Last week was Milan Design Week, which sees brands, designers and retailers from across the world descend on the Italian city for the vast Salone del Mobile trade fair and various other events. I wasn’t able to go myself, but I enjoyed soaking up the interiors inspiration from afar – and one of the installations that instantly caught my attention when the press images landed in my inbox was ‘Still Life – The Art of Living’.
A collaborative exhibition featuring several brands with a shared focus on craftsmanship, ‘Still Life’ was curated by Singapore- and Porto-based furniture designer Gabriel Tan and styled by Italian-Norwegian duo Kråkvik & D’Orazio. It was hosted in a real-life apartment in Milan’s Porta Venezia neighbourhood, and the neutral colour scheme, tall windows, marble fireplaces and restored parquet floor made the perfect backdrop for the gorgeous pieces on display.
Most of the furniture was by Ariake, some of whose Stockholm Design Week exhibitions I’ve been lucky enough to visit in person. Itself a collaboration between Tan, Japanese furniture factories Legnatec and Hirata Chair and a range of international designers, Ariake’s aim is to give traditional Japanese cabinetry wider appeal by fusing it with a contemporary aesthetic. Since its launch in 2018 it’s unveiled pieces by the likes of Norm Architects, Portuguese designer Rui Alves, Stockholm-based Note Design Studio, Brazilian architect Marcio Kogan, Japanese designer Keiji Ashizawa and Gothenburg-based Staffan Holm, and many were on show alongside a few new launches.
Chief among the Ariake additions presented at ‘Still Life’ was a headboard created in partnership with Swedish company DUX. Called ‘Yasumi’, which means ‘rest’ in Japanese, it celebrates materials from Sweden and Japan, with integrated green Kolmården marble nightstands – one circular, one rectangular – and a swathe of hinoki wood. It’s elegant yet meditative, and it looked stunning against the inky blue walls in the apartment’s bedroom.
Alongside Ariake’s pieces, the exhibition featured lighting by Finnish brand Secto Design, whose striking products use birch-wood ply veneer that’s steam-bent into shape. Most are formed from strips that neatly echo the slatted fronts of Ariake’s cabinetry, but I was intrigued to see the sculptural and very pretty ‘Teelo 8020’ lamp, made from just two curved sheets of wood, standing by the bedside.
The rugs throughout the apartment were provided by Sera Helsinki, which combines a Nordic aesthetic with Ethiopian knotting and weaving techniques and a fully transparent production chain. Its handmade, pure-wool designs added softness and texture to the various rooms, offsetting the clean lines of the furniture perfectly. I was particularly drawn to ‘Laine’ (in the bedroom) by Anna Pirkola, which has an unusual, slightly staggered shape, and ‘Nurja’ (below), created by Finnish interior designer Laura Seppänen and decorated with raised fringes that add interest without overwhelming its surroundings.
The apartment was finished off with accessories and smaller furniture from Origin Made, a Portuguese company founded by Tan which works with small-scale artisans to make craft collectibles for the home. It, too, was debuting a number of new pieces, including the ‘Artesão’ and ‘Évora’ side tables. Designed by Norm Architects and hand-carved from smoked ash by Porto-based German craftsman Philipp Grundhöfer, they celebrate the beauty of wood through intriguing details – on the ‘Artesão’, a textured plinth that’s split and offset, and on the ‘Évora’, two architectural columns flanking a ‘fallen’ column inspired by Roman ruins. There were also additions from Tan himself: a side chair to join the existing ‘Weavers’ collection, and a functional yet elegant armchair with a curved back called ‘Meia Lua’, which means ‘half moon’ in Portuguese. Both feature woodwork by Carlos Barbosa and paper-cord weaving by Maria Adelina, who are based in the furniture-producing town of Paços Ferreira.
All in all, ‘Still Life’ celebrated the kind of design I love – minimalist, considered and timeless, yet full of warmth and tactility. I was struck by the balance between form and function, the subtle contrasts between the shapes and materials, and the references to different craft traditions from around the world. I certainly can’t wait to see what Ariake and the other brands involved have up their sleeves for Milan 2024…
All photography by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen
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