If there’s anything that Milan is famous for, it’s fashion and design. It’s no wonder then that one of the most significant design events of the year takes place right in this wonderful Italian city. We are of course talking about the Salone del Mobile. In 2022, instead of its usual April slot, the unmissable furniture fair is taking place in June, during the Milan Design Week.
Like all public events, Salone del Mobile was canceled and then postponed in 2020 and 2021 respectively. Last year, a downsized version called supersalone was held in September. This year, however, the fair is ready for a full-on come back during the summer period, hoping to attract more visitors than ever.
Milan’s Salone del Mobile 2022 – Sustainability at Heart
Focusing on Italian furniture, the very first edition of The Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano happened in 1961. Sixty years later, it is the largest trade fair of its kind in the world. With over 270,000 visitors on average browsing through more than 2,000 exhibitors yearly, it hosts events in Milan, but also Shanghai and Moscow.
In 2022, alongside its participating companies, brands, and designers, Salone del Mobile will once again celebrate its values: quality, innovation, and beauty. Sustainability establishes itself as another important spotlight, as the fair recognizes, but also spearheads, the evolution in the furnishing industry.
To that extent, the Salone del Mobile.Milano has created a set of guidelines for its exhibitors, in order to meet basic sustainability criteria. These include recommendations to use reusable, upcycled, low environmental impact or specially certified materials; paying more attention to the logistics’ footprint; using environmentally safe products and equipment; and reducing waste, for instance. On their part, the Salone will follow the same rules when creating the communal spaces at the fair.
Celebrating the Salone’s “birthday,” but also emphasizing environmental and social wellbeing in the ongoing pandemic, is a remarkable installation on-site. Bologna-based architect Mario Cucinella created a mesmerizing ecosystem spanning 1,400 square meters. Under the title “Design with Nature”, it envisions the human race embracing circularity in all living spaces (home, city, planet). A place of hope that we can turn into reality, where we (re)use the resources available to us, and where we live as one with nature.
After a three-year hiatus, SaloneSatellite is back, setting the stage for young, emerging designers. The 23rd edition will see more than 600 participants, showcasing for the theme “DESIGNING FOR OUR FUTURE SELVES / PROGETTARE PER I NOSTRI DOMANI.”
If you’re planning to visit the Salone del Mobile, make sure you don’t miss the fair’s biennial exhibition dedicated to the kitchen space, aptly called EuroCucina, and its collateral event FTK (Technology For the Kitchen), as well as the International Bathroom Exhibition.
S.Project, in its second edition following the 2019 debut, is also taking place this June. It is the exhibition of design products and large-scale project solutions.
The Talks Program
Alongside the 2,000+ brands and designers constituting the Salone del Mobile exhibition in 2022, the other half of the fair will offer a promising Talks program. Here too, the discussion will revolve around the environment, the real ecological transition we must undertake as “progress, inevitably, has to be sustainable.”
An all-female trio will curate the Talks taking place in the “Design with Nature” arena.
Maria Cristina Didero will talk to Victoria Siddall about Gallery Climate Coalition, a group working on sustainability guidelines within the arts sector. With Daan Roosegaarde, she will discuss technological innovation and art. Eva Feldkamp will explain how to generate creative opportunities with positive social and environmental impact.
Beatrice Leanza’s talk involving three designers – Liam Young, Anab Jain, and Marjan van Aubel – reflects on speculative design and experiential storytelling practices as crucial tools for the survival of the planet.
Chiara Alessi and Makkox will discuss and re-imagine the Salone del Mobile itself, and its six-decade-long history.
In the Arena of Pavilion 3 of the hosting venue, SaloneSatellite founder and curator Marva Griffin Wilshire has put together a programme of meetings.
Swiss designer Yves Béhar will explain how to alter and improve lifestyles, lives and individual and collective practices in order to achieve a new sustainable balance.
MoMA curator Paola Antonelli and critic Alice Rawsthorn will present their project and book “Design Emergency: Building a Better Future.” Following that, there is a talk on inclusivity and wellbeing by Franco Lisi from the Istituto dei Ciechi di Milano and the architect Alberto Apostoli.
Lastly, the architect Mario Cucinella will host the meeting promoted by the SOS School of Sustainability|Masters in Sustainable Architecture and Design, in which a variety of speakers and #SOS9 students – Academic Year 2021-2022 will take part.
The 60th edition of the Salone del Mobile.Milano will be held at Fiera Milano Rho from 7th to 12th June, 2022. You can buy your ticket online.
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