Milan – Natural and organic materials are current trends in furniture design, but in the coming months synthetic materials that were popular in the 1980s are to make a comeback. At the Milan furniture trade show, transparent pieces of acrylic – reminiscent of furniture popular two decades ago – were on display along with pieces featuring glass and metal. Opposites rule the designs: the materials were either clear or very heavily tinted. Ideas from the 1970s also influence the designs in some ways. There were individual pieces with material casually draped over them, while the material on other pieces had a brash cut with raw edges. This had nothing to do with backwardness or lack of ideas. The designers’ look back at the 1970s and 1980s is more positive and includes prettier details and more intricate work. The trade show included some unusual shapes standing opposite less striking pieces that in return exhibited precisely developed fineries, such as a piece of furniture’s adjustable height. The term supernormal was coined to describe these trends at the trade show.
-from The Earth Times: Thurs May 8, 2008
