Onoffice magazine

“It’s a totally different atmosphere already,” says designer Mikko Laakkonen. We’re sat on the new Aura sofa he has designed for Finnish manufacturer Inno, on whose stand at the Milan Furniture Fair we currently find ourselves. “There’s a lot of open-plan office space these days and you have to have a place where you can have a little bit of privacy.”   While French design siblings the Bouroullec brothers may have kick-started the trend for high-backed sofas a few years ago…

You can’t miss Ineke Hans. The Dutch designer is never without her plaits, for a start, and she tends to wear clothing of the colourful and floral sort. The anti-designer uniform, if you like. Which is fitting because when you first clap eyes onto Hans’ furniture and objects, they have a similar effect as the woman herself: playful and unselfconscious, but seemingly down to earth. Even when she  decided to design three collections of purely black things several years ago,…

London-based designer Micheal Sodeau was the mastermind behind Design Junction's cool space on Via Savona in Milan. Onoffice editor Elizabeth Choppin caught up with him to talk about the design and the products he was launching. Click on read more to view the interview.

It’s a lot of pressure to be labelled one of Britain’s most promising design talents, as Benjamin Hubert knows. The resounding success of the 27-year-old’s inaugural collection at London Design Festival three years ago, along with the subsequent flurry of awards and publicity, would be enough to petrify even the sturdiest ego attempting to live up to the hype. So far, Hubert has managed to uphold his wunderkind status – but with ten products set to launch in Milan this…

“I don’t want to be the best designer in the world. I just want to make nice bits of furniture that people delight in using. It’s as simple as that,” says the superbly named Sean Dare, picking over a mezze platter at his favourite café near Brighton Pier. We’re here to talk about the freight train success of his first collection for Dare Studio, the design consultancy he launched at 100% Design last year. It’s the end of a whirlwind…

Habitus is a bar stool inspired by the coffee leaf. By studying the formation of coffee leaves, Jansson was able to re-create the stool through the intricate arrangement of geometric forms, while maintaining its aesthetic qualities and comfort. It was originally designed to feature in a Kaffa Roastery coffee shop in Helsinki, but is now represented internationally. The stool is made from folded and welded, laser cut 1mm steel and was developed and manufactured during Jansson’s time in Milan in…

They say that in times like these people increasingly turn to philosophy, so where is the philosophical element in today’s workplace design? Theories like Charles Handy’s portfolio worker and Shamrock organisation have been floating around in office-thinking minds for years but have never materialised into tangible product solutions. Any attempt to create experimental office furniture to match the thinkers’ hypotheses was soon watered down by the commercial reality of the marketplace. Yet this year at the Milan furniture fair we…

It’s that time of the year again: Milan! The world’s design aficionados go on their annual pilgrimage to I Saloni and, increasingly, to see the satellite events that take place around the city during the festival of design. Yet this year is not like any other year.  This year, the world has been tainted by the global recession. What started as a financial crisis has since seeped through into every industry spreading fear of a depression and most certainly questioning…

CULDESACWhere Moooi stand, Superstudio, Wednesday 16 AprilWho CuldeSac, design practiceLikes The best space was Rosanna Orlandi´s gallery where a true spirit of design and creativity could be felt: interesting exhibitions and interesting people in a relaxed ambience reminiscent of the early days of Superstudio Più. We also loved the Boffi exhibit within a great warehouse close to the Porta Genova station. More than the products, which are amazing, the entire feeling and experience was smooth, refreshing and welcoming. Another highlight…

Words by Kerstin Zumstein MATTHEW HILTON NAMEMATTHEW HILTON DATE OF BIRTH31.01.57 PLACE OF BIRTHHASTINGS, UK SIZESHIRT COLLAR 15.5”JACKET CHEST 40”, WAIST 32-33” AND INSIDE LEG 34” Matthew Hilton is six feet tall – exactly! And after years of subversive omnipresence on the design scene, he is emerging this year with his own brand. “My first collection is my work at its least diluted,” says Hilton. He has been head of furniture design at Habitat, and designed for companies such as…