Color: the new trends seen at the 2023 Furniture Fair

there is theblue skyenlightening, dreamy and relaxing, and there are the rossi, hypnotic and sensual. There are material and warm earth, terracotta and rustand then neutrals, reassuring and timeless, such as i bianchi eh neriil beige e ecruil camel and the tobacco.
On the occasion of Milan furniture fair 2023an event that dictates the year’s trends, they have come in all colors: companies and designers are not afraid to dare, but rather develop very broad color charts, both for interior and outdoor furnishings.

The colors become a translator with which to express one’s personality and create a living atmosphere that reflects us. But not only. The nuances enhance the materials, make us perceive them visually before even touching them with our hands. As happens in outdoor furniture with a finish in clay deliberately proposed in brick colorto underline and transfer that feeling of naturalness and craftsmanship of clay, of a return to the earth and a connection with the environment.

DUST BLUE AND SKY

Among the most viewed colors during the Milan design week last April, there are the shades between sky and sea, a real breath of fresh air. Cassina reissued the Princes chairdesigned in 1960 by Gio Ponti for the Parco dei Principi hotel in Rome, in four shades, selected taking inspiration from the master’s kaleidoscopic ceramics, among which the the blue sky, a contemporary color that brings good humor and sweeps away the grayness of current times. Numerous brands and designers this year focus onpowder bluea refined and versatile shade.

An example? The new Duo Collectionthe first collection created by four hands, or rather six, by the architect Roberto Lazzeroni with Ceccotti Collections e Frau armchair: «Dust blue is one of the dominant notes of the Duo Collection both in the part of the upholstered furniture in the choice of nubuck, and for the accessories developed by Ceccotti Collezioni», he says Franco Ceccotti, founder and creative director of the Tuscan brand. «The surprising note is that in the product development phase our style centres, Ceccotti Collezioni and Poltrona Frau, found themselves in harmony with this shade, as if it were already in our hearts. I think the powder blue creates a harmonious contrast with the wenge-stained ash finish, creating a very contemporary character».

RED AND CARMINE

Intense, vibrant, sensual: these are the nuances that go dal deep red to carmine red. Enveloping colors that attract attention and embellish the interiors and outdoor environments. «For the Fregio lamp I chose the Carmine“, tells Andrew Anastasius about the new lamp-sculpture for Foscarini: «It is a red of ancient origin that has had multiple uses in sacred or ritual environments. Carmine red characterizes, for example, the House of Mysteries in Pompeii: anyone who has visited it carries with them the memory of red, even before that of the figures represented. I chose one carmine-red crystalline because it looked like one seductive and juicy glaze, cast on white ceramic, and which at the sight reminded of open pomegranates. Red often dominated the domus Romans, as well as the animals in the cave paintings of Lascaux. The choice to use this color for a lamp intended for the domestic environment and, in particular, for the table, was precisely that of evoke symbolic richness and sensory vitality in a place connected to conviviality and the happy time of being together. Finally, I chose carmine red driven by my passion for Japanese lacquers which I find irresistibly beautiful.

Red stands out, and is found in the title, of Buccellati Rosso Maravigliathe installation conceived by the Amdl Circle studio led by Michele De Lucchi, frame of the exhibition curated by Federica Sala, who transformed the Portaluppi terrace into a modern Pantheon during the Milan design week, enclosing a magical garden of wonders in a red envelope. In this case, the choice of the red color has both a distinctive and identifying role: it is the iconic color of Come, and predominant of the Rosso Maraviglia collection born from the collaboration between Buccellati and the historic Murano furnace; at the same time red was chosen, as confirmed by the De Lucchi studio, as an unexpected color for Milan, which stands out and which in turn generates wonder.

THE NEUTRALS

The set-up imagined by plays on pinstripes, polka dots, essential graphics and primary colours Piero Lissoni for the showroom of B&B Italia in Via Durini. Lots of colour, but also many neutrals, such as the bianco chosen for the sofa Dambo by Lissoni himself, or for the creations of Monica Armani, such as the Heri O’ seat, the Flair O’ Couture armchair and the Allure O’ table.
Neutrals are also the protagonists of the novelties of Maxaltofor the first time at the fair with a stand imagined by the art director Antonio Citterio as a gallery: as a background, luminous walls in rice paper, ethereal, reminiscent of Japanese aesthetics, in the center the new furnishings upholstered in velvet, jacquard and bouclé, in a color palette based on warm and timeless tones, so dear to the brand, such as the beige and ecruil camel and the tobacco with a touch of black, and some new nuances, but always dusty and delicate, like the giallo, il pea green and the brick.

Sober colors, like black, white and natural beigealso for the Esquisses collection by Faye Toogood per Matisse House (in the photo below): blankets, carpets, chairs and tables in which the British designer interprets the drawings in black Chinese ink on white paper by Henri Matisse featured in the book Designs: themes and variations from 1943.

RUST, EARTH AND COTTO

Among the color accents of the new collections we find the rusty red, earth and terracottacolors in harmony with nature chosen above all for outdoor settings, to underline, even on a visual level, the link with the vegetation. Molteni&C makes its debut in the outdoor furniture sector with a palette of organic colours, among which the rust red and the earth brownnext to olive green, anthracite and desert yellow. Rusty rednext to moss green and navy blue also for Ceramicthe new lamp by Ronan Bouroullec per Floswhere the peculiarity is precisely the ceramic body with a crystalline, lead-free lacquered finish, which highlights the entirely artisanal manufacturing of the product: «I love ceramics, the fire that licks the earth and the glaze that slips, enveloping the shape », says the designer.

«We started from a personal proposal from Ronan, we had a good number of prototypes made with different colors and then we chose together the ones we considered the most significant», he explains Paul Brambilla by the Calvi Brambilla studio, design curator of Flos. «The colors of Céramique therefore reflect the artistic research of Ronan himself, mediated by the technical possibilities granted by the craftsmanship and by the need to offer an adequate chromatic proposal for inclusion in contemporary interiors». Bet on brick red and on the sand instead Gervasoni 1882 con I’m nottables and poufs designed by the studio Nendo lined in treated clay for outdoorsan ancestral and material finish, which brings the industrial dimension of furniture closer to craftsmanship.

MULTICOLOR AND CHANGING SHADES

iridescent surfaces, that change according to the light, almost elusive and impossible to label. Or patchwork of a thousand colours, to escape from those who impose an orthodox home or life on us, to instead embrace all the nuances of one’s individuality. The re-edition of is a chromatic explosion Shanghaithe (legendary) coat hanger created fifty years ago by the trio De Pas, D’Urbino and Lomazzi, reproposed by Zanotta in a multicolor version curated in close collaboration with the architect Paolo Lomazzi. She was inspired by the ancient Portuguese facades pastel colour the artist Joana Vasconcelos, who for Roche Bobois designed the joyful Bombom, the family of outdoor furniture with organic shapes that recall candies.

The Line is a mosaic of colours, sideboards and writing desk designed in 2015 by Alessandro Mendini products this year for the first time since Further, with multicolor inlaid surfaces in cellulose acetate. The wood proposed by is a rainbow of colours Konstantin Grcic con Alpsthe result of a long research work on the theme of color: the German designer experimented for many months with the company’s R&D department, focusing on the possibility to blend one color into another alternating the colors in a programmed sequence; from a distance the effect of the colors is nuanced, up close you have the illusion of an almost natural grain.

Finally, Nina Yashar in the show The bright side of design investigates iridescent surfaces and spectacular and magical reflections, such as the experiments of Object of common interest in the exhibition Poikilos co-curated by the gallerist with Studio Vedèt by Nilufar Depot: an exhibition that investigates new forms of iridescenza and which at the same time pays homage to ancient Greece and to the roots of the two creatives originally from Athens.

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