I went to the Milan Design Week this year, so you didn’t have to. You’re welcome!

I know that sounds incredibly privileged and haughty, but for real, did you want to get duck shoved by the crowds, jostle for position on sketchy public transport and try and distil the massiveness of the Design Week into something non-blister-inducing? No, my design-loving aficionado, you do not.

Firstly, I had rules for visitation:

• No queues. If there was a queue, I passed. Ya girl was battling a virus whilst in Milan, and it was not conducive to standing still. That did mean I found some sneaky entrance spots so I could still nab the photo.
• No crying. When you repeatedly ask the European supplier if their product was available in Australia, and they scoffed or slapped their thigh, and guffawed or screwed up their face as if they had just smelt a particular pungent brand of fetta cheese…no tears from me. Just a slump of resignation and a gentle reminder that at least we’re able to source at least one item from the gorgeous range of products on offer. See this yummy glass Coffee Table Set from Pearson Lloyd below.

• No lollygagging. I covered about 23 km per day in a medium heel. I am well hard. You don’t get stats like that from a casual stroll. You need to stride out with purpose and see the sights! KNEES UP, KNEES UP, KNEES UP!

OK, let’s walk and talk. All these notes and photos are provided through the lens of “how can I apply these insights to my sales office?”

AV
Surprisingly, few stands used AV to tell their story or showcase their range. The exhibitors that did, like Bosch, which used a blade-thin LED screen, made their content first-class. This type of suspended screen would be fantastic in a large sales office lobby to welcome customers and display changing promotional content, so it could be seen on approach and after hours.

CEILING DISPLAY
Ah, yes, what to do with that vexatious high ceiling area in a sales office so it does not turn into a reverberating drum? I mean, we all love a soaring ceiling to add height differentiation to the space, but without intentional design, it can make sound bounce around like a kid on red lollies.
Many stands solved this with drop-down or suspended ceilings, often featuring a fabric skin on the underside of a trough, with LED lights providing a soft glow. Hot tip: fabrics are BIG in ceiling space.

COLOUR
Colour – and jarring combinations – is back, baby!  The Pantone Colour of the year “Cloud Dancer” a.k.a. the off-white insipid colour that’s the equivalent of Coldplay in a world of Amyl and the Sniffers. (I said what I said). The bolder the better! I know the traditional trope is to use neutral colours to make a small office look larger, but I’m looking forward to designing for the clients who want to drench their sales office in colour to amp up their brand and prompt strong feelings in their customers. Life is too short for beige tones on tones and Coldplay over earnestness.

FABRICS
This was a total surprise – fabrics were YUGE at Milan! Draped across openings, gathered to create divider walls, delicate sheers curved in ceiling spaces, text printed on fabrics and then layered to create different depths of field, scrims stretched across frames with LED backlighting, sheer fabrics over timber frames that had a Japanese influence…all of it was super inspiring and textural, and I predict we will see fabrics being featured more in sales office fit outs.

FINISHES DISPLAY
Our interior designers are positively in rapture when we have a client brief that asks for a unique style of finishes boards beyond the rectangle. Some awesome ideas were on display in Milan, like a corrugated table with finishes wrapped around battens, displays under a glass tabletop, and a showcase you can peer into to see the finishes on a backlit surface.

NOPE
We, as a design community, have agreed that having skins of endangered animals stretched over furniture frames is a HELL NO. The use of stuffed toys resembling the endangered animals is not an acceptable alternative. No one is asking for a Panda Plushie Chair. No one. FFS.

GRAPHIC & SIGNAGE DISPLAYS
There were new ways with graphics in Milan. Curved-edge lightboxes that busted out of the traditional rectangle. 3D illuminated letter took on an ethereal feel set behind soft sheers. Laser-cut metal panels with logos and a decorative pattern were applied over a lightbox backdrop. Logos were etched into the faces of timber and tile. One of my favourite treatments was the forest images printed onto stiffened vinyl fabric with a light source behind, creating a 3D soft wave, a lovely change from the traditional taunt face lightbox.

JOINERY
So much variety here!  Metallic cupboards that had a burnished finish at the base and then transitioned to a smooth top edge. A whiplash between finishes: a matte wall with a high-gloss reception desk in front or a riot of tile finishes to a back wall and planter unit that contrasted with the textured paint finish on the counter face and bulkhead. Or: “it’s so crazy it just might work”: a timber batten wall set within a matte paint finish with a bright yellow frame that provided the backdrop to the reception, and a terrazzo-clad reception counter. Bonkers, in all the best ways!

KIDS AREA
Kids’ areas still add value in sales offices targeting young families. Milan served up some great ideas, including cubby areas, slides, soft-play forms, and printed timber blocks for jigsaws.

MATERIALS
If I were to sum up this category, I would say it’s texture, texture, texture. Applying this to a sales office, you would see the contrast of smooth versus rough-cut stone. Rather than straight edges where timber wall battens meet, a jagged cut is made, adding immediate interest. Fine metal panels are installed in front of coloured walls, with light at the base, allowing light to bleed up the wall and change the colour intensity. Metal chains define display areas. Bessa block form pdisplay plinths. Thick paint that looks like tile adhesive is roughly scraped across walls, and metallic paint, last seen in the sets of Dynasty and Dallas in the 80’s, is making a welcome return with its high lustre finish.

SCREENING
There was an embarrassment of riches with screening options at Milan Design Week. We often face the challenge in sales offices of defining spaces and creating semi-permeable walls without blocking views. Ideas that I captured include glossy, glass bricks, folded metal petals, and thin plastic rods stretched and curved into arcs. I also enjoyed seeing “Connect-4”-style dividers with circles punched through the panels, then layered to create extra depth. Metal screening featured prominently, running the gamut from true metal tones to pastel shades and bright, bolds. The metal screening had either a large aperture for views or smaller openings to create more private enclosures. I loved seeing 3D-printed panels joined to form large screens, timber curved shapes set within box frames, and sheer fabric stretched over the face to create shadows and dimension.

SHAPES
It’s clear that arches and contrasting shapes are big at Milan Design Week. I can see this trend being applied to sales offices. Despite many of our sales office buildings and retail tenancies being rectangular, we are designing with curves and organic lines to guide people through the space and create a natural customer journey.

WALL DISPLAYS
Ah, yes, the perennial vexatious question of how to make wall displays different from the standard rectangular frames. And I think we’re in need of some fresh inspiration for finishes boards. The standard frame with a bunch of images stuck to it just does not thrill the customer. They are after a more sophisticated, tactile and visually appealing solution. Milan BOUGHT IT in this category. I saw a trend towards more residential-style wall displays (think: shelves on a metal frame, integrated lighting and intriguing shapes)

Want to apply the inspiration we’ve soaked up from Milan Design Week to your next sales office project? Reach out to
us here to chat further. I promise I won’t bang on too much about the excellent Italian meals I indulged in while on assignment.