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In the pink: comrades in design. Here we are at the opening dinner at the very grand Gallerie d’Italia (stuffed with paintings) for the giant Milan Furniture Fair - the Salone Internazionale del Mobile. Judy Dobias, major mover/shaker, is founder/director of @camronpr who have handled UK publicity for the Fair for many years. She has got me out of a fair few scrapes along the way - magicing up lost entrance tickets, helping with last-minute hotels and so on. Not to mention the nitty gritty of endless info and pics for insatiable dropdeadline newsprint. Marva Griffin has masterminded the Fair's pioneering Salone Satellite hall of new design up to the point when it can celebrate 20 years, a personal crusade. Winners of their 2017 Awards were from Taiwan, China and Russia - design today is greedy for global talent.
It's worth remembering that the fair has been going since 1961. In the mid 80s @sheridancoakley tentatively brought a group of Britain's brightest talent -Hilton and Morrison among them - to camp out amidst a sea of repro. I paid my ticket to see what was going on and got lost. But the Fair grew to be the largest event of its kind in the world. But the rest of Milan was a long time catching up. For years Zona Tortona was a stand-alone grunge outpost and they are just 18 this year. The whole shebang was never officially called Milan Design Week and any large events didn't even have bouncers. That name only achieved critical mass I'd say around five years ago. Though Established and Sons, back at the Fair this year, did choose Milan city for its launch in 2005 followed by its parties now mere memories of the stiffest invites ever. Now the Brits are everywhere in Milan but not at the Fair. Our strength seems to be pattern - witness @eleykishimoto1 and @kitmilesstudio - and a certain surreal flair for putting on a good show - e.g. award-winning @t_o_o_g_o_o_d and @leebroom Undoubtedly @ikeatoday stole the march with a vast free fun festival showing lots of stuff people might actually want NOW and making it easy to buy. And they went there in droves. The people have chosen. #design #designer #democraticdesign #milano #milan17 #mdw17 #smartlighting #flatpack
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