Dear Snoops,
As surely you have deduced ALREADY by the Header, we are “reporting” this week from world-“famous” furniture circus SALONE DEL MOBILE. (SPECIAL ADDED NEWSLETTER-age: issues coming this WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY, as well.)
TODAY:
THE “CHAIR CIRCUIT PARTY”-fication of the INTERNATIONAL DÉCOR JETSET, and its implications on the STATUS OF “FURNITURE”, emotionally and representational-ly (INCLU. A DINNER WITH GUCCI)
An appreciation for “PARTIAL COMMITMENT + INTENSE GESTURE” via two apartments in Milan we’ve been in already
“CHAIR CIRCUIT PARTY”
We recently asked someone Big And Important ‘what is the most boring question one can ask about décor’? (Because this person is interviewed almost everyday.) Mx. Big’s response – which really would also be our response: “WORST QUESTION IS: WHAT ARE THE LATEST DESIGN TRENDS?” We could not agree more.
So, the furniture “FAIR” is so often reduced to the furniture itself, and trying to MAP IT OUT onto some absurd trend (every year, for example, it is announced that ‘Sustanab*lity’ is the leading edge of Furniture, – when really a commitment to sustanab*lity would be No New Furniture At All).
But nonetheless,
A “TREND”:
… and this is TOTALLY ANECDOTAL, as all the best insights are TBH – which is that SALONE DEL MOB*LE, in part a super wheeling-dealing furniture Business Moment. Yet, more and more and more people are here for JUST THE PARTIES. And, many a “FASHION” person, or like, NICHE-“CELEBRITY” CHEF etc is gracing the lowly Chair world with their presence, and that is seen as kind of Chic for them.
And this has a very interesting, immediate impact on the meaning YOUR HOMESCAPE, without you even knowing about it.
CONTEXTUAL NOTE #1:
We asked someone quite always-in-the-know “what is So-And-So-Major-Design-School doing this year for ‘FURNITURE FAIR’? And they were like… “No idea.” (CONCLUSION: the academic aspect of Furniture is not currently central.)CONTEXTUAL NOTE #2:
As per, Capital-F Fashion makes a SALONE gesture with some low-grade exhibitions at flagships (partial list): BOTTEGA VENETA, HERMES, MAX MARA, LOEWE (who is addicted to ‘Craft’, and oddly so pretentious about it), LORO PIANA, VALENTINO, STONE ISLAND, MIU MIU etc. etc. FOR EXAMPLE: Last night we were at a dinner co-h*sted by GUCCI (and APARTAMENTO mag):HERE IS THE BATHROOM AT SAID DINNER at the “everyone feels like it’s their secret” restaurant TRATTORIA TORRE DI PISA.
*Torre di Pisa, is very trad and very impossibly-charming, the way Americans find near impossible to achieve (they are better at things like THIS). And, what is so impossible to really plot out, which means that Décor really has to be in ones DNA, is something as this bathroom: i.e. the point at which the Acid ingested in the décor process; the off the rails moment; a certain unanticipated dimensionality.
*WE WILL REF. THIS LATER IN THIS ISSUE, TOO
CONTEXTUAL NOTE #3:
One person we spoke to at this dinner who was kind of really in Fashion AND décor, spoke of not having ever been to SALONE DEL M. when it was “real”, and she meant before “Fashion Brand” starting to colonize it.THEORY DERIVED FROM CONTEXTUAL NOTES:
“FASHION” is just so f*cking bloated (“RESORTWEAR”? F*ck off.) that it needs to INFRINGE: it’s sucked up all the closet space; now it wants the rest of the homescape.
N.B. WE SHALL REPORT FURTHER ON “FURNITURE AS FASHION ACCESSORY” on WEDNESDAY.
CONCLUSION FROM ALL THIS?: SOME SORT OF TURNING POINT?
We note a transformation of furniture to some kind of broad(er) social status signifier in
(a) some new way (that is is Personal Brand, the way wardrobe has been), or
(b) at some new scale (that perhaps décor is seen as Big New Market Opportunity in the wake of PANDEM*C HOME OBSESSION)
MEANING: Where we are used to public judgment about our CLOTHING (and is that good or bad?), those exact same people who make it their lives/livelihoods to ensure that we FEEL that judgment about clothing (i.e. “Fashion Brand”) are ever-more seeing décor as equal Status Symbol.
MEANING, part 2: So, that really suggests that personal expression through décor faces a new dimension of SOCIAL PRESSURE, which is the same type of social pressure that in Wardrode World results in many “regular” people wearing Margiela Tabi’s with their Gap jeans.
ANYWAY…: NATURALLY such a Fashion-driven approach means the new “DEL MOBILE-mindset” centers “CHAIR CIRCUIT PARTY” (i.e. days-long aperitvo raves) as pinnacle of décor. Because that is the fashion Modus Operandi
Fun, but we recommend you NOT BE FOOLED into letting PERSONAL EXPRESSION slip into PERSONAL “BRAND”.
A RECIPE OF “PARTIAL COMMITMENT + INTENSE GESTURE”
Having snooped around a few Milan homescapes ALREADY, we note one recipe of the truly casually-swaggy Décor – and this is:
PARTIAL COMMITMENT (i.e. going with a vibe, but really not caring if some other stuff slips in)
+
INTENSE GESTURE (i.e. some additional break in the pattern that is also extremely NOTICEABLE and potentially a little “much”)
=
A CERTAIN SWAG
One example we’ve already given you, which is THE BATHROOM AT TRATTORIA TORRE DI PISA.
Another is this very exceptional “BOUT*QUE HOMES.com” place we’re sleeping this week, which has a kind of a slightly Nora Ephron Cinenamtic 1990s Industrial-Conversion Eclecticism … but with an aerial yoga at-home set up. Totally-sorta makes sense, and YET is also like, “okayyyyy?”. It offers a high Personality Quotient that is rarely seen in “How to Curate Your Home” books, is the point.
We’d also like to point out that the KITCHEN of this apartment is also very exceptional, in that it is a STAINLESS STEEL GALLEY (VERY popular right now) but does a very good job of disrupting itself with such things as:
- Marijuana leaf hot plate
- Sh*t Fridge Magnet collection
Yet, it also has many things you would expect, too. So it’s not, like, unaware of what it’s doing. i.e.:
- Ex-husband’s metal Fish Sculpture
- SUPER nice little egg timer by LUCA TRAZZI
And, this same energy but-also-totally-different was present in a 1969 apartment that was designed by IGNAZIO GARDELLA we had a little pregame cocktail in. Which, also oddly has a stainless steel kinda-galley kitchen too but we don’t want to talk about THAT. But here it is:
We want to talk about the kind of subtle sophistication of it all (the “committment” part) but then a very intense, almost EXTREME approach to LIGHTING.
Two insane approaches to light:
INSANE LIGHTING ONE: DOMINANT DINING SITUATION
INSANE LIGHTING TWO: THIS FULL-ROOM CEILING LIGHT SITUATION (KINDA OF STAR TREK-Y?)
Like, how fucking good is that?!
Anyway.
Until WEDNESDAY, everyone! LOVE AND GOOD LUCK
Keepin it real, as always
Can’t wait to hear more from Milan! Great work!