The original global design event still manages to attract high numbers in its 50^th year.

Hundreds of thousands of visitors descended on the city for the biggest event in the design calendar. Also known as Salzone Internazionale del Mobile, the fair was originally founded in 1961 and helped to establish the idea that “Made in Italy” was the ultimate guarantee of quality.

Nowadays, the organisers of the fair are keen to prove that the world’s furniture industry is bouncing back from the recession. The prominence of the event is reflected in the numbers, originally opening to 12,000 people in 1961 and rising to 329,000 last year.

In 2003 the event was forced to move to a new exhibition venue in Rho, just outside Milan, due to the sheer volume of designers that wanted to showcase their talents.

The majority of the design talent on show is international, with Munich-based designer Konstantin Grcic being heavily showcased this year. There was also a strong British presence with London-based studios, Barber Osgerby and Jasper Morrison showing chairs with contemporary designers Vitra.

However, the Italians were also prominent with industrialist, Alberto Alessi showing his version of the greatest hits of Italian furniture – showing that Italy is not just home of quality, but also experimentation.

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2011 looks set to see typography explode onto the interior décor scene.   The trend for decorating walls with words is increasingly replacing the somewhat outdated tendency for covering interiors with traditional pictures.

The beauty of typographic décor is that it covers a variety of styles and can therefore generate a range of different looks, creating drama, glamour and uniqueness to a home. Clean-lined and bold text can be used to create a more modern look, whilst old correspondence imagery forms a more vintage style.

Although decorating with letters and numbers need not stop at walls, and typography is becoming an increasingly popular way of decorating items such as soft furnishings and dishware. Designer Christopher Jagmin’s artistic creation of numbers on crisp white ceramic plates, are causing a stir in the United States.

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Whenever an inanimate object, such as a piece of furniture or an ornament, is named after a person’s name, it usually rouses some degree of interest and suspicion, causing one to intriguingly crave more information about the item. When an inert object is called ‘Rebecca’ – a quintessential English name, which emanates an air of elegance, grace and dignity – we cannot help but feel immediate warmth and fondness to the product, even before we have be told any more information about it.

Our point? Well Bizzotto Italian Sensations have cleverly named their new luxury sofa the ‘Rebecca Sofa’, and by doing so have crafted an air of allurement to the sofa even before one has cast their eyes on this beautiful piece of furniture.

All images of sophistication, style and exquisiteness the Rebecca Sofa’s name invokes in one’s mind, are pleasurably satisfied when we learn that this stunning piece of furniture features an intricate and elaborate design carved into its arms, which would bring a touch of luxury and style to almost any living room.

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Architecture, interior design and fashion this year, looks set to see an infusion of pastels, minimalism and Elizabethan influences, with a strong emphasis on the beautification of renewable forms of energy. Take a look at some of the popular trends emerging from the world of design this year.

Minimalism

Many experts are predicting a return to minimalism this year. Interior designs will see simple, geometric furniture, free of ‘fussiness’ and clutter. There is also an emphasis on minimalist collections in the spring 2011 fashion trends. Dubbed as being fashion ‘make-under’, unadorned fabrics, pared-down silhouettes, and untainted shapes and shades have seized the catwalk this season.

Honeysuckle

The annual and seasonal colour planner of graphic design, architecture, fashion and make-up, Pantone, has predicted that ‘honeysuckle’ is going to be the colour of 2011. The emphasis on ‘honeysuckle’ this year is to imitate a colour that is “bright without being bold: reflecting a brighter outlook on the future, but not an ebullient one.”

Pantone has also predicted that there will be a leaning towards pale pastels contrasting with richer colours of iron and brick in the world of interior design in 2011, whilst architecturally, there will be an emphasis on darker irons and stone colours.

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California may not be shy of some sensational modern architecture and homes designed to epitomise the word ‘luxury’, but this exclusive beach house sure takes some beating. Designed by the San Francisco based company, Segan Piechota Architecture, this luxury residential property has been built on the edge of Carmel’s stunning beach.

This small city in the Monterey County of California was not founded until 1902 and, because of its beautiful natural scenery and rich artistic heritage, Carmel has become a well-known haven for attracting bohemian writers, actors, poets and artists. Naturally such an exclusive crowd of artistic talent require only the most luxurious and comfortable of abodes, hence Segan Piechota Architecture’s presence.

Known as “Otters Cove”, this sensational home is poised grandly on the top of a rocky outcrop overlooking the ocean. At a first glance it is difficult to distinguish the plush and adventurous pad, as, with its stone cladding, connecting the house to its site, it momentarily appears to be an extension of the stunning seaside scenery.

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