If you liked the Aalto/Ban exhibition review a couple of weeks ago, you might also like Monocle’s short news item about the Shigeru Ban-designed Artek pavilion at the recent Salone del Mobile industrial design fair. Look out for footage from inside the beautiful building, created by Ban’s team from recycled paper – a by-product of the Finnish paper industry – and Artek’s new range of bamboo furniture, introduced by creative director Tom Dixon and managing director Mirkku Kullberg. As Dixon points out, bamboo is a fairly sustainable source “wonder material, (given) it grows faster than any other plant on the planet.” Their new range is the product of four years research, attempting to “use bamboo as an industrial raw material”, and as such, neatly avoids that unsustainable ‘ethnic’ look.

Monocle: Milan Design Diary: Artek and Shigeru Ban