It’s natural to compare. We all do it. Call it human nature. When such sizing-up is motivated by dissatisfaction or inadequacy, it’s probably not such a healthy activity. But if it’s underpinned by a desire to take stock, to see where you stand amongst your peers and how you can improve, it can reap reward. And when it has a clear business benefit, so much the better.

As the world’s leading and most-trusted research tool for the specification of premium architectural and design products, Architonic is uniquely placed to offer its community relevant and valuable insights into developments in the architecture and design markets.

Because our curated database of in excess of 200,000 products (representing 1,300 brands and 6,200 designers) is the first port of call for over 16 million professionals and design-conscious users a year looking for the very best, we’re able to see exactly what’s being searched for actively across hundreds of product categories and looked at in terms of page views, and to transform all of this into an ongoing series of fascinating and, importantly, unbiased trend analyses.

We check the pulse of the markets in terms of the popularity of brands, product types and even specific products and materials and give you, via top-ten rankings and other meaningful forms of evaluation – all presented in the form of compelling infographics and accompanied by an intelligent narrative that aims to put the facts into context – a clear picture of the way things are right now, rather than some foggy trend forecast. The result: the opportunity for brands to close the gap between their aspirations and the reality of their brand awareness and engagement.

Having launched our trend-analysis programme at this year’s M&O Paris with a set of compelling rankings that demonstrate the relative standing of brands across the board , followed by a second tranche of sanitaryware-specific data presented at ISH Frankfurt in March, it’s now time to turn to Milan’s Salone del Mobile – an opportunity to focus on furniture and lighting.

Most popular furniture brands by text search

The top-ten most searched-for furniture brands on Architonic between October 2014 and March 2015 feature, perhaps unsurprisingly, a number of the usual suspects – internationally renowned manufacturers such as Vitra and Minotti, who occupy positions one and two respectively (and who also headed up our overall brand top ten across all product categories, presented at M&O Paris). But it also includes somewhat of a surprise. At number five, ahead of long-established brands whose longevity has earned them a place in design history, such as Cassina and Thonet, is Danish manufacturer HAY, founded as recently as 2002. Generally, Italian brands still dominate (comprising six of the top ten), with over half of the companies being founded in the boom of the 1950s and 1960s or even early, in the interwar period. These manufacturers have staying power when it comes to brand presence.

Most popular lighting brands by text search

Again, Italian design occupies centre stage during the period October 2014 to March 2015, with Flos, Artemide and Foscarini ranking first, second and third. Spain and Belgium are both represented with two leading lighting brands (Vibia and Marset, and Delta Light and Modular, respectively). Particularly noteworthy is the strong presence of architectural lighting manufacturers: Delta Light, XAL and Modular, underscoring Architonic’s central function as a research tool for professionals. In terms of establishment, it’s interesting to see that half of the brands were launched in the 1980s.

Most-viewed chairs of 2014

We’ve also worked out for you which were the most popular chairs on Architonic by page view in 2014. While legendary designer names such Eames, Rietveld and Bertoia make the top ten, it’s interesting to note that the ranking is headed up by Vondom’s ‘Vase’ chair of 2009 and FREIFRAU’s ‘Amelie’ armchair of 2012. In terms of the geographic profile of the brands featured, it’s a truly international affair, with Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the US all represented.

Most-viewed suspended lights of 2014

Eight out of ten of the suspended lights most viewed in 2014 are relative newcomers, products launched in the past five years or so, with Axo Light enjoying both pole position with its ‘Fairy’ light of 2013 and fifth place with its ‘Spillray’ light of 2012. HENGE also enjoys a strong presence, with its ‘Light Ring’ of 2011 and ‘Light Ring Horizontal’ of 2012 at positions three and four. Once again, this top ten is highly Italian in complexion, although the Canadians, interestingly, also have a stake at the table in the form of VISO’s ‘Gia’ lamp (in fifth place) and Bocci’s ‘Series 14.36’ pendant lights (in sixth).

Our methodology

This presentation is based on traffic information collected on architonic.com. All statistics and rankings shown in this article are based on the number of relevant search queries entered in the text search field on architonic.com (‘by text search’) or the number of called-up product sheets (‘Most viewed…’) on architonic.com. The number of called-up product sheets depends on different traffic sources linking to the respective product sheets, such as product-group navigation on architonic.com, Google relevance of the product sheet itself, and advertising campaigns linking to the product sheet among others. The rankings are limited to Architonic Member brands and their products.