Apart from the privilege and thrill of heading to Milano each year for the reveal of new design and furniture pieces, one of the greatest pleasures is meeting some of the stars of the design business and other fellow design media I admire from afar. The Australian contingent of architects, interior designers, industrial designers, media and other– there are a lot of areas to cover, and this dynamic duo knows them all very well. Karen also interviews the enigmatic Vincent Van Duysen, My partner-in-crime, Mr Chic Agenda, Steve Cordony, is a speedy glam magnet, and we covered a lot of ground together. He is regularly accosted on the streets by international fans. One afternoon, a woman pushed her partner aside, handed him her shopping and asked him to take a photo of her with Steve for her feed! On another day we had a very special yet casual working lunch with design legend Antonio Citterio. We were sitting in his very organised, fabulous studio while he talked about his career and new designs. Our friends at Space invited us to a morning tour through Piero Lissoni’s Milan premises. It was unlike what I expected. Signore Lissoni loves flowers and always buys them from the markets when he is in town. While the studio was very organised, it was also organic. Flowers, books, a resident dog, lots of inspiration, and separate areas for graphic design, architecture and interior design, plus a room with a giant 3D model printer and a little team assembling models, make up the Lissoni headquarters. We are also lucky to have a wonderful unflappable photographer, Angelita Bonetti – it is tricky shooting things when there are masses of people examining every object in detail and Angelita is serenely patient. So, what is the main take-out? In terms of colours: reds, oranges, yellows and golds are big and this will sound weird but they are all a little muddy not shiny and bright. This description I must attribute to Dulux’s colour expert, Andrea Lucena-Orr, who gave me that take on the run. As usual there was lots of sublime artisanship especially at the standout Hermès installation – I spoke to Florence Lafarge, the brand’s creative director of home textiles.
