This Milanese Brand — and Its Newest Collection, Just Launched in Milan — Brings the Maximalist Trend to Your Table

We noticed a funny little recurring motif at this week's Milan fair: At many of the gatherings we attended, we were served wine and/or water from the kind of frilly, classical goblets you might expect to find at a fancy summer garden party in Tuscany rather than in the middle of a big city known for its Modernist design. But maximalism has been on the rise in our world for awhile now, and the proof can be seen not just in our design-week drinkware but in the rise of brands like Sophie Lou Jacobsen, Gohar World, Levant, and the Milanese fashion and housewares label La DoubleJ, for whom frilly goblets are an enduring staple. La DoubleJ's founder J.J. Martin is known for her love of pattern-mixing, florals, vibrant colors, and all things old-school Italian, and the label's latest tabletop collection, Solar, embodies all those tendencies.
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Atelier Areti’s New Lighting Collection Embraces Romance

For their 2022 lighting collection, Elements, the sisters behind Atelier Areti set a challenge for themselves: to create something innovative using only the simplest composition of a light (base + arm + illuminating element). Their latest collection, Reflections — which debuted last month as part of Alcova in Milan — was a kind of response to working within those parameters. Embracing their freedom from a restrictive framework, the collection welcomes romance: While Reflections is still distinctly within Areti's visual vocabulary, the collection also includes a series of lights inspired by the shape of tulips, one that features filigreed trees sprouting from its base, and a piece, designed by Alberto Gaiotto, inspired by the elegant neck of a swan.
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The Best of the 2022 Salone Del Mobile — Part I

After a rocky two years, life is inching closer to normal these days, and one could use the design-world fair schedule as a barometer: After outright cancellation in April of 2020, the annual Salone del Mobile in Milan managed to squeak through a mini-show in September, only to come back with full force last week just in time for its 60th anniversary. More than 2,000 exhibitors showed at the fairgrounds this year — which we're recapping today — and we walked away from all the huge Italian dinners, garden parties, and launch presentations feeling like our sanity had finally been restored.
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One of Our Milan Week Favorites? An Adult Playground Made From Industrial Flooring

We're now deep in the age of the Instagram-friendly immersive installation, which was especially evident at this year's Milan furniture fair, where we couldn't help but laugh at how many brands were touting some sort of earnestly dramatic light-based experience. And yet, for materials brands, there really is no better way to inspire visitors — and no one did that better last month than Tarkett, who with Note Design Studio installed a towering forest of playful geometric columns inside one of Milan's most beautiful buildings, the 150-year-old Circolo Filologico Milanese.
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Studiopepe Went Full Mystic For Milan Design Week

A few weeks ago, while other brands and design studios were barraging our inboxes with press releases and preview images pre-Salone, Studiopepe — the Milan-based interiors duo of Arianna Lelli Mami and Chiara Di Pinto — kept relatively mum, announcing only that they would be investigating "the interconnection between matter and the archetypal power of symbols" in a former gold factory in Porta Venezia. In other words: design week catnip.
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The Best of Milan Design Week, Part V

Yesterday and today we’re sharing the best of the rest, including a Josef Hoffman-esque gridded wood series by Cara/Davide, an Anton Alvarez presentation inside a 14th-century church, a takeover of a classic Milanese patisserie by Cristina Celestino, and Pretziada's latest works pairing designers and Sardinian workshops.
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The Best of Milan Design Week 2019, Part IV

Today and tomorrow we’re sharing the best of the rest, including Nilufar Depot's inflatable bubbles by Space Caviar, Cristina Celestino whirligig-inspired lights, up-and-coming studio Kabinet's assured and tortoiseshell–filled debut, and Matthew Day Jackson's laminate, lunar-inspired table and seating for Made By Choice.
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The Best of Milan Design Week 2019, Part III — Salone del Mobile

Today we're sharing the best launches from Salone del Mobile, the 2.5 million-square-foot fairgrounds outside the city, where some of our favorites included the Bouroullecs' découpaged ceramic vases for Vitra, Stefan Diez's purple modular recyclable polypropylene sofa for Magis, and Michael Anastassiades's expressive track lighting system for Flos — possibly the first and only time we'll wax poetic about track lighting on this site.
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The Best of Milan Design Week 2019, Part II — Salone Satellite

We're devoting all of our coverage this week to the 2019 Milan furniture fair, from the best things we saw around town, to the best of this year's Euroluce show, to the up-and-coming designers and new brands we discovered along the way. Today we're sharing our 13 favorite collections at Salone Satellite, the section of the Salone del Mobile fairgrounds devoted to emerging talents — which is where we discovered many a Sight Unseen veteran back in the day, from Sebastian Herkner to Ana Kras.
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The Best of Milan Design Week 2019, Part I

Each year in Milan brings something truly wonderful to behold, whether it's furniture hoisted into inflatable bubbles (Nilufar Depot), a newly open-to-the-public Piero Portaluppi interior (Massimo de Carlo Gallery), or the coolest amoeba-shaped marble tables we've ever seen (by Studio Binocle, which we're featuring here today). We'll be devoting our whole week to coverage from the fair so stay tuned, and click through for the first of our favorites.
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The Best Thing We Saw in Milan Today, Day 4

This week we're featuring quick hits from some of our favorite things at the Milan furniture fair that caught our eye. Today's snapshot features three table lamps from three different designers in three very different materials: Bec Brittain's new marble Heron lamp for Mmairo, Maarten de Ceulaer's stained glass beauty for the Doppia Firma exhibition, and the tortoise and aluminum Obelisk from one of our favorite newcomers of the week, Kabinet.
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The Best Thing We Saw in Milan Today, Day 3

After five years, Dzek — you know, the makers of your favorite terrazzo kitchen — returned to the fair with another architectural material with a vast applications: Called Ex-Cinere, it's a collection of tiles — with serious 70s vibes — developed in collaboration with Formafantasma, stemming from the Dutch-based duo's longtime exploration into volcanic rock.
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