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Review of SaloneSatellite 2009 – Checking the pulse of global design
Reviews
By Michael Kangas
| It has been two years since I last attended the Salone Internazionale del Mobile. As my train made its way from Basel to Milan, I wondered if I would find the design capital as I remembered it. With the world being a far different place to what it was even six months ago, I feared that I would arrive in Milan and find a lot of people with black-rimmed spectacles consoling one other over a Peroni or three. |  |
To my honest relief, I found a strong (albeit battle-hardened) design community still brimming with new ideas and a resolute confidence in the future. This was no more evident than at the SaloneSatellite – the epicenter of forward-looking design.
Identifying a design trend at the SaloneSatellite is no easy task, so I’m not even going to bother. Apart from checking if the design world still had a pulse, I was eager to document for XYMARA.com what objects were interesting and which ones challenged my perception about good design. Far from being exhaustive, the following describes the pieces that really impressed me.
With Switzerland being my adopted home nation, my first port of call was the team at Pour Les Alpes. Based in Zürich, the team of Annina Gähwiller and Tina Steiger have taken traditional Swiss craftsmanship and warped it into the 21st century to create a series of startling and ultra-contemporary pieces of design/art furniture. In one word – hot!
Neugierde commode by Pour Les Alpes
The work of Norwegian Petter Skogstad then caught my eye. Oozing Scandinavian aesthetic, his collection included the utterly seductive “Soft”. These were low tables made from highly polished white Corian. Despite being made from a hard and resistant material, Skogstad softened the visual impact with a smooth and rounded design. The effect was truly breathtaking.
Soft tables by Petter Skogstad
 Jesus Clock by Studio Mango | At Stand B28, I almost had a religious experience when I met the young team from Studio Mango. The duo of Paul Hendrikx and Frank Hanssen presented a range of delightful objects including their “Jesus Clock”. Bringing new meaning to the phrase “Jesus, look at the time!”, their design was irreverent yet so compelling. I love the poetry and humor of the Dutch school of design and will clamor to be first in line to get my hands on these crucifixes if/when they go on sale. |
The work of Finnish designer Sebastian Jansson also intrigued me with its simplicity and form. His “Habitus” bar stool struck me with its sculptural and faceted appearance. Inspired by the structure of a coffee leaf, the stool was constructed from 1 mm laser-cut steel that had been folded, welded and finished with a shot of automotive spray paint.
Habitus by Sebastian Jansson
Jang Won Yoon is a Korean, LA-based designer who has created a series of chairs including “Janus” and “Blade”. Almost arachnoid in shape, his pieces had a strange and almost alien appeal to them. With an unusual educational background in biotechnology as well as design, Yoon’s work is an interesting hybrid of science meets sculpture. Right: Blade chair, below: Janus chairs by Jang Won Yoon |  |
Lastly, the “winner” for me at this year’s SaloneSatellite with “Surface Daylight”, Daniel Rybakken is someone to keep your eye on in the future. Daniel placed LED-lamps behind translucent white surfaces to create a distorted light-shape that appears like direct sunlight streaming into a dark room. Coming from Norway, he certainly knows a thing or to about darkness and how to brighten up a room! For me, Daniel’s simple and essential design was a real highlight of the entire show.
Surface Daylight by Daniel Rybakken
Overall, I left Milan with the impression that the creative pulse is as strong as ever in the world of design. Irrespective of the current global circumstances, the crush of crowds showed that the attraction of good design has not diminished nearly as much as their bank accounts. People still appreciate good design and take pleasure in well-crafted and considered objects. With the new breed of young designers coming through, the next twelve months is certainly going to be interesting.
Coming soon: Michael Kangas will also be reporting on “Tokyo Fibre ’09 – Senseware”, an incredible exhibition held during Design Week at La Triennale di Milano, profiling Japanese artificial design materials; and interviewing industrial designers Thomas Bernstrand (Sweden) and Beat Karrer (Switzerland).
Michael Kangas is Design Director at Dry Ice Design – an experimental design and communications consultancy based in Basel, Switzerland.