Living inside and living outside

There are many places to furnish, physical and virtual, of the world and of the soul. The set design of the Hermès event tells it well: the paper and ash Water Tower, one of the most instagrammed installations of this year.

The internal / external relationship is marked by light boundaries, ephemeral. There is a populous outside, invaded by people who need useful tools for relationships: sofas, tables, chairs.

And there is an intimate inside, with soft colors (the beautiful palette of Ilse Crawford for Carl Hansen) , comforting shapes and systems that follow the wishes of those who live in the house (Pebble Rubble by Front Design for Moroso).

Touching is not prohibited

The colors of the new Kvadrat collection by Alain Biltereyst are called Slate, Pink, Celestia, Grass Green, Sunlight, Earth Red, Deep Blue, Shadow and Sand.

Fascinating, but not only. Furnishing fabrics in 2022 have become canvases on which to draw natural presences and on which to design small three-dimensionality.

They are landscapes and surfaces on which the hands roam to find tactile sensations. And the variants of contemporary bouclé are endless and on every sofa, armchair, curtain, rug.

Intertwining, knots and bonds

Weaving, weaving and knotting are new anthropological musts. The urgency also emerges, incredibly, in the furnishings.

Snobbled for years, perhaps due to ornamental excess, intertwined and knotted threads return in the form of ropes, fibers, leather, natural and artificial fabrics.

Obviously in a contemporary declination, which passes more graphic codes than convoluted intertwining. But it is curious to see how design works close to evolving desires. More ties for everyone.

The trace of manual labor

In search of humanity. Even in objects, even in technology. The made in Italy has never moved away from artisanal production. But Design Week 2022 has brought manual skills back to the center.

Starting with Buccellati, which dedicates an event (curated by Federica Sala) to its tableware collections and also involves Richard Ginori to complete the game of high Italian craftsmanship (luxury). Etiquette. A Journey into conviviality is the reinterpretation of a precious art de la table, which now however becomes everyday, enters the normality of ordinary days.

Buccellati is the tip of an iceberg involving a thousand different forms of hand making. From the most hi-end to the most artistic, from ethnic (including European) to craftsmanship 3.0. The important thing is the presence of man in the making and in the objects we decide to inhabit.

We are human

The search for contemporary design is philosophical, it focuses on the human. Not that it wasn't like this before: design is a humanistic matter, as well as a technical one.

But now it is clear that we are looking for traces of personal stories, of the overlapping of gestures and thoughts even in the domestic landscape. Caterina Frongia transforms the stories of her clients into patterns and hand-knotted rugs. The Finemateria with the exhibition Vita Lenta tells the passage of time (and its importance) in creative work.

We want color

It's a trend we all expected: color. Which is more lively, less scary, shines on oversized pieces, protagonists, even intrusive and funny.

To mention: Tribù by Paola Navone for Caimi Patents. A sound-absorbing system that draws tribal masks on the walls of offices and, probably, also of houses. And Sunset in New York, by Gaetano Pesce for Cassina. A screen that is also a graphic project, a work of art, a tribute.