his gun lamps with black shades lined with crosses. "I am a designer and design is my only weapon, so I use it to speak about what I think is important."
While the eyes of the world focus on Rome and the upcoming cardinal conclave, about 200,000 design enthusiasts have flocked to this northern Italian city for the annual six-day home furnishings blowout. To a soundtrack of constantly warbling cell phones, the heavily caffeinated throngs have braved the chill air to see the inventive, sometimes shocking collections that give a shot of adrenaline to the world's furniture industry.
This year, Salone Internazionale del Mobile and the biennial Euroluce lighting show married minimalism with extravagance. Imagine a yellow chandelier dripping with crystals hung over a stainless-steel kitchen island, as seen at Boffi, the Italian purveyor of ultra-sleek baths and kitchens.
"We have several moods both to shock and please ourselves," says William Sawaya of Sawaya & Moroni, whose chic Via Manzoni shop swarmed with swanksters jostling for a look at Sawaya's neo-baroque Barock 'n' roll chairs and tables combining centuries-old carved shapes with neon colors. "Minimalism is being done by Ikea," he says. "You can't compete with them -- you must find another direction."
And so they did. From the Dutch company Moooi came Barbarella, a sexy sheepskin sectional sofa by British designer Ross Lovegrove, who suggests rolling around on it with your favorite blonde. At Driade, Tokujin Yoshioka, former graphic designer for Issey Miyake, created an elegant armchair and couch of pleated leather that resembled a Fortuny dress. From Cappellini, a line called New Antiques by Dutch designer Marcel Wanders married traditional Italian turned-wood chairs and tables with tooled-leather seats and smoked-glass tops.
"Design today is a mix of different cultures, different countries," says Giulio Cappellini, design director of the company that bears his name. "We have the minimalism of Jasper Morrison and the provocative pieces of Marcel Wanders. But it all fits together."
Crisscrossing the city from its sprawling fairgrounds to its narrow back streets, retailers, manufacturers and designers, plus 3,500 journalists, are soaking up the intense design atmosphere. Celebrities are doing the same, followed by international packs of TV cameras. In the cavernous Palazzo Ex Poste, a former post office, big-time Italian financier Luca de Montezemolo arrived for the showings of his new companies in Poltrona Frau Group with dozens of armed police escorts and dark-suited bodyguards who positioned themselves around the low-slung leather sofas and yellow plastic chairs.
A tan Giorgio Armani strolled through his showroom, posing for photographers on his polished collection of fossil stone mosaic chests, lacquered chairs and fan-motif carpets inspired by chinoiserie from the 1920s and 1930s. His Armani Casa home collection is sold in shops as far afield as Seoul and Hangzhou, China, and soon, Arlington, where it will arrive this summer at Vesta Home in Clarendon. "I think it's a warm minimalism that is very approachable for Washington," says Georgie Benardete, Vesta Home's co-owner, who was shopping the fair.
In the hushed minimalist showroom of major manufacturer B&B, designer Patricia Urquiola put a new spin on the modular sofa by giving it what she calls a bit of "trash elegance," a Prada-like combo of mixed-print fabrics.
Although furniture sales were up last year in Italy, according to figures provided by Milan fair organizer Cosmit, the outlook for 2005 is wary because of Europe's sputtering economy and the threat of Asian imports. Exports to the United States slumped after 9/11 and the dollar continues to decline vs. the euro. As such, the Italians realize they have to take their show on the road: This year for the first time, Cosmit will present a New York version of Salone del Mobile at Piers 90 and 92, coinciding with the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) May 14-17. According to Manlio Armellini, administrative director of the event, the show of 60 Italian manufacturers will be open to the public. In October it goes to Moscow, where sales of Italian furniture were up more than 30 percent last year.
Each year, the Milan fair embraces the latest trends and technology and seeks to top the hit of the past year. So although some still spoke of last year's smash -- Tord Boontje's laser-cut fabric-flower chandeliers -- the jury is still out on the 2005 winner.
"This is a market where rather than start out with an agenda, you throw out your shopping list," says Murray Moss, owner of New York's influential Moss design shop. "You have to just see what hits you. And be open about everything and try to be surprised."
Moss told Domus, the Italian design magazine that featured Starck's Flos gun lamps on its April cover, that he will exhibit those designs, which come in bedside, table and standing versions: "I find the subject so intelligently provocative, so resonant, so thoughtful, that Moss will be doing a large installation called 'Domestic Violence' of this project during the ICFF."
Starck is planning to donate proceeds from the sale of the weapons lamps to charity. "We kill out of ambition, out of greed, for the fun of it or for the show," wrote Starck, declaring that weapons are society's new icons. "The Guns collection is nothing but a sign of the times. We get the symbols we deserve."
Could this be this year's shot heard round the world?
