Every year Milan hosts a furniture show displaying the newest, most enticing furniture and housewares. This year the fair is taking a technologically savvy turn. The fair, which started yesterday, will focus on new manufacturing technologies, 3-D printing in particular. The 3-D manufacturing allows for super fast speeds and excellent percision, all while being able to be personalized to every customer's liking. It also saves money and is eco-friendly by leaving less surplus material and unsold stock than conventional production processes. The fair will stage exhibitions of young designers’ experiments with new forms of manufacturing in Milan for the week. Some of what is expected to be seen: the Japanese design group Nendo will show a new series of 3-D printed objects at the design gallery Nilufar, and British designer Tom Dixon plans to make chairs and lamps on a live digital production line and then to give them away for free as part of a cluster of events he is organizing at the Museum of Science and Technology.
Digital systems, like 3-D printing, have been talked about as the future of manufacturing. The Economist recently predicted that "3-D printing would prove to be as transformative as the invention of the steam engine and the transistor." Even more fashion brands, including Marni and Roberto Cavalli, plan to introduce furniture lines. I think the future of fashion will rely heavily on technology and new innovations like these. Image being able to watch a production line live to see how your piece of furniture is being made at that very moment? I know we will be seeing a lot more of this, as we have already begun to witness the great impact technology has had on the fashion industry. Keep an eye out!
Spoon made by French designer Inga Sempre
Wooden chair created by German designer Konstantin Grcic
3-D printer
This is so cool! It's amazing how technology is thriving and Milan's furniture show is a great way of showing that.
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