Just back from Milan’s 2014 Design Fair. I have a suntan, a hangover, a suitcase full of design bumpf and a canvas shopping bag that Jill was immediately envious of. Jog on Jill, it’s mine.

The bag features the above print by French-born, Milan-dwelling Nathalie Du Pasquier, and it was what the press info came in at the HAY show in Milan. I soon found out you didn’t need a map of Design Week exhibits – you could just follow the cool-looking folks sporting these bags to the next stop on the design trail.

HAY is a Danish design label run by Mette and Rolf Hay, and it was surely the busiest, buzziest event at Milan this year. The show featured both the main HAY brand, and sister brand Wrong for Hay, developed by designer Sebastian Wrong and based in London.

HAY is the more established brand, and was showing high-quality, subtle, sustainable work, like the copper candle holder above, while Wrong for Hay seemed younger, funkier and just more… fun.

Above you can see cushions in the full range of ‘Nathalie’ textiles. What a hook-up. She was a founder member of the Memphis design group – the name to drop in chic homes this year. And these prints are inspired by both her virologist father and time spent in West Africa. “Our influences and inspiration come from London, a global city and a melting pot for a multicultural, diverse and eclectic spectrum of ideas” says Wrong for Hay’s brochure. Which translates into products like this:

Like I said the whole show was just jumping, not least due to the Hay Mini Market that they’d set up. A terrific repost to the idea that wonderful design is necessarily pricey, it was crammed with little bits you were dying to buy, and which, when you checked the price, it turned out you could actually afford.

The tills were ringing as the design set did the equivalent of a trolley dash round a seaside rock shop. Even I wasn’t immune from the thrill that only actual shopping can create. I bought some of these beautifully boxed out-sized matches, a steal at just 4 Euros.

I even brought some back for Jill. But like I said. She’s Not. Having. The bag.

Back tomorrow with more Milan highlights.