The Luxury Channel explores why Milan is considered a mecca of creativity and design, in celebration of the 50th Salone Internazionale del Mobile in 2011
Milan has long been regarded as one of the international capitals of industrial and modern design, as well as one of the world’s most influential cities in fashion. The host of FieraMilano, Salone del Mobile and Milan Fashion Week, and the home of Teatro alla Scala and the iconic Milan Cathedral, the Milan’s steeped history in design makes it one of the most important hubs of creativity in the world.
Despite its common label as a furniture fair, Salone Internazionale del Mobile has become much more: most importantly, it has become a key event in the luxury calendar where furniture manufacturers and luxury brands look to showcase their creativity and innovation, and where the world’s most influential designers, journalists and professionals converge to discuss and analyse the latest technologies, materials and trends.
Arik Lévy Tourbillon for Baccarat’s Highlights Collection
The event has therefore become a strategic priority for design-driven brands like champagne house, Veuve Clicquot. Not only has the brand commissioned Humberto & Fernando Campanas to create a contemporary gloriette, a reinterpretation of a 19th-century folly and gazebo, but they have also developed a smartphone application to assist visitors navigating the fair, the Yellow Map city guide to everything cool in Milan and a host of exhibitions and events to represent the commitment of Veuve Clicquot to design creation.
Baccarat takes the occasion similarly seriously, using this years fair to launch the Highlights collection, in collaboration with designers Michele De Lucchi, Yann Kersalé, Arik Levy, Alain Moatti & Henri Rivière and Philippe Starck to name just a few. The brand commissioned these designers to reinterpret its classic chandeliers, to complete free-ranging design variations, incorporating materials as diverse as crystal, denim, washi paper, ceramic, carbon fibre and LED lighting.
