Not just about ME-lan at the Salone del Mobile
by Studio Schrofer
Digitalization and the saturation of information in the last decade have completely changed the way we consume information. Corporate organizations who used to try to reach maximum amount of audience with prime-time advertising slots now have to consult experts on segmenting their audience (profiling) and personalizing advertisements to cater to the viewers.
Emotion has now become the center of all branding strategies. New technologies disrupting the market means a heightened desire to break-through the noise and stand out. In addition to conveying the unique selling proposition, like traditional marketers do, brands seek to alter the state of consumers’ consciousness. Their aim is to make their audience feel something new, something they’ve never felt before, while some others seek to induce nostalgia with a new twist.
Salone del Mobile in Milan is probably the most anticipated event where more than 2,000 exhibitors ranging from renowned furniture brands and designers showcase their creations, heightening and amplifying visitors’ sensation. In the limited space of the exhibition, the emotions that you can feel is limitless. At some stands, the queue to experience what the brands offer can take up to 40 minutes, like theme park visitors queuing for the iconic roller coaster ride.
What kind of emotions does this stir in you?
An example of this was the design publisher, FRAME, who awards the best stand at the Salone del Mobile each year. Last year, when presenting the winner of the best use of colour, YourStudio cofounder Howard Sullivan said of Laursen’s design of Montana: ‘It felt like a cathedral of colour; impactful on an emotional level’.
As the world in design gets richer, there appears to be a competition to be more exclusive in the luxury segments of the market, insomuch that design becomes an amusement park of emotions trying to embrace consumers’ every need and desire: to offer an experience, to set a new standard of aesthetics, to be Instagram-worthy and the list goes on.
Emotion tells you nothing about reality, beyond the fact that something makes you feel something.
Ayn Rand
On one end of the spectrum, there are stands at the Salone del Mobile taking your ideas of conventional furniture design and stretching them to see where the acceptance level is at. People expect designers to visit the Salone del Mobile for inspiration; but we actually returned home feeling a bit frustrated with bursts of emotion having little to do with the current state of affairs in the design industry.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are stands like Zeitraum who approach wood and the woodworking craft as cultural assets with a long historical tradition. With each of their designs, they strive to preserve and care for the craft of woodworking ensuring the element of longevity in their designs.
Furniture waste in the EU accounts for more than 4% of the total Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) stream according to statistics by the European Federation of Furniture Manufacturers (UEA). Between 80 and 90% of the EU furniture waste in MSW was incinerated or sent to landfill, with ~10% recycled. Reuse activity in the sector is considered low. Where reuse does occur, it is mostly through commercial second-hand shops or charities. One of the reasons where reuse activity is low is due to the shift to cheaper materials which restricts the potential for a successful second life.
The Folk collection at Pedrali features a chair that speaks a universal language. A light, durable die-casted aluminium ring becomes the structural and distinctive element that enables the piece to be easily disassembled for recycling purposes, or to replace its components.
Pedrali's Folk collection - Salone del Mobile 2019
Recently, Leolux, who has been our long-time furniture manufacturer partner, introduced a local leather initiative where they source hides from local cattle and process them with degradable pigments and tanning agents into a high-quality leather that is entirely degradable and fully traceable.
Leolux stand at the Salone del Mobile 2019
EU Member States manufacture 28% of furniture sold worldwide representing a €84 billion market with Italy at the top accounting for €17,5 billion. With this amount of money, the aim for the furniture industry should be to transition to a circular economy where all materials that have been used in the design process can be reused and recycled.
Natuzzi, also our long-time furniture manufacture partner, probably represents Italy’s biggest furniture manufacturer. At Natuzzi, their responsibility on sustainability starts at their material; by having direct control for 92% of their raw material, Natuzzi can ensure that the production process creates little to no waste. Sweden-based Swedese makes furniture from bentwood to save on materials. The bentwood process of making furniture goes back to 1859 when Michael Thonet introduced his No. 14 chair. Each piece of wood used in the bentwood process is crafted using only the best quality wood that’s been assessed and deemed suitable for wood-bending process. As such, every finished bentwood piece will be robust, durable, and stand the test of time. In Swedese’s words, it is ‘a piece of furniture that breathes sustainable quality’.
We believe that the goals of such a big exhibition should be to excite and educate. This can be done by supplementing the emotion with a burst of education on how brands enrich themselves, finding new sustainable sources to advance the design industry. Sourcing for sustainable raw materials presents itself as a challenge and the richness of the design industry can be transformed into a richness of mind and awareness that goes beyond ME. As designers, we have a creative responsibility to motivate and mobilize consumers to make value-based purchasing decisions instead of emotional ones.
Our goal at Studio Schrofer is to speak to the heart of our customers with elegant and comfortable furniture designs that express their individuality — at home, garden or office. It starts with a love for the human body, a respect for the home environment, and knowledge of materials, construction, and form. We achieve these goals by engaging in a dialogue between designer and manufacturer, designer and craftsman, designer and global citizens. Frans Schrofer, the Founder and CEO, values simplicity, practicality, beauty, resourcefulness and state-of-the art technologies. Studio Schrofer’s modern furniture designs are rooted in these values.
