Furniture

What distinguishes this year’s appointment with high quality fabrics from past editions is thepresence of a net and visible indication of a trend more or less embraced by all of themanufacturers present at Proposte 2009.
The passwords are Apparent Simplicity and Naturalness.Sure, reliable values. Solid foundations capable of providing equilibrium and certainty in a phasefull of uncertainties and difficulties. The creative mood of Proposte 2009 was the following:

responding to the most complicated world economic crisis in the last two centuries byproviding, in terms of aesthetics and technical development, a tranquilising and reassuring panorama.

Therefore elements of unmistakeable quality, natural fibres and yarns in dominating quantities,refined fabric appraisals and soft, simple colour ranges with little time for the superfluous. A sort of comforting psychological approach, a real contribution to the rational need to get past the current complexities of life. We see a minimalist theory of strips, alternated between lights and darks with a broad variety of greys also in curtains.
A never before seen unanimous profusion of natural fabrics, often with a simple play of weaving. Soft, quiet tones that serve to reassure and to underline the value of the European textile production.
Intense reminders of decor from the seventies and optical traces that are subtle against a sea of stripes and false plain fabrics. Each company presented a more or less infinite range of colours, with the usual capability of
being thorough suppliers, able to create personalised and original products. Surprising tones, sophisticated lilacs, an entire gamma of violet, eggplant, pink combined with yellow, mustard, green tones and vanilla. And even red, together with green or mustard. Finally, black and grey with beige.


In the final analysis, the colour card emerging from the presentations of Proposte 2009 is particularly influenced by the use of natural fibres, linen, silk, cotton and wool. Neutral colours, soft never brash, an array of beiges and naturals frequently accompanied, as already noted, by a myriad of interpretations of grey – almost always in light tones – and by an occasional recourse to metallic colourings, golds and silvers. Those who wanted to continue using strong colours, did so in the context of simple, almost primary colours, at times bordering on fluorescent, or in those absolutely trendy colour ranges that run the gamut of every shade of wisteria.

Next to the rational spirit that permeated the exhibition, it was not difficult to trace bold and extreme exercises, important and sophisticated workings taken from and inspired by the world bordering on clothing fashion, like three dimensional embroidery work executed with the terry cloth technique, metallic laminates destined to transform traditional decors into Kaleidoscopes of unpredictable reflections and then complex warps, full loom macro-backgrounds, burnt-out velvets enriched by offset prints to create unusual effects, not to mention high nap velvets that offer a never before seen softness to the touch. Not to be forgotten are the iridescent effects, ever present and used for decorative patterns varying in size, but also techniques and fabric types taken from the tradition of western culture, like hounds tooth, stripes, cheques, Shetlands, tartans, classic brocatelle and successive interpretations, treated with a variety of materials, like wool, cotton, rayon, chenille or velvet.


The technical surfaces were of particular interest: microfibers printed with laser systems to create a deerskin effect, highly resistant washable, fire retardant fabrics which leave the world of furniture for a moment to become the perfect foundations for high-tech handbags. Furnishing fabrics that can be used either indoors or outdoors. The outdoors is certainly one of the most interesting new frontiers treated by several Proposte manufacturers.
It must be considered that fabrics for outdoor use require a high level of synthesis between aesthetics and technique, because they must be decorative as well as – and especially – resistant to weather conditions: an exciting challenge for the companies working on them. As compared to the past editions, the blends of different fibres (wool, silk, cotton, linen, jute, bamboo) definitely take on importance. And so we see silk blended with cashmere, soy with wool, and bamboo chenille, linen with acetate and silk, linen with rayon, silk and polyester. The trend towards fabrics made entirely of wool has been consolidated.Nature is reflected in textiles for decoration with its usual force: spotted feline skins, trees, branches, leaves, water-coloured flowers drawn by hand, cut against smooth backgrounds, colourful flowerbeds arranged in order on transparent fabrics.


In curtains, the various effects of transparency are appreciated, in cotton, linen or polyester with the addition of velvety or burnt-out patterns. Embroidery is seen everywhere in the collections and continue to be executed with various types of thread, chenille, wool. Appliqués in cut crystal. Wrinkled and seersucker effects. Embroidered and embossed tulles, metallic with rustic relief effects.