Milan 2009 – Tromp-l'Oeil

27 Apr

Written By

One trend this year we couldn’t help notice (or was it just a trick of the light?) was the use of Tromp-l’Oeil. Nowhere more successfully than by the ubiquitous Front design team, this time for Moroso (Italy). Covering their designs with prints which mimicked draped silk, geometric cushions and wood grain their optical illusions were fun and inventive, with tongue planted firmly in cheek.

Other examples of Tromp-l’oeil were the legendary Gaetano Pesce for Meritalia (Italy) with his landscape vistas which seemed to borrow from the nearby Santa Maria presso San Satiro with its iconic painted perspectives by Donato Bramante.

A further example that the recent regard for Baroque, marked by the major exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, is being felt in contemporary design.