Milan Designersblock: Modern Design with Tradition in Mind

Intrepid <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/about/">Inhabitat reporters</a> have been busy bustling around around Milan this week, scouring <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/milan-furniture-fair">Milan Design Week</a> to bring you the hottest new designs from the <a href="http://www.cosmit.it/tool/home.php?s=0,2,67,71,75">Salone del Mobile</a>. One event that never fails to pique our interest is Britain's <a href="http://www.verydesignersblock.com/2009/2010/02/02/bodging-milano">Designersblock</a> -- a satellite show featuring up-and-coming British design talent. This year Designersblock returns to Zona Isola for a showcase of over 30 designers, 3 design schools and a special project that revives traditional craftsmanship through woodworking. This amazing exhibit hosts a spectacular collection of projects that approach design in various ways, including two of our faves - creative sustainability and eco-friendly design. Read on for some of the standout projects <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/milan-furniture-fair">on show now</a>!

The first thing that catches your eye as soon as you enter the space is <a href="http://www.assemblyroom.co.uk/">Assembly Room</a>’s furniture pieces made from eco-friendly materials. The AR line includes a two and three-seater sofa that blend the design styles of the past and present. One particular stunner is the AR004 design, a lightweight stackable chair created with FSC certified wood and 100% pure <a href="http://www.ecouterre.com/15532/meet-the-blankoat-an-icelandic-snuggie-made-from-inbred-viking-wool/">wool</a> that is both renewable and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/2010/02/11/circular-pod-tea-house-is-heated-by-compost/">compostable</a>.

<a href="http://www.lindstenform.com/">Johan Lindstén’s</a> Idyll Concept plays with the bittersweet emotions of dreaming through <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/02/06/eco-art-vintage-needlework-upcycled-as-trophy-art/">embroidery</a>. Women of older generations used to stitch beautiful scenery that has since been forgotten, thrown away or left under-appreciated. This set of chairs mixes traditional home craft with contemporary design to create a vehicle to bring this art form back into play.

Light Drop is a clever lighting fixture that makes us conscious about how we use our natural resources. Designed by <a href="http://www.studiomango.nl/">Studio Mango</a>, the light coming out of a <a href="http://www.inhabitat.com/2010/03/31/sleek-rotary-faucet-lets-you-dial-down-wasted-water/">faucet</a> represents how water is energy, and how we must be responsible with its use.

The Subversive Garden from <a>Vanessa Harden</a> makes gardening chic and fashionable. This series of objects and clothing accessories makes guerrilla <a />gardening</a> possible through designs that allow you execute green assaults on the sly.

<a> Bodging Milano</a> is an interesting project that took modern designers back to the days of traditional chair making and production.

A group of <a>10 designers</a> lived for a week in the woods of Herefordshire working together in an outdoor workshop where each designed and fabricated their own greenwood chair.

Away from all technology and even electricity, the <a>designers</a> produced their own variation of the classic English Windsor chair.

Beautifully crafted chairs which are the perfect compliment for any outdoor or indoor space.

Beautiful wood cut-out globe lamps.

Kako Ko’s foldable <a>cardboard furniture designs</a>.

An eye-catching wool <a>chair</a> that also yells comfort.

Year after year <a>Designersblock</a> continues to treat us with a visual feast of fresh design. Amongst the variety of different materials and techniques that have been employed, there is a strong undercurrent of a green techniques that have been applied to projects, bellying a display that is not especially directed at sustainability, but highlighted nonetheless.

Although set apart from the main-stage Fuori Salone, Designersblock should not be missed.<a href="http://www.verydesignersblock.com">