If Milan Design Week increasingly rewards spectacle, where does that leave the furniture itself?
In recent years, the city’s showrooms and palazzos have been overtaken by immersive installations – environments designed to be experienced, documented and shared. From carousels and meadows to pavilions and private apartments, these types of attractions have become the instagrammable stars of the show. For brands with smaller budgets, the challenge is less about what to launch than how to make it visible.
The showcase includes works by independent French designers such as (from front to back) OUD Architecture working with Atelier Héphaïstos, Garnier Pingree with Petite Friture and Emma Donnersberg with Siegeair
'Le Design Défilé' offers one answer. Organised by French Living in Motion – an alliance between L’Ameublement Français and Le FRENCH DESIGN – the project is intended to present a unified picture of contemporary French design, spanning both industry and independent practice.
To bring it to life, French architecture studio Jakob + MacFarlane was invited to create a show set that could showcase 53 pieces by 28 designers and brands all within a constrained showroom space and courtyard in the city's Brera district. The practice landed on a concept centred on a single scenographic idea: the runway.
Jakob + MacFarlane’s scenography takes advantage of the site’s constrained proportions and verticality
Rather than placing objects on plinths, the project unfolds along a wooden catwalk that cuts through a sequence of indoor and outdoor spaces, inviting visitors to encounter furniture in motion – in relation to the body, to gesture and to one another. The format draws on the shared language of Paris and Milan as fashion capitals, reframing furniture as something closer to couture than product.
As architect Brendan MacFarlane explains, the idea emerged from a desire to connect design more directly to movement and experience. ‘We’ve always looked at furniture as something where the body is implied, but not there,’ he says. ‘We wanted to get closer to this idea of the body and movement.’
The catwalk shifts and rises through the space, creating what MacFarlane describes as a continuous ‘parcours’
That thinking is reflected in the scenography itself. Developed in response to the site’s courtyard and double-height interior, the catwalk shifts and rises through the space, creating what MacFarlane describes as a continuous ‘parcours’ – a choreographed journey rather than a static display. Its open structure creates shifting sightlines, whether viewed at ground level or from the mezzanine above.
The 'Tripodal' armchair by Bérénice Curt for Scenarii Edition fronts the exhibition
The show begins with an introduction to emerging French designers, from the 'Totemique' cabinets by APPRT2 for Solum Ligum to 'Tripodal' armchair by Bérénice Curt for Scenario Edition, before moving onto work by 13 French manufacturers – including giants like Ligne Roset and Fermob – each presenting three pieces that reflect their material expertise and production processes.
Paris-based designer Franck Genser is among the exhibitors
For Paris-based designer Franck Genser, who is among the exhibitors, that emphasis on making is key. ‘I'm always trying to produce new contemporary things that are of their time but will last,' he says.
Genser, who founded his studio in 2016, works with a network of artisans alongside his own in-house prototyping workshop – a set-up that allows him to test ideas that might otherwise be dismissed at production stage. ‘We have our own internal production, because if we come to an external maker with our drawings, they say, “No. You know why nobody did it before? It’s because you can’t do it,”’ he smiles. ‘I actually have a name for that – I call them the “ooh là là” – because when you show them the drawings, that’s what they say.’
Genser's presented works include the totemic ‘Cascade’ alabaster floor lamp, the chubby ‘Scarf’ armchair and the ‘Brutaliste’ table
At 'Le Design Défilé', Genser presented the totemic ‘Cascade’ alabaster floor lamp – an elegant stack of alabaster components – alongside the chubby ‘Scarf’ armchair and the ‘Brutaliste’ table, its hollowed-out stone top painted a deep aubergine – 'the colour of the old Royal family in France,' Genser tells us. Together they showcase the breadth of the studio’s savoir-faire. Elsewhere at the fair, Genser is also presenting with Louis Vuitton, on a table that was two years in the making. 'I think we are lucky [in France] because we have a huge past to draw on,' he says, reflecting on what it means to be a French designer. 'It's not something coming from nowhere.'
Two rounded memory foam forms fold around each other in Genser's 'Scarf' armchair
Displayed without hierarchy, the works form what the organisers describe as a ‘living landscape’ of contemporary French design – one that balances scenography with substance. If the premise borrows from fashion, the underlying ambition is more grounded: to give furniture a clearer stage at a moment when it risks being overshadowed. Here, the spectacle serves the objects – not the other way around.