More news from Salone del Mobile in Milan, Italy: Mercedes-Benz unveiled their first collection of furniture, part of their “Style” collection designed and co-produced with Formitalia. As M-B’s head of design mentions, “The various pieces of furniture reflect the progressive, dynamic design idiom of our current show cars and concept vehicles, offering an exclusive, emotional experience outside our vehicles as well.” The design of their furniture with Formitalia are inspired by the lines curves of the Mercedes-Benz automobiles. the collection is expansive and includes furniture for all rooms. Living areas include sofa, a chaise longue, a dining room table, various chairs, a sideboard, a shelf unit with integrated home theatre system. The bedroom is also represented with a new bed frame and drawer chest. The collection is now on display at Mercedes-Benz Center Milano, Via G. Daimler 1 at the corner of Via Gallarate 450, Milan. See more of the collection on the following page.

A look at Alfredo Häberli’s April Tables, designed for Finnish Furniture company Nikari. Part of a project inviting designers to create pieces based around Nikari’s favoured material wood, the Swiss designer produced oak, ash, and birch platforms seemingly floating above their heavy curved bases. A portion of the profits from this collection, currently on show at Salone del Mobile in Milan, will go to rainforest charities. A superb effort.

Billed as a “respectful reinterpretation of furniture pieces originally designed by French modernist Jean Prouvé,” this continued collab between denim giants G-Star RAW and furniture manufacturer Vitra bears more Prouvé RAW fruit. Fruit that you can sit in and eat off of. As before, the collection will be on display in Vitra’s shop in New York’s meatpacking district. We are seeing some clean and dramatic lines and shapes that seem ready for sharp-dressed mothers to put to good use.

More looks after the jump…

Moncler joins in on the Salone del Mobile fun. For Milan Design Week, they teamed with French architects, Gilles & Boissier on a one-off couch for the show (he duo knows Moncler well having developed the layout of their shops).

“Sit on my Doudoune” uses a technical nylon covering with goose down padding and boudin quilt design for a solid couch/arm chair in a clean sanitized white finish – with the look and feel of a Moncler jacket.

A larger view on the following page.

It’s Nice That point us towards this incredible Simpsons chair set, a rare example of novelty furniture that makes us smile rather than grimace. Newcomers on the design scene 56th Studio, a Bangkok based multidisciplinary collective, deal in “quirky design and cutting-edge graphical matters”. This Simpsons family chair set is part of their ‘Caricature’ series, creating minimal interpretations of well known pop culture figures, translating their distinctive features into furniture design.

“We believe that objects possess power of communication; therefore, we decide to take a tongue-in-cheek look at investigating Pop and Hollywood Culture in tangible forms, in hoping that it would make the line that separates Graphic from Furniture become thinner. The result is, just like caricature drawing, a collection of chairs that is graphically sarcastic, animated in its details, and meticulously unique in the craft of upholstery.”

Yep, Marni’s 100 piece chair collection for the Salone del Mobile in Milan, constructed by former inmates of Colombian prisons. This isn’t  your usual fancy designer seating situation, metal chairs covered in plastic and more at home on the porch, Marni employs its usual colour range for this smart but far from luxury collection. Ex-prisoners enrolled in rehabilitation programs, their efforts will be sold at the Marni store in Milan. (FN)

Turning old shit into new shine is a booming business we can usually get behind. Such is the case with this collection of tables and lamps from Classified Moto that finds gleaming new uses for old car and motorcycle parts. Seems there is more beauty in a shock coil than we may have noticed staring at one numbly in the din of heavy traffic.

CM isn’t just tinkering with these parts on a whim, either. Based in Richmond, Va., the shop specializes in creating custom motorbikes for those who have “detoured from the mainstream.” Bikes that, frankly, look pretty flipping awesome. (yanko design)

More looks in our gallery…

A triple effort on this one. New York Textile company Maharam, Furniture manufacturers Fritz Hansen and Paul Smith join forces to create some incredible pieces of furniture. Point by Paul Smith, a range of textiles based around Fair Isle techniques – 7 geometric patterns in total, have been applied to classic chairs such as the Egg, Swan and Grand Prix by Arne Jacosen and the Alphabet Sofa by Piero Lissoni. A play on Smith’s unmistakable multicoloured stripes, this intricate fabric brings something new to this collection of furniture design icons.

Images:Fritz Hansen

Fastcodesign wins on all counts with their factory look at the making of a Herman Miller Aeron chair – the factory kicks one out every 17 seconds. The imagery is strong and shows that American manufacturing is still the strongest in the world as efficient as ever. Using technology and tools brought in from our friends overseas, this Herman Miller factory shows that Stateside, we are still building great things.

Many more looks from the Herman Miller Aeron chair assembly line on the following page…

Man, does this table blow. It totally sucks, too. It sucks and blows, depending on whether you are blowing it up or sucking the air back out of it. You see, the inflatable base of this lil’ side table from Philippbesheim is made from durable neoprene polyester fabric and can be hooked up to an air pump and erected in a matter of minutes. Just as quickly, you can crumple it back down for easy storage.

“Using inflatable technology proved to be an effective approach to allow the user to interact with the object in a different way by blowing up their furniture,” the designer says. “[It] provides longevity as a reaction to consumption placing it into a contemporary context by giving long term satisfaction.” Not sure about the jazz in the latter half of that statement, but it does look like a handy thing to bring on a camping trip. Could also serve as pinch-hitter for a road cone in an emergency. (mocoloco)

More looks in our gallery…