Milan Fair debuts Starck's new designs for Target

The annual Milan Furniture Fair, just concluded, attracted 170,000 attendees from 140 countries, all eager to see the latest trends in design. But designers were most interested in opportunities to bring their designs to the public in new avenues and channels of distribution. Top talk at the confab centered on Philippe Starck's new deal with American retailer Target. Target hopes to do with Starck what the discounter has previously done with Michael Graves -- sell revolutionary design at prices people can afford. Interesting enough, Starck focused on a category that hasn't been redesigned or updated in years: infant paraphernalia. His designs for Target -- exhibited at the show -- include a training potty, baby bottles and teething rings. Of course, they are contemporary in design and in sophisticated colors, not baby blue and pink. The other hot topic at the show was hotel rooms. Ten designers re-thought the hotel room and exhibited their designs, including Richard Meier, Zaha Hadid, Arata Isozaki, Gaetano Pesce and Jean Nouvel. The hotel exhibit was organized by Adam Tihany. The fanciful designs (one had walls covered with red leather) may not make it to Holiday Inn, but they caused lots of buzz at the show. Commenting on the project, Pesce said, "What we have to give people now are feelings." His theory is that design is no longer dominated by function.