Favorite design discoveries at Salone del Mobile 2011

Chauncey Zalkin, founder of What Women Make and an advocate for female innovation and creativity, reports for mydeco.com on her favorite finds at the 2011 Milan Furniture Fair.

Weltevree, Holland

It may seem silly at first – a car tugging a salmon pink hot tub down a dirt road – but Weltevree draws you into their heavenly world of rustic (yet ingeniously engineered) bliss so completely that you find yourself looking at their inventions and mentally rearranging your lifestyle to integrate a dutch tub into it in any way possible.

Image credit: Weltevree community magazine

So with that in hand it’s time to light the fire, sit back and watch the sunset with your pal. The tub measuring 170 x 170 x 84cm is made of fiberglass, polyester, and stainless steel and weighs 75kg.

Another object of my affection from their collection is the ‘Outdooroven’. They tout it as a fireplace, heat source and barbecue in one – but aren’t all ovens basically that? The real value for me is in the appeal of ritual, a return to old values and a connection to the earth while experiencing design that is wholly modern in its execution.

A particularly rustic ‘Outdooroven’ at Salone del Mobile:

Parallel to this, they’ve come out with a magazine/marketing collateral that shares the experience and promotes community among their customers,wonderfully expressing the passion that they clearly put into their creations. For more information go to Weltevree or www.dutchtub.com but don’t miss their ingenious ‘social experience experiment’ on World Wide Local where they use a Google map app to connect the Weltevree owner community from all over the world.

A ‘Stonestove’, another one of Weltevree’s creations:

Nouvelle Vague, France

During a week of loud design proclamations, I admired the way the French tiptoed into Milan Design Week humbly presenting an absolutely dynamite exhibition at the French Cultural Center. One of my favorites was by duo A+A Cooren – a vase of borosilicate glass (pyrex glass) called ‘Tourbillon’, which means whirlpool.

Tourbillon by AA Cooren:

The glass warbles and flows, bends and spirals in a fashion identical to an actual whirlpool. A small cup sits at the bottom so you don’t have to lift the whole vase each time you change the water.

Here’s Aki Coreen, one half of the A+A Cooren duo, posing with their Tourbillon vase:

My other favorite was from the ‘Perch’ collection of French designer Pierre Favresse.  The rocking chair and desk with lamp were feather light on the eye while being sublimely functional and graceful at the same time. I wanted to tuck each under an arm and carry them home.

‘Desk’ by Pierre Favresse:

‘Rocking chair’ by Pierre Favresse:

Manuela Crotti, Italy

Set up in a quiet room next to the tap tap tapping of the staff at Spazzio Rossana Orlandi was the work of Manuela Crotti, another of my favorites and a real departure from the functional and streamlined design seen everywhere else.

A Manuela Crotti table:

Manuela remains a mystery as I wait to hear more about her from Rossana’s assistant, but she layers a tableau of candy, food, nostalgic nick nacks and every day items from an enchanted life behind layers of resin to make up a long dining table, round table, cupboard buffet and end table, among other pieces.

A Manuela Crotti cupboard buffet:

Images accredited to Chauncey Zalkin