As most of you know I am spending April at our home in Italy. April is my annual girls' trip, and we are having a blast eating, shopping and touring in my town and through the region. One of my guests is architect/interior designer Kelly Hines, so when she proposed that we add the Milan Furniture Fair to our agenda during our girls trip this week, I jumped at the idea. Kelly and I hopped in the car and headed to Milan, 2.5 hours north. We stored our bags at the hotel and hopped the metro to The Milan Furniture Fair which is located in the outskirts of Milan at the convention center.
The fair is huge, I mean giant, I mean spaceship giant. We walked all day, seeing the newest and best in contemporary interior design. Fantastic finds making my heart beat a little faster. Eye candy everywhere.One of the best parts of the show are the after parties or as the Italians say aperitivi. One of the most inspiring was the
Ingo Maurer lighting party. Ingo Maurer {The inventor of low voltage commercial lighting} did not disappoint us.
Set in a slightly seedier part of town on the first floor of a rather run down building {which made the lighting display somehow even more appealing} were the most amazing light fixtures you could imagine. As the Italians say "supercool." Guests were greeted with a white light installation including a large outdoor over-scaled picnic table plopped in the middle of a well worn courtyard. Suspended white shaded hanging lamps arranged in a grand sculpture hung high above the table. Stunning. Hipness and fashion everywhere, flash bulbs flashing. It was a scene.
A banquet table set on the far side of the first floor loft space had floating candles that magically hovered 2 feet above the table in front of a mural of the last supper. This was the centerpiece of the mammoth room, mouth dropping awesomeness. These floating candles are available for purchase, as of now the magical lighting was only available to see on the big screen in a movie you might remember... Harry Potter. Campari lights, flying lit cakes, cracked eggs, and flying plates of spaghetti rounded out the collection. The party was a blast, but the lighting was even more exciting. Ingo Maurer is known for his lighting design genius and sense of humor. His new collection was impressive and innovative and ahead of the curve in every way.
This is the Campari Light, genius!
yes a slice of cake as a lamp ... What???The next few inspiration Mondays will be my recall of all things design from my finds at the fair.Inspired... is an understatement.
