Salone Del Mobile 2018 is behind us. Many new products were launched during the Salone, many creative ideas presented.

The specialists say that there have been many and varied style approaches, from organicism to a return to the classic, to a search for purity and fantasy.

Speaking of materials, I would say that wood occupied an important place. It was applied in different ways in many products.

Why wood. May be as answer to the humane needs for natural materials...

Chair as Art object

During the Salone Del Mobile Zanotta presented the new chair Noli designed by Ludovica + Roberto Palomba ( 2018) also made of solid beech wood.

Yet, an important place on Zanotta stand took re-edition of the chair Fenis from Carlo Mollino. The frame of this chair is made from solid maple wood, natural or black painted.

This chair is like a sculpture and possesses the qualities which are long-lasting, and each piece is numbered.

Perfection in solid wood working

N01 chair combines a seat and a back in nine layers of veneer - characteristic of the Fritz Hansen stacking chair collection - while the base is a pure and elegant interpretation of working with solid wood. Millimeter by millimeter, the wooden design is an illustration of aesthetics and functionality. It represents a chair that is not only comfortable but stunning to look at from every angle.

The shell is made of natural veneer and comes in natural oak, beech and black lacquered oak. The base and armrests are made of solid wood and matches the wood on the shell. Its light expression is serene and seductive and its construction is clever and crafted with Japanese perfectionism.

New production methods

* During the Salone del Mobile, Norman Copenhagen presentation this year, took place in the space of DesignRepublic.

The Herit chair is realized in oak and plastic. The materials are combined into a harmonious product. A brand-new way of moulding plastic enables the realization of the plastic parts with large variations in thickness without the plastic subsiding.

The two materials meet in soft transitions that naturally gather the elements of the chair into a single finished piece of furniture.

The joints of the different materials are designed and realized so to improve the design of the whole chair. The balanced materials complete a design expression that is contemporary and everlasting.

Contemporary interpretation of the classic

Newwood stackable chair is simple but attractive, with massive ash structure, designed as a contemporary interpretation of the classic Windsor chair. A simple, yet the alluring product, characterized by a basic architecture and a perfect balance between past and present, full and empty volumes, technological techniques and manufacturing skill.

This chair fit in any interior classic, modernist or post-modern, it inhabits the space with natural ease and subtle grace.

Laminated wood for the curved surface

The Roundish armchair designed by Naoto Fukasawa is characterized by the backrest, the arm and the seat being in a unified shape. A single piece of laminated plywood has been twisted and bent in three dimensions, and the person sitting in it can feel the nice comfort like they are being enwrapped. With the cutting technology that is the pride of Maruni Wood Industry, the detail of the curved surface is beautifully and finely expressed.

Simple construction principles

The name of the chair derives from the construction of chairs made of three pieces: the seat, the backrest and the leg (all four are the same profile) and no other substructure. The latter is the key – nearly all chairs have some sort of frame under the seat for structure, but in the Three Piece Chair the whole structural integrity comes from how the three pieces are joined. The benefits being a reduction of weight and material, yet increased rigidity. Plus the kind of beauty that comes from a simple construction principle.

The key detail of the design is the use of interlocking slot joints developed for the chair’s assembly. As well as accentuating the joints themselves, their proximity and orientation results in a surprisingly strong, lightweight construction

Simple construction principles enhance the design of the whole chair.

Simplicity of expression

*The Siro+ barstool was one of the 2018 winners in the German Design Award’s Excellent Product Design category, Winner 2018

The bar stool is made of oak and finished with a polished wax or stained black. The footrest is brass or black painted metal.

The good combination of solid wood construction and upholstered set in wood, leather or Sand paper yarn cotton fabric. The Siro+ bar stool is beautifully proportioned high stool with a backrest lowered as if it was a handle.

Structure as design accent

Radice stool finds its underlying beauty and simplicity in its structure. It is a tree-legged wooden stool, bringing together of what appears the front-half of a traditional 4-legged stool, with a single back leg. It is a visual improvisation, where two things meet unexpectedly. The chair is tree legs support the seat and provide stability, comfort and visually attractiveness.

The beck rest is small and reassuring, allowing a coat or handbag to rest on it. The chair is light both visually and in weight, using no screws or metal fittings.

The true essence of wood

Woody collection is a result of the continuous technological research performed by Kartell, allowing the use of the wood in an innovative way. Thanks to a special patent, the wood is machined with a mould that can extend the limit of curvature of the panel and create the frame of the chair with sinuous curves. Thanks to the alliance with plastic, wooden seats really express, the true essence of wood.

The chairs of Woody collection are with the simplicity of the lines, elegant and attractive.

New interpretation of the wooden chair

Gu is Ma Yansong’s contemporary interpretation of the traditional wooden armchair. Drawing reference from skeletal structures (“gu” translates to “bones” in Chinese), the design’s joints create a network of sinuous forms – similar to that of connective fibrous tissue. Thus, each surface of the chair fuses into one another, forming elegant seams that mutate from something natural into something more futuristic, making it seem more like a growing organism than a chair. The strong directionality of the chair’s heavy wood grain follows its smooth curves, further emphasizing its sculptural and organic silhouette that forms the most original contours of the human body.