Chairs may be the humble building blocks of furniture but not in the hands of creative director Jonathan Anderson. Titled Loewe Chairs, the Spanish maison focused on giving new life to a particular style; the stick chair. The term ‘stick chair’ refers to the apparent simplicity of construction and appearance of pieces of domestic furniture that have long been considered peasant items, having in common the method of construction: all the uprights and legs are fixed into the seat and usually held in place with a wedge.

Where Loewe’s DNA comes in is through the act of weaving.  The project showcases different weaving techniques across a variety of materials. Some are more familiar Loewe staples such as leather and raffia, but there were the zany ones too like thermal blankets foils, shearling and felt. Add the delightful use of colours and what you have is an objet d’art.  Thirty stick chairs have been embellished: twenty-two are original antique pieces, while the remaining eight have been crafted anew by a British atelier specialising in stick chairs.

The French maison’s new collection appears to an elegant exercise in the restraint and minimalism of earlier times. Take for example this straight back chair first designed by Hermes in the ’30s – it was newly updated for 2023 by the feted British industrial designer Jasper Morrison. The designer introduced slimmer legs and tweaked the overall proportions – minor adjustments for a timeless design. Meanwhile, Hermes faithfully replicated the glossy glazed heritage leather that was custom created for this chair. As the brand puts it, strength can also be reveal through removal and clarity achieved through subtraction, paying excellent tribute to the tenets of minimalism. 

The collaboration between Dior and industry savant Phillipe Starck continues after last year’s successful introduction of the Miss Dior chair (Starck’s interpretation of the maison’s classic Louis XVI Medallion chair). This year, it naturally follows that the two partners came up with the Monsieur Dior chair, a wider, comfortable-looking armchair that retains the slim legs of the Miss Dior. It’s available in a range of materials and colors (polished or lacquered aluminum, ecru boucle fabric and pink, black or fluorescent orange of the maison’s signature toile de Jouy fabric).

Louis Vuitton staged a three-pronged attack during Milan Design Week, held at the salons of the Palazzo Serbelloni. First up was one of the most Instagrammed moment at deisng week: the wondrously bulbous aluminium large-scale installation set in the courtyard by architect Marc Fornes that was inspired by corals. The next was a presentation of the Cabinet of Curiosities by Marc Newson, the vaunted designer and long-running Louis Vuitton collaborator’s new interpretation of the maison’s famous trunk, transforming it into an elegant display case.

And last but not least, every year, Louis Vuitton taps on a slew of designers to add to their Objets Nomades collection (the maison’s furniture and design collection, first launched in 2012). This year sees 11 designers flexing their muscles across a range of categories: glittery names such as Atelier Oi, Raw Edges, Atelier Biagetti, Marcel Wanders, Zanellato/Bortotto and Studio Campana. The one that caught our eye is this intriguing Binda armchair that was inspired by the curved lines of a tennis ball. It was conceptualised by Israeli designers Shay Alkalay and Yael Mer of London-based firm Raw Edges.

In a surprise move, Italian house Tod’s tapped on surrealist photographer Tim Walk for a project titled The Art of Craftsmanship. The photographer documented various phases of creation of the brand’s most iconic products, from the Di Bag to the Gommino, but in signature Tim Walker style, playfully experimented with the proportions of the objects made and the tools that accompany and represent the most important craftsmanship steps: cutting the leather, stitching, and brushing.

“In this increasingly digital world, where so much is being created on an industrial scale by machines, the value of craftmanship is increasingly precious. The people I met in the company and their experience were the real source of inspiration,” says Tim Walker. Fret not if you weren’t able to see it in person during Milan Design Week; there will be a travelling exhibition slated to tour the world throughout the year, though exact details have yet to be released.

As aforementioned, renowned architect and industrial designer Gaetano Pesce was given free reign of Bottega Veneta’s flagship store and he transformed it into an expansive art installation (of which reportedly over 10,000 people have waited in line to get into). If you find his name familiar, it’s because Pesce was the designer responsible for the colorful poured resin floor and artful chairs that appeared at Bottega Veneta’s Spring/Summer 2023 show. There were no products for sale within the transformed store, save only two bags designed by the maestro himself.

“This is my first design of a bag and it is figurative – two mountains with a sunrise or a sunset behind. I wanted a bag with an optimistic view,” says Pesce. “There is a capacity to realise anything at Bottega Veneta and this bag opens up a way to express future design. The design of the future has to be figurative and it has to communicate – such an object has to tell a story.”

Realised by Bottega Veneta’s leather workers and artisans, the signature Intrecciato is utilised once more, yet in in a novel new way according to Pesce’s sketches. For example, each Intrecciato bag is individually painted with an airbrush technique to resemble Pesce’s watercolour rendering with respect to the mountains in nappa leather. A meticulous crochet technique is utilised for the prairies in seven shades of green calf and lamb leathers, evoking the swaying grasses. Each bag is limited edition and comes individually numbered.