Every spring, titans of the design world convene in Milan to tout their new innovations—some practical, some heady. It looks like 2013 has been a good one. Here are five our favorite pieces shown at Milan 2013.

Tom Dixon’s “Mass” Collection
It’s easy to mistake the tables and shelves in Tom Dixon’s “Mass” collection for wood structures. The pieces, actually crafted from plated copper, feature “chunky” minimalist construction and the joints usually found in large woodworked furniture. According to the designer, the large construction is meant to give the furniture an authoritative role in a room. The collection, which somehow manages to make minimal metal furniture seem rustic, includes a dining table, console, coat stand, and a book stand.

'Slice' stationery holder by James Irvine
James Irvine, who passed away in February, has designed everything from furniture for Muji, to a one-off Mercedes bus for the city of Hanover, Germany. One of his last projects, a desk organizer for Discipline called “Slice” is constructed from a single piece of cork, in line with the company’s eco-minded design. The organizer comes in dark or light cork, and a little bit of the natural world in the office is always a good idea for productivity.

Konstantin Grcic’s “Traffic” Collection
Konstantin Grcic’s “Traffic” collection combines the exoskeleton of modern wire furniture with more traditional upholstery work. The line, produced by Magis, includes an armchair, a two seater sofa, an ottoman, and a chaise lounge. By using such plush upholstery cushions, the line is meant to question typical connotations (cold, uncomfortable) of wire furniture.

Kettal Village outdoor collection by Jasper Morrison
Outdoor furniture is meant to be moved. It also doesn’t hurt if it can be stacked and stored easily. The “Kettal Village” line from Jasper Morrison is an updated version of the classic stackable metal chair meant for use in the home, or commercial settings like outdoor cafe seating. And for longer meals, or just some extra comfort, there’s an optional set of slim-line cushions. The greyscale palatte is a conscious statement by Morrison, who believes outdoor furniture shouldn’t distract from the surrounding scenery. 

The Ark of Many Voices
In order to design an instrument for protesters everywhere, designer Marco Monterzino withdrew from commercial work, and instead spent his days in the Occupy London camp. During the protest, Monterzino worked as an apprentice of sorts with the on-site carpenter, learning how to use leftover wood scraps to create impromptu structures. After about a month in the camp he designed his “Many Voices” ark to help protesters solve the problem of amplification. “The Ark of Many Voices” has two roles: it’s a portable megaphone capable of repeating slogans and messages, but it features built-in recording to help archive protests.

Eric Trine is, in his own words, "a maker of things." The Portland, Oregon-based MFA candidate is tireless, and lately has been cranking out an inspiring series of stacked sculptures made of a combination of found objects and forms he has built in his studio. If these are the "things" he's referring to, we say keep on stacking, Eric.

Contact Eric for comissions of custom furniture or arts and crafts.

English label Native Youth is making inroads in the States this season with tropical patterns, tie-dye, and camo patterned summer-weight menswear—perhaps turning a few things we never thought we'd embrace (er, tie-dye, for one) into musts for the season. 

Look for Native Youth at needsupply.com and similiar online retailers.

Stone Cold Fox’s Cydney Morris and Dallas Wand have been BFFs since childhood. They spent summers together at Parsons and they travelled to Bali, Australia, and Mexico together. And in 2009 the Venice, California-based duo launched their line of intricately delicate vintage-inspired pieces that are so ultra casual you can slip them on over a swimsuit at the beach.

As the designer half of the duo, Morris infused her inspiration of vintage lingerie and Sofia Coppola’s film The Virgin Suicides into SCF’s SS13 Collection, “The Virgin Bride.” The collection conjures an image of a princess dressed in white sneaking a smoke in the john during a Sunday church service—(almost) innocent, yet sensuous. 
 

Gauzy white dresses, sun-faded floral prints, and lace accents galore rule the collection. The silk/rayon blend Virgin Dress with lace trim and an open back is seraphic, yet simple. The Coppola silk tank top in black is barely there with its asymmetrical hem and crisscross lace shoulder straps that dip down to the small of the back. The Love Jumper in sand-washed silk is slightly more modest—long sleeves and loose-fitted shorts with a side ruffle in a fresh hydrangea print. 

Find out more at The Stone Cold Fox online.

Ebbets Field just celebrated its centennial—the Brooklyn ballpark would have been a hundred last week if it hadn't been torn down in 1960, and somewhat coincidentally, we're celebrating Ebbets, too—Ebbets Field Flannels, that is. For spring, we've just released four limited-edition Nothing Major hats produced with Ebbets. They're made in America by the 25-year-old purveyors of fine traditional baseball wear, and are available in four styles—three fitted designs and a leather strap-back 5-panel in all black.

The NoMa Ebbets Field Flannel caps are now available in the Nothing Major shop for $49.

From one of the poorest parts of Paraguay, a slum on top of a massive garbage dump, comes an inspiring story of creativity and music.

In Cateura, Paraguay, a garbage picker brought some violin-like pieces of trash to a local musician who fashioned a functional violin from the objects. They continued, creating makeshift cellos, violins, and flutes with sound qualities that resemble the traditional classic instruments. Next, they formed a band with local children. 

Now, a documentary film on the project and the band, The Recycled Orchestra, is in the works via Kickstarter and an orchestra tour may be organized provided the funding comes through. In the meantime, we're just marveling at the instruments, which defy the definition of recycling; they're works of art.

Fund the Landfill Harmonic Kickstarter now.

It used to be that every elementary school classroom had a standalone record player with its own speakers. Still, they needed to be plugged in. Not the Turntable01, which is truly portable, has its own amp and speakers, and powers up for 25 minutes of playtime after the user cranks it for a few minutes. That should be good enough to get through side one of Spiderland with only a little sweat.

Jymy Parhiala designed Turntable01 at Lund University as part of a project to embrace "cyclical living strategies," but we're hoping it becomes widely available at some point. Perhaps before our next soul 45 picnic?

Clothing wears you just as much as you wear it and Scout Paré-Phillips, a New York City-based photographer, demonstrates this relationship between the body and clothing in her series “Impressions.” Whether it be the mark around your waist from a skirt that fits too tight or irritation from a piece of jewelry that was left on for too long, the human body is constantly imprinted by clothing. At the end of the day, we're still wearing a temporary record of the choices in self-expression we made that morning.

See more of Scout Paré-Phillips work here. 

Those lucky enough to be in Milan this week for the Salone del Mobile know that there is more going on than one can possibly see. One exhibition we'd put on the itinerary is "Danish Chromatism," designed by architects GamFratesi, which shows off contemporary and traditional design from 30 Danish companies. You might expect wood furniture in modern shapes, you know Danish Modernism-type stuff, but there's more happening.

The architects say their exhibit was inspired by Josef Albers and reinterprets the classic Danish aesthetic through color.

Participants (some of them direct competitors) include Fritz Hansen, LEGO, Libratone, Peter Klint, Royal Copenhagen, Stelton, and 8000c.

Head on over to the Triennale Design Museum to see it in person, you lucky devil. It runs April 9-14.

Chicago design and print studio Sonnenzimmer are usually busy hand-making equisitely modern posters, books, and music packaging. For their latest exhibition, opening Friday, April 12 at Public Works, the design and printmaking duo feeds its fine art jones with an investigation of the textures of traditional textiles. The textiles are the result of a collab with recipients of the 2012 Chicago Architectural Prize Club Club. The new works merge hand-woven and screen-printed fabric in a series of quilts, which Sonnenzimmer prints on, naturally. Sonnenzimmer has a book in the works to document the venture.

Opening for "Image Structure" takes place Friday, April 12, 2013, 7pm-10pm at Public Works
R.S.V.P. for the opening on Facebook