Milano home of design

Last week, we had an early taste of sunshine and got a glimpse of the design trends that are waiting for us. The city of Milan was buzzing as always, and the fairgrounds had a lot of beauty on display for our designers Arie, Fokko, and Gerrit Jan.

In the image collages below, you will get an impression of what we saw in "the home of design". Unlike Frankfurt, Milan is always very focused on design and therefore especially on decorative lighting. In addition to a day at the lighting fair Euroluce, we also spent a lot of time in several areas of Milan. The whole city is focused on design during this week, and even important lighting manufacturers prefer a location in the city over a booth at the fair. Throughout the city, there are showrooms, house shows, pop-up stores, exhibitions, as well as beautiful architecture, cocktail parties, and dinners to visit. New inspiration is waiting around every corner. A visit to Milan during this week is not only very fun (and exhausting), it is also essential to be relevant as a project lighting specialist. We cannot surprise and inspire our clients if we are not close to the source ourselves.

Trends 

What are the lighting trends? Of course, we want to share that with you. In general, lighting follows the larger trend in design. This means that there are no major changes to be seen, but the developments continue in the already established direction. For decorative lighting, it means that we are slowly seeing more color coming back, especially in the glass that is used. Where it was mainly "smoke" and "metallic black" two years ago, manufacturers are now going much further with different colors and finishes. A glass trend that can also be seen is the combination of opal glass and clear glass. For example, a small opal sphere or tube with another (colored) glass sphere or shade around it.

Technically, developments continue, especially in low-voltage rails. There were a handful of brands with new curved rail shapes where the spots do not click in but slide over. This offers new possibilities, such as rail spots with direct and indirect lighting. Another trend is (serially connected) linear lighting in tube form. An absolute winner in this category (and therefore worth mentioning) is, in our opinion, Davide Groppi with a solid glass tube in which linear lighting is integrated. Due to the optical properties of the glass, the luminous element can be completely hidden from view. A special experience!