What was new in Milan 2018?

With almost 2000 exhibitors, thousands of people strolling along its aisles every day and even stands where visitors had to wait patiently in the queue to get in. Once again the Milan Furniture Trade Fair 2018 was an event that attracted architects, decorators, furniture makers and professionals from all around the World.

The big companies, especially European firms, from the furniture sector made it very clear what the new trends for kitchen units and household furniture will be like in the next few years.

Marble was the king

Marble continues to be one of the most popular materials used in furniture, both the natural and the synthetic types, horizontally and vertically. Black, green or white marble, often combined together, were on display everywhere at this event.

Cement and stucco, industrial but warm

Cement colours in different tones, paints in pronounced textures of stucco and preferably in light tones that have also been mixed with plain colours such as grey, dark blue and cream.

Natural, fine and discrete hardwood

The favourites were walnut and elm and there were other fine hardwoods with open pores and lacquered satin-matt finishes. It is also worth mentioning the curved elements that have been incorporated into the make-up of the furniture to add complexity and richness to their designs.

Metal is back in again

A lot of metal structures, especially in black and gold, have been used this year as brackets and bases of shelves, tables, chairs and armchairs ?the metal structure has made a huge comeback, it is used for modern furniture and revamped vintage furniture.

Handles and knobs conquer furniture again

The handleless doors on furniture that were so trendy a few years ago have been totally overtaken by a multitude of knobs, handles and aluminium profiles on practically all types and styles of furniture, which NA is obviously happy about ; ) The power of knobs and handles!

The aluminium profiles on the edges of doors and drawers with their built-in handle incorporated were one of the ever-present features of the creations by the leading manufacturers. A lovely example of this trend was the Italian cabinets by Lema, with their leather doors, aluminium profiles and embedded handles.

Sassy round or industrial and vintage handles; elegant black, gold or chrome profiles with great grip surfaces that go along the whole length of the doors of kitchen cabinets and wardrobes; increasingly bigger handles that have more prominent roles; this all points to the end of a trend when leaving dirty finger marks on the front part of the cabinets had become the norm.

The recessed handle was also in the spotlight at the Milan Furniture Trade Fair and it has been used in numerous kitchen cabinet and household furniture designs by brands such as Schüller, Nolte Kitchen or Flou.

Moreover Scavolini, Lube, Noblessa, Spar, Lema?top firms in making both kitchen cabinets and household furniture drew attention to stunning furniture fittings in their designs, which on occasions even light up with built-in leds. 

At Navarro Azorín we were very happy to see that our catalogue is totally up-to-date, because the latest trends set by the best furniture designers in the World already have a reference/an ad-hoc answer to them in our catalogue 2018. 

So for example, the German manufacturers Lube and Noblessa had innovative kitchen cabinets on display with handles that are very similar to our 7212 and our Timmi 7389.

Spar gave its cabinets very lavish handles like this one, which is much the same as our 7275 and 7315.

Italians such as Altre 3 and Snaidero took a risk with an industrial-vintage look full of extremely impressive handles.

While, Ideagroup (Italy), Blob (Italy), Gautier (France) or Panamar and Mobil Fresno (Spain), among our other clients exhibiting their products in Milan, also presented their latest creations with some of our products incorporated and they told us about the fantastic effect that this Milan Furniture Trade Fair was having on their business prospects.

Undoubtedly it?s an event that just can?t be missed, one which will mark the immediate future of furniture design worldwide.