Amazement is key at HOMI lifestyle fair

(ANSA) - Rho-Pero, September 16 - For making pasta sauce, you can always grab a couple of basil leaves from the garden, or from a balcony planter; but now, you can also "extract" them from a beautiful lamp.
    Suitable for any room in the house, this particular lamp works like an incubator for cultivating and protecting kitchen herbs. Together the pair - basil and lamp - make for a furnishing with a lovely "nature at home" effect.
    Renovation is amazement, and this was the line many designers followed in offering up ordinary objects in new shapes and materials at HOMI, the lifestyle trade show that concluded on Tuesday at the Milan Convention Centre.
    Here, a vast range of the most traditional items were revolutionised with unusual materials and never-before-seen shapes.
    There were innovative items and ideas in every area of the lifestyle fair, from articles for the home and for personal care, to jewellery and fragrances.
    In the 4th edition of the trade show, exhibitors from both Italy and around the world competed to show elegance in the most unusual and surprising shapes, in a kaleidoscope of tastes and trends.
    Eco-friendly products stood out, in a renewed love for combining respect for nature with style.
    This trend inspired products made with recycled materials such as rubber, paper or cardboard, shaped without altering or transforming their original state into lamps, purses, room decorations, statues, and accessories ranging from simple to very colorful.
    Everything is repurposed: even a used sail can have a new life, becoming a unique and sought-after item thanks to tracking on the label that shows which boat it came from and its nationality.
    Designers' imaginations even touched on children's items, making the most of patterns and color together with safety.
    So, for example, highchairs become an integrated part of the home's furnishings, children's fabrics tell the story of the essence of youth, toys are made from rubber and other natural materials.
    A downpour of fabrics was seen everywhere - not just for beds and tables but also for lamps, for making accessories, and for reshaping rooms in every corner of the home.
    The colors were full of motion and change, from nuanced shades to fashion-forward prints.
    And in the end there were even those who revolutionised the most traditional of shapes, which begs the question of how this might be seen by more conventionally minded consumers. In any case, it sparks curiosity, especially when it involves the makeover of an Italian design symbol as iconic as the Bialetti Moka coffee maker.
    The intention is to make it more functional, but above all more beautiful and modern, as if it had been made by a 3D printer.
    In general, the shapes are cleaner, and in finding such a minimalist style, the designer finds an even bigger challenge.
    The most important thing, however, is for people to like these items once they're out in the world.
    Sometimes even in proposing lifestyles, there's no shortage of excessiveness.