Mod Chrome, Shag Chic, and Other Design Trends Spotted at Milan’s Salone di Mobile

Weeks after his return he was still buzzing. When I asked about his overall reaction and what trends he spotted, he didn’t hesitate: “My major takeaway from visiting as many places as I could is that the nostalgic re-embrace of the 1970s has reached new heights—and, more importantly, new levels of sophistication.”

He explained that designers are not simply replicating the colors from that period—the oranges, beiges, and chocolate browns—but are instead using them with bolder, more natural materials. (There was a lot of beige, he noted, but it’s now more commonly branded as “cashew.”

“There were some tabletops in marble, resplendent in these bold colors that were such  knockouts,” he recounts.

And then there’s the resurgence of chrome. Case in point: Jil Sander’s new collaboration with Thonet in her subtle re-imaging of two Bauhaus design classics. It was the famous fashion designer’s first foray into furniture design.

All this further shows up in the new textiles, where according to Leciejewski, there is so much more depth and character to them. It was particularly evident in the conspicuous presence of shag carpeting, prompting him to declare: “Mod lives!”

While it was exciting for Leciejewski to discover what was fresh, he was also reconnecting with the vendors he works with on a day-to-day basis. DEDM has longstanding relationships with Molteni, Artemest, B&B Italia, and Armani Casa, among others, whose designs are integral to such development projects as The Greenwich by Rafael Viñoly.

(Clockwise from top left: Kevin Leciejewski with Orane Abézis, Design Director of B&B Italia USA; Giorgio Armani; Armani's Oriental Inks collection, presented in-store at 14 Corso Venezia on the 25th anniversary of Armani/Casa.)

Venturing into the offerings at Milan Design Week, the Elliman design hound made his way to the 19th-century Palazzo Donizetti, where Artemest invited six international design studios to reimagine one the Palazzo’s grand rooms using furniture, art, and lighting from the firm’s own legendary stable of artisans. Leciejewski was knocked out by the room filled with handblown Murano glass lamps and some truly extraordinary sculptural floor lamps.

Another big hit was Dimorestudio’s “1970s Villa," where the firm’s founders, Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci, turned another ancient house into a super-groovy period pad complete with wall-to-wall taupe shag carpeting, on which they placed crazy new furniture from Loro Piana Interiors—exaggerated sofa sets, curving in all directions and covered with heavy textiles whose colors ranged from teal green to steel to orange. There was even a sunken sofa in one room!

Milan Design Week is known to feature its share of craziness, and this year it didn’t disappoint. Leciejewski was stunned by Loewe’s Ode to the Teapot (as were many others, judging by the fashionably attired mobs outside). The Spanish firm charged 25 internationally renowned artists, designers, and architects to reimagine the prosaic vessel’s sculptural form. Leciejewski pronounced it “extraordinary.”

Even cooler, perhaps, was the exhibit from the Milanese luxury fabric house Dedar, which partnered with the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation to bring Anni Albers’s legendary textile works into a new era, balancing fidelity to her artistic vision with modern manufacturing innovation. “Breathtaking and beautiful,” said Leciejewski.

It’s a lot to process. Since his return from Milan, he’s been swamped with questions from other designers and project planners at DEDM. We’ll just have to wait and see how all the shapes, colors, and shag carpeting filter through Elliman’s design consciousness and find their way into future developments.

David Hay is a well-known architectural writer and playwright. His stories have been featured in The New York Times, Dwell and New York.