From June 7—12, the 60th iteration of Salone del Mobile returns to the Fiera Milano Rho in Milan, where creators and brands from all over will gather to present the design world’s most thoughtful innovations. Highlighting work that centers quality, beauty, and sustainability, the 2022 edition welcomes over 2,000 exhibitors debuting their latest designs in a program encompassing the EuroCucina biennial, the 23rd SaloneSatellite (featuring the work of young designers), a roster of talks, a film installation, and other special presentations and projects.
“The Salone is Milan—and always will be,” said the city’s Mayor, Giuseppe Sala. “Few events are as capable of celebrating know-how and doing things well as the Salone del Mobile. This is why the design world waits, watches, and takes part so enthusiastically in this event: because inspiration and originality are a given in Milan. Materials research, environmentally aware production, beautiful objects, furniture and useful and creatively shaped furnishing accessories will also be the stars of the 60th edition of the Salone. Its all-encompassing energy will fire up the city.”
With a set of responsibility criteria in place, the fair is promoting sustainability in both its presenters and communal spaces, paying particular attention to details like the use of reusable materials, environmentally safe options that have a low impact, and searching for materials that will be reused after their initial installation at the fair. In time with these guidelines, fairgoers will find presentations filling the entirety of the Rho, including presentations across various areas, including the likes of DSQUARED2, Lee Broom, LOEWE, Stella McCartney, Cassina, Tom Dixon, Aquazzura Casa, UniFor, and Swarovski, to name a few.
Courtesy of Salone del Mobile 2022.
Spread across more than 600,000 square feet are exhibitions like the International Furniture Fair and the International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition, where furniture, textiles, and decorative objects are on display. Specialty designs for the kitchen and bathrooms respectively can be found within the EuroCucina biennial and the International Bathroom Exhibition. Meanwhile, S.Project ponders the future of home living through projects and designs from names like Atelier Vierkant, imNativ, Zanat, Rosenthal, Gibus spa, and Milla & Milli.
This year’s SaloneSatellite is focused on the theme “DESIGNING FOR OUR FUTURE SELVES,” welcoming contributions from 600 designers under the age of 35 that encourage viewers to consider topics like inclusive design, comfort, movement, usability, and fostering autonomy. Meanwhile, curated by the architect Mario Cucinella, the exhibition “Design with Nature” shines a spotlight on the need for balancing the spaces we inhabit and the resources available to us. Cucinella’s concept includes designs that focus on three pillars: the city as a mine, the home as a building block in the urban structure, and the need for a timely ecological transition.
Courtesy of Salone del Mobile 2022.
“The Salone del Mobile has always been a catalyst for creativity, positivity, and energy,” said Maria Porro, the President of Salone del Mobile. “The Salone firmly believes in the need for a real and immediate ecological transformation, which is why it has decided to be an accelerator of ethical and virtuous behaviors, investing in a large project curated by the architect Mario Cucinella. Companies and creatives will be able to physically touch alternative materials that are already a reality and let themselves be inspired by a vision of urban areas as potential ‘mines’ of raw materials and reflect on the function of our homes as cells that make up a more complex organism: the city. The sustainability of the event is the competitive lever on which we want to focus with honesty, commitment, and transparency.”
Making up the roster of talks are discussions like “Sustainability: Three Different Episodes,” moderated by Design Miami/’s Curatorial Director Maria Cristina Didero, Beatrice Leanza for the “Radical Nature: The Design and Science of Worldbuilding” conversation with names like Marjan van Aubel and Anab Jain, and a lecture by the Swiss designer Yves Béhar, focused on the topic “Designing for our future selves.” And finally, fairgoers should pay a visit to Palazzo Reale’s Sala delle Cariatidi, where they’ll find an installation featuring 11 Italian-made films based on the Salone’s 11 key facets—emotion, enterprise, quality, design, networking, communication, culture, young people, ingenuity, know-how, and the city of Milan itself—by names like Francesca Archibugi, Luca Lucini, Bruno Bozzetto, and Wilma Labate.
Courtesy of Salone del Mobile 2022.
