The Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan has a sweet-sounding name, but it is just an incredibly massive furniture fair that is held each April in one of the world’s design capitals.

This year’s trade show featured a nice surprise from the folks at IKEA, who were in Milan to talk up their sustainable designs: a pleasant place to go to the bathroom. However, the company did themselves a big favor on the marketing front with the public bathroom created for the event.Continue reading...

IKEA today previewed its seventh annual Ikea PS collection, showing at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile (Milan Furniture Fair) and arriving in European stores in August. But the bigger buzz was its move into home electronics, with the new Uppleva (Swedish for "uplifting") hybrid HDT/home entertainment center.

Integrating RCA's HDTV system into a flat-pack entertainment unit, the TV-embedded furniture "comes in three designs and will be sold first in Sweden, France, Poland, Germany and Italy in June, with a few more markets due to launch in the second half of the year," according to the Associated Press. "By the first half of next year, it will be available worldwide, with the cheapest costing about 6,500 Swedish kronor ($955)."Continue reading...