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With regional and international design fairs such as Milan’s Salone Internazionale del Mobile and INDEX International Design Exhibition having recently ended, we can now take a step back and reflect on the most hard-hitting trends for furniture design happening this year.
Functional furniture is breaking out of convention with innovative, cutting-edge forms and transforming into quirky, personalised pieces.
Many design companies present at INDEX 2013 offered complete bespoke services for most of the pieces, showing that today’s customer is expressing a willingness to reflect their individuality more distinctly than ever before.
In addition, environmentally- friendly products continued to shine in the lime-light with recycled and up-cycled objects and materials. Furthermore, furniture constructed of natural wood, like blonde or ash in raw wood textures cmmonly had Scandinavian twists, and equally dominated the platform.
“More so now than ever, designers are shunning the perfection of machine-made products and opting instead for sinuous lines and organic forms,” said interior designer, Pallavi Dean of Pallavi Dean Interiors.
“We are looking to create a more symbiotic relationship between the outdoors and indoors by taking cues from natural colour and texture palettes and form, ordering strategies like scale and proportion found in nature,” she added.
Laura Bielecki, senior interior designer at GAJ noted: “The idea of sustainability (reuse, reduce, and recycle) and attention to global well-being has brought forward a newfound care of designers toward these more earth-centred pieces.”
Amongst the metals, polished brass and copper remain the sheen of choice for areas such as kitchen fittings, lighting and furniture detailing.
In addition to the nature-inspired trend, comes the “fun trend,” mixing positive imagery such as fruits, either as lighting or sculptural pieces, and bright splashes of colour, taking us back to times of fun and play. Bielecki confirms that designing in a childish way is cost-effective, and reusing forgotten pieces can be exciting.
The quickly advancing integration of furniture and technology is another growing synergy which Commercial Interior Design repeatedly observed while attending the four day INDEX design fair in Dubai, UAE, such as the many marriages between seating and sound.
Paris’ well-known design fair, Maison et Object predicts this trend to be the most notable one, likely to leave the biggest impact on the evolution of furniture design this year.
“Materials and their performance are sketching out a future in which the senses and sensuality are combined,” the design show’s trend report noted.
INDEX’s exhibition director Frederique Maurell also added: “This year will include modern home automated technologies which are shaping new trends in the design sector.”
Okamura
Tell us about your company? Okamura was founded in 1945 in Japan. Since its inception, Okamura’s motto has been: “Quality pays for itself.” The company applies this philosophy throughout product development, production, sales, installation and even disposal for every Okamura product.
Okamura has established a company-wide quality control management system and environmental management system, with all of the production offices throughout Japan being ISO9001 certified and the Okamura Corporation fully ISO14001 certified. This ensures high quality products that are environmentally friendly and comply with international standards like GreenGuard.
What are your best selling products? Our most popular product in the Middle East is the Contessa chair. Contessa is popular for its smart operation function, which enable users to control the seat height and the locking and releasing of the reclining.
What projects have you been involved in? We have worked on projects around the world: Trenitalia in Italy, King David the Builder Kutaisi International Airport in Georgia, Zakum Development Company in UAE, Ministry of Interior in Saudi Arabia, and Qatar Petroleum in Qatar.
What’s new? Okamura has unveiled new task seating Choral at NeoCon 2013. Choral is a mid-market task chair with high-end design and functionality. Offered in 3,520 variations, it can meet today’s modern work styles in almost any interior environment.
The Choral’s signature “U” frame masks the lumbar support mechanism, which allows the design to be unencumbered with dynamic lines that are pure and simple, allowing it to work in unison with most interior environments.
It’s also simple to use: the Choral uses a standardised design that allows options to cleanly integrate within the form and provide adjustment levers that are instinctively positioned under the seat for use without even looking.
The Choral is offered in 3,520 variations, and its features include mesh, fabric, leather, white or black body, polished aluminium, silver or black painted frame, extra high-back, high-back or mid-back, headrest, hanger and lumbar support, and 11 colours.
It also utilizes Okamura’s unique urethane Multiple Density Moulding technology and pivot suspension for a seamless gradation of the cushion in order to distribute weight evenly, reduce pressure points, and ultimately provide superior comfort.
Lastly, it’s sustainable, meaning the Choral Chair was developed under ISO 14001 standards, is GreenGuard Certified, 100% of the contents are recyclable, and it can be disassembled for repair and new updates.
Where can we contact you? Okamura Corporation Dubai Rep office TEL: +971 4 3575197 marketing@dxb.okamura.co.jp www.okamura.jp
