Pictured: a sculpture for Sancal’s Futura series, entitled ‘SPACE CLASSICS’: Greek-style busts and strange beasts don makeup and a space helmet for the trip of their lives.

At Milan Design Week, Sancal display the Futura Collection – a range of limited edition, retro-futuristic sculptures. Sancal’s new collection is an ode to the unfinished, leaving the end of the piece in the hands of the end user.

Aesthetically, however, the Futura Collection is based on past references, generally from the ’60s vision of the future. Inspiration has been drawn from the fashions of Rabanne, Cousard and Cardin, films like 2001: A Space Odyssey, the designs of Aarnio and the architecture of Niemeyer.

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: mirror clad objects – including globes, ping pong paddles, puddles and even a coffee maker – take on new meanings through reflective surfaces

The ’60s was a time of revolution and rebirth, the big bang that ignited so much of the popular culture that we now take for granted. It was a time when industrial design came of age, mastering new materials to create visions of a bright new world that seemed almost within reach. At a time when the globe stands at another crossroads, Sancal revisits the optimism of the Space Age.

Alongside the Futura objects, the display also features five totally new furniture designs and two updates.

OBI BY RAFA GARCIA 

Inspired by the quilted kimono bows (obis in Japanese), this new design by Rafa García for Sancal is an extraordinarily comfortable sofa-cum-mattress.

TORTUGA BY NADADORA

Designed by Nadadora, a multidisciplinary studio formed by Isaac Piñeiro and Cristina Alonso, this collection has been completed with rotating lounge chairs, poufs and tables. Different fabrics can be used on the back and seating area of chairs, headrests and poufs.

VESPER BY SEBASTIAN HERKNER

The latest Sancal creation by lecturer and designer, Sebastian Herkner, is a functional family of tables with four heights to suit every project. Vesper is German for a cold dinner reflecting the table’s use both as a low occasional table or a dining table.

DUPLEX BY MUT

Dúplex is the first collection by Sancal with the Valencian studio Mut: a small range of occasional tables that have been inspired by the architecture of Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright.

C1-C4 BY ELENA CASTAÑO-LOPEZ

The new cushions by illustrator and graphic designer Elena are probably her most artistic product for Sancal to date. Inspiration has been drawn from the pioneers of abstract art like Malévich and Mondrian, with four prints with rationalist names.

TONELLA BY NOTE DESIGN STUDIO 

The Swedish design Studio Note cleverly reinterpreted the Marie Antoinette-style vanity chair last year. Note have now added a new member to the family, the petite Tonella.

Spanish wine barrels remain the inspiration for the new, larger sofa and armchair. The straight line quilting runs down the outside of the piece, like staves, contrasting with the smooth interior cushions.

SILLA40 BY NADADORA

To commemorate Sancal’s anniversary, the design studio Nadadora proposed the concept of designing four chairs, one for each of Sancal’s decades.

Instead of four totally different chairs, Nadadora decided that each chair would share the same structure. The difference lies in the backs; each one inspired by a key moment in the history of furniture design. This year, two new versions were added, one with metal feet and another with arms.

The ’20s back symbolises concepts drawn from the work of Marcel Breuer and his Cesca chair. The ’30s back is a nod to Scandinavian design, in particular, the 69 chair by Alvar Aal­to. The ’40s variant represents the organic design of the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s and celebrates the LCW chairs designed by Charles Eames.

Sancal is available locally through Zenith.