The 2010 edition of Milan’s Salone del Mobile will be engraved in our memories as the year of slowness and inertia – the year traffic stood still. Attempting to event hop around Lombardy’s vast capital - from Rho Fiera and La Triennale to the districts of ZonaTortona, Brera/Duomo, Bovisa and Ventura Lambrate – turned into more of a crawl and the Icelandic volcano effect put our delicate designer shoes firmly on the ground, and made us stop and think for a minute: a reflection on how the gods must be crazy or how we are wasting our time on design creation instead of earth preservation. For some, an extra day was a big relief – a gift from the centre of the earth – giving time to explore more sideshows before going back home in a bus with eruptive stories. As for the others, well the volcano wasn’t the only thing exploding.
 
But let’s face it, in a time when Kartell is making shoes, Artek is promoting its fragrance and Diesel is selling lamps, are we still surprised that design has become somewhat preposterous within the boundaries of Milan? The Salone del Mobile as it once existed – a yearly fair showcasing the newest directions in furniture - has evolved into a road show staging all types of companies with some kind of design-related preferences, a good marketing strategy and lots of cash to spend, whether it’s on cars, clothing, spectacles, booze or coffee. Big event, small content.

When almost everybody has their mouth full with ‘design and sustainability’, reality shows design in Milan as a luxury call-girl making love to a whole line of brands and labels from all kinds of areas. While design has become a magic word, we see the first signs of wear on its knees and elbows. Whether it’s a table, a lamp, a dildo, a tree or a sandwich, Rent-a-Designer has become a cheap trick to get the eyeballs to your products – everything is ‘designed by’ nowadays. The average glossy needs to fill more pages with these new stars: most of them one-trick pony’s, but they look great in the circus, don’t they. However, that there are also interesting acts to discover, we can read in the following bite-size testimonies (based on a simple 3Q-list). We asked designers Jasper Morrison, Ronan Bouroullec and Gijs Bakker (ex-Droog), manufacturers Anders Byriel (Kvadrat), Eckart Maise (Vitra Home) and Annica Eklund (Bolon), journalist Virginio Briatore, Premsela-man Dingeman Kuilman and ZonaTortona organiser Maurizio Ribotti (DesignPartners) to give their impressions and illuminate where they saw the woods for the trees.

Dingeman Kuilman, Managing Director Premsela, Dutch Platform for Design and Fashion, Netherlands

1) What are your general thoughts on this year's Salone?
 
I found it remarkably fresh and uncomplicated.
 
2) What are your personal highlights, things you've discovered in Milan - could be a new product, a brand, an exhibition, new inspirations, an inspired lasagne...
 
Yii, the collaboration between Taiwanese designers and craftsmen and the Dutch Gijs Bakker (ex-Droog). One of the first true signs of interculturalism in design: hopeful and astonishing.
 
3) How do you navigate through the overcapacity (or is there none...) of expos within Milan's boundaries - from Rho Fiera to ZonaTortona, Brera/Duomo, Triennale, Bovisa, Ventura Lambrate...
 
Just like I do with all overcapacity in my life: make your own choices, enjoy the accidental experiences and don't worry about everything you've missed.
 
(And a side Q: Did you visit the Ventura Lambrate area this year and what's your first reaction to this initiative?)
Yes, a wonderful site that allowed me to breathe and to focus (unlike Tortona).
 
 
Eckart Maise, Managing Director of Vitra Home Collection, Switzerland
 
1) What are your general thoughts on this year's Salone?
 
2010 was a good year for the Salone from a commercial perspective: lots of visitors & interest and good sales. Compared to the last years, there was no installation or product that immediately turned into the ‘talk of the town’. A lot of well-done installations and products but few really outstanding.
 
2) What are your personal highlights, things you've discovered in Milan - could be a new product, a brand, an exhibition, new inspirations, an inspired lasagne...
 
As a manufacturer, the introduction of our own products is always the centre of attention. We were quite happy with the response this year. This aside, I loved the Contemplating Monolithic Design installation BarberOsgerby did for Sony in the ZonaTortona Area.
 
3) How do you navigate through the overcapacity (or is there none...) of expos within Milan's boundaries - from Rho Fiera to ZonaTortona, Brera/Duomo, Triennale, Bovisa, Ventura Lambrate...
 
It is absolutely impossible to see it all, so I try to see and enjoy whatever I have the time for. Unfortunately, I did not make it to some of the more remote areas this year, like Ventura Lambrate, which I heard, was very nice.
 
 
Annica Eklund, Managing Director Bolon, Sweden
 
1) What are your general thoughts on this year's Salone?
 
Very good, but it's too big. The whole of Milan is like a big showroom that week.
 
2) What are your personal highlights, things you've discovered in Milan - could be a new product, a brand, an exhibition, new inspirations, an inspired lasagne...
 
Our lunch at the Bvlgari hotel where we invited 30 selected architects, then took off to the Zurich Group HQ and showed them 20, 000 sq m of Bolon in a very modern building and environment. Elsewhere, the Interni Think Tank exhibition was good, as was the Campanas’ for Edra and the Skitch showroom was well worth a visit. Dinner at Rigolo is always cosy and tasty and people watching at the Four Seasons is never wrong…
 
3) How do you navigate through the overcapacity (or is there none...) of expos within Milan's boundaries - from Rho Fiera to ZonaTortona, Brera/Duomo, Triennale, Bovisa, Ventura Lambrate...
 
You have to focus on what you want to see. Time, you need time in Milan :-) For me it’s impossible to see everything! The Ventura Lambrate was very quiet when I was there, no people at all!
 
 
Virginio Briatore, Design Journalist, Italy
 
1) What are your general thoughts on this year's Salone?
If we speak about the business side, after a hard 2009 with almost 30% less, this year promised new hope. If we speak about meaning and content, it is hard to find a new vision, a new attitude... Even if the word sustainability is everywhere!
 
2) What are your personal highlights, things you've discovered in Milan - could be a new product, a brand, an exhibition, new inspirations, an inspired lasagne...
Marcel Wanders’ Cyborg chair for Magis was an interesting product, as was the lamp/diapositive 35mm of Davide Groppi. The most interesting discovery was the Villa Necchi Campiglio, in via Mozart, and its beautiful garden.
 
3) How do you navigate through the overcapacity (or is there none...) of expos within Milan's boundaries - from Rho Fiera to ZonaTortona, Brera/Duomo, Triennale, Bovisa, Ventura Lambrate...
The Salone+Fuori Salone is too much for the city of Milan. It is a permanent overbooking, like inviting 15 people at a dinner with only 10 chairs. I cannot image what will happen in 2015 with the old-fashioned ideas of Expò.
 
(And a side Q:  Did you visit the Ventura Lambrate area this year and what's your first reaction to this initiative?)
My first reaction was not to go there, because considering the traffic jams you can't reach more than one or two places a day. Even if the Japanese enjoy visiting seven countries and fourteen European towns in one week, I prefer to spend one week in one town! But people told me that the initiative was interesting and that the idea to concentrate several projects in one geographic area is a good idea.
 
 
Maurizio Ribotti, CEO of DesignPartners (Organiser of ZonaTortona ao), Italy

1) What are your general thoughts on this year’s Salone?
The Salone 2010 edition has confirmed Milan as the key appointment for the international design community. This year has been a successful one for both the amount of visitors registered in ZonaTortona and the satisfaction of our exhibitors. In my opinion, this has been a safe year, regardless of the current economic situation.
 
2) What are your personal highlights, things you've discovered in Milan - could be a new product, a brand, an exhibition, new inspirations, an inspired lasagne...
It is difficult to identify some personal highlights because there are too many important things to visit. Certainly, the most interesting aspects are the networking opportunities that arise during the Milan design week. In seven days you meet people from all over the world and can really generate interesting business.
 
3) How do you navigate through the overcapacity (or is there none...) of expos within Milan's boundaries - from Rho Fiera to ZonaTortona, Brera/Duomo, Triennale, Bovisa, Ventura Lambrate...
A solution is to focus the schedule on the most important exhibitions; otherwise you just have to ask somebody to try to film the best things.
 
(And a side Q: Did you visit the Ventura Lambrate area this year and what’s your first reaction on this initiative?).
Ventura Lambrate turned out to be an interesting niche event.
 
 
Gijs Bakker, Designer, Teacher and Co-Founder of Droog Design and chi ha paura...?, Netherlands
 
1) What are your general thoughts on this year’s Salone?
Fortunately an end came to the over decorated products of the past five years. When they still were exhibited, they looked terribly outdated.
 
2) What are your personal highlights, things you've discovered in Milan - could be a new product, a brand, an exhibition, new inspirations, an inspired lasagne...
Södra Pulp Labs, the Swedish research lab, whose Durapulp was used in the w101 paper task light that Claesson Koivisto Rune designed for lighting company Wästberg at Superstudio Piu. Other highlights included Tokujin Yoshioka at Swarovski, Aldo Bakker's Copper Collection for Thomas Eyck (Spazio Rossana Orlandi) and Nendo’s Chair Garden at Galleria Antonia Jannone.
 
3) How do you navigate through the overcapacity (or is there none...) of expos within Milan's boundaries - from Rho Fiera to ZonaTortona, Brera/Duomo, Triennale, Bovisa, Ventura Lambrate...
We take a taxi for a whole day and jump in and out at the various exhibitions.
 
(And a side Q: Did you visit the Ventura Lambrate area this year and what’s your first reaction on this initiative?).
I visited Lambrate: too far away and really not worthwhile, although some interesting shows were to be seen. They have to work hard for next year to get more focused.
 
 
Ronan Bouroullec, Designer, France
 
1) What are your general thoughts on this year’s Salone?
I am surprised by the fact that nothing really changes. I thought that the rather profound developments that seem to have occurred just about everywhere else, didn’t really happen in our market. There is still more or less the same number of exhibitors; of new things; the same percentage of correct things, but most of all shit…
 
2) What are your personal highlights, things you've discovered in Milan - could be a new product, a brand, an exhibition, new inspirations, an inspired lasagne...
The ‘What is Italian Design?’ exhibition curated by Alessandro Mendini at the Triennale - even if it’s certainly the worst week of the year to visit it. I personally saw it on Friday, when I was already close to an overdose of objects.

3) How do you navigate through the overcapacity (or is there none...) of expos within Milan's boundaries - from Rho Fiera to ZonaTortona, Brera/Duomo, Triennale, Bovisa, Ventura Lambrate...
Too much is too much.
 
 
Anders Byriel, CEO Kvadrat, Denmark
 
1) What are your general thoughts on this year's Salone?
Like many times before, it was a creative blast and shows how it is becoming the global place to meet up in the design community.
 
2) What are your personal highlights, things you've discovered in Milan - could be a new product, a brand, an exhibition, new inspirations, an inspired lasagne...
A lot to see and many highlights, for example Yves Béhar’s paper chandeliers at Swarovski Crystal Palace; Erwan & Ronan new ‘Lighthouse’ lamp by Established & Sons and Venini; Patricia Urquiola's new collection for Kartell and Moroso ... it’s amazing how she is keeping the level. Of course, for our brand the main feeling was overwhelming due to our mutual launch with BMW.
 
3) How do you navigate through the overcapacity (or is there none...) of expos within Milan's boundaries - from Rho Fiera to ZonaTortona, Brera/Duomo, Triennale, Bovisa, Ventura Lambrate...
I planned to work my way through some of it and upfront had decided to extend my stay, but there was so much contact-making and so many meetings on development projects that I did not make around.
 
 
Jasper Morrison, Designer, UK
 
1) What are your general thoughts on this year's Salone?
Mostly unprintable, but one has to admire the energy of the event, which has become too big for anyone to take in completely. I can remember a time when you could see the fair in the morning and the showrooms in town in the afternoon.
 
2) What are your personal highlights, things you've discovered in Milan - could be a new product, a brand, an exhibition, new inspirations, an inspired lasagne...
For me the single great thing at the Salone was Mendini's curation of the Triennale Design Museum collection, with exhibition design by Pierre Charpin. I left it with the feeling that if this had been the only event of the Salone it would have been enough.
 
3) How do you navigate through the overcapacity (or is there none...) of expos within Milan's boundaries - from Rho Fiera to ZonaTortona, Brera/Duomo, Triennale, Bovisa, Ventura Lambrate...
I've given up trying, I do my few hours at the fair and I get around by bicycle in town.’