Milan Salone 2017: Top five collections

Designers and brands at this year’s show focused on showcasing innovative materials and their future applications rather than presenting individual products.

• Textile manufacturer Kvadrat presented its sustainable Solid Textile Board through its new furniture brand Really
• Dutch collective Envisions collaborated with Spanish MDF manufacturer Finsa to re-imagine the future of wood

Kvadrat celebrated its recent acquisition of a majority stakeholder share in Danish sustainability start-up Really by showcasing its Solid Textile Board – a new material made from end-of-life cotton and upcycled wool. Working with designers Max Lamb and Christien Meindertsma, the brand presented a range of seating furniture and different applications of the material through experimental samples.

Designers from Envisions sought to change the low-value and mundane identity of MDF by introducing DIY treatments and subversive finishes. ‘We decided to exhibit material processes rather than final objects, as the possibilities of experiments are often undervalued,’ designer Simone Post tells LS:N Global.