What's New, What's Next!

Finding a common threadamong the countless ideas on display was no simple matter: classic style was countered by rustic, modern contemporary was followed by retro. Even so, most people, if not everyone, did seem to agree on one thing: the return to nature.

Design now takes its inspiration from the organic world, not only for form and colour, but for materials and decorations too. Plants and items from the garden and the woods are legitimate elements of interior decor, in every room.

Tree trunks become tables with Phillips Collection, which also presents original rough stone sculptures; the colours and fluttering wings of butterflies above the bed created by «emotion distiller» Axel Huynh, which keep watch over our slumbers; the wooden table with gilded metal inlays by Gabriel Dean, who works exclusively with local craftsmen to produce his designs. 

So the preference is for natural materials, wood in particular, with its warm, embracing hues, followed by marble, stone and cement, suitable for all domestic spaces. 

In the kitchen, the heart of the home, the distinguishing feature is the combination of materials. Wood, of course, but also stainless steel and marble, in an endless variety of new combinations. In the Wood-Mode kitchen, for example, the multi-functional central island in dark brown wood contains a digital hob placed opposite a second steel hob, and a wall created from a mosaic of tiles, also in steel. An eye-catching and functional solution, repeated on the wall behind the sink. If steel guarantees a striking visual effect, the palette creates warm, welcoming spaces to enhance the sense of conviviality, often with pale colours.

In the various kitchen displays, the central island is the most popular feature, in an open space with equipment and utensils in full view. Accessibility and maximum functionality geared to the contemporary lifestyle, where, increasingly, the kitchen is the domestic hub.

And if space is tight? An alternative proposal to the classic kitchen came from TransForm (which, in keeping with the penchant for nature, also exhibited clothes by Catherine Latson made entirely from organic materials, such as petals, peacock feathers, leaves and shells): a multi-functional mini-apartment that rotates around itself. An intelligent design solution for a future of ever smaller urban spaces, which, in a highly organised, original way, literally transforms the kitchen, with pull-out surfaces and all products visible at a glance, to maximise the available area.

The keyword when designing the kitchen space is personalisation. To suit the needs of the individual, their «approach» to the kitchen and their love (or otherwise) of cooking.

So our personal style is blended into the design of the space, which changes and is moulded to suit the needs of its specific user, making us feel truly at home: every single detail is thought out to suit the person living there. This emerged from the “Design and Kitchen Designers” Kitchen panel, where designers Robert Bakes (Bakes and Kropp), Dave Burcher, Alexi Knight and Joy Young, moderated by interior designer Robert Passal, discussed the future of kitchen design.