FOR the Italian firms that still dominate the show, one challenge is balancing the minimalism for which they are famed with colorful midcentury modernism or the resurgence of Baroque ornamentation.
Some designers nailed it with surprising simplicity: Casamania's Twine table had hairpin wire legs that passed through four holes in the top, creating an occasional table that was as cute as a button. Carlo Scarpa's Rialto shelving for Estel mixed sky-blue trim with lilac shelves and boxes to create an architecturally unimpeachable storage unit that was also thoroughly hip.
Paola Navone, the artistic director of the 126-year-old firm Gervasoni, blended IKEA-like simplicity with a helping of Italian refinement, turning out a collection of beautifully crafted spindle-back silhouettes painted Gustavian gray. For accents, there were ornate candlestick lamps topped with vibrant orange shades and pillows made from Marimekko-esque textiles in huge dots and checks.
Few pieces achieved the modern-classic fusion as well as two takes on the Mies van der Rohe leather daybed. Zanotta supplied its Vogue Divano with rococo lines -- a curved backrest created from four carved wooden chair backs. Perched on Fabio Novembre's daybed was a larger-than-life-size black rubber figure that recalled a Henry Moore sculpture.
Such surprises were few and far between in the main halls of the Salone, but originality reigned at its Satellite annex for young designers. Although many pieces relied too heavily on computer-generated modular designs or looked like uncomfortable origami, there were charming exceptions.
Pianeta Sud Est created I Like Grass, a carpeting system made of green-painted rattan pieces placed in an aluminum frame, all cushioned by recycled sponge. Brooklyn woodworker Paul Loebach created a Colonial American-influenced tabletop with docks for wooden vases.
THE show turns Milan into a citywide design extravaganza, with galas in showrooms and the free-spirited Fuori Salone event in the Tortona district. There, the kind of progressive and provocative designs that Angelenos often find at Beverly Boulevard stores were shown to the public in a bazaar of interior design. University-sponsored student exhibitions and a group of Berlin designers housed in a geodesic dome bumped up against deep-pocketed corporations.
