Celebrating its 60th milestone edition, Salone del Mobile.Milano will be held at Fiera Milano Rho from June 7 to June 12, 2022, where companies, brands and designers will come together to create an event that would reflect on the ongoing ecological transition of the furnishing system. Embedded in quality, innovation and beauty, alongside sustainability, supersalone took things up a notch after two tough years due to the pandemic. And now Salone is looking ahead, mindful of its lengthy history.
Maria Porro, President, Salone del Mobile.Milano, said, “We have always been a place of dialogue and construction in Milan and at the Shanghai and Moscow editions. Now, we are as shocked as everyone else by the war in Ukraine and believe even more in the importance of being a crossroads of cultures and styles open to the world. This is why we have made sure that the work of the exhibiting exhibitors takes centre stage again. We will see many companies at the Salone that are working hard to create furnishings with the well-being of the environment and people in mind. 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 behaviours, investing in a large project curated by architect Mario Cucinella.”
With an ambitious aim to demonstrate that it is both possible and crucial to start holding great international events live again, embedding sustainability and environmental awareness into furniture production, the event has drawn up and circulated a series of guidelines to help exhibitors and stand designers and builders to respect basic sustainability criteria. It suggests employing reusable materials such as wood or upcycled, lowering environmental impact or FSC or PEFC-certified materials, giving due consideration to the logistical sustainability of the supply sources of the materials, employing environmentally safe products and equipment, endeavouring not to waste materials, electricity or water, ensuring adaptability and disassembly for reuse.
On entering the fair, visitors will walk into the stands, which will act as both architectural and communication elements. Spaces will welcome visitors and showcase the new collections and lifestyle concepts of the individual brands. Overall, the 2022 event will involve more than 2,000 exhibitors, including over 600 young designers under 35, all free to express their own identities to the best of their abilities, with complete creative freedom.
Welcome Project
The Salone will open this year with a concert by the Philharmonic conducted by Lorenzo Viotti, followed by a ballet starring the extraordinary Roberto Bolle. Underscoring the international role of the Salone del Mobile.Milano and the city, and their dedication to inclusion and hospitality, the Welcome Project will be running for the 7th year. The Salone will organise welcome points at focal points throughout the city, manned by a hundred or so students, on hand to provide the public with information on moving around the city, on the fair itself and also on the events organized in Milan.
Design with Nature
S.Project’s Pavilion 15 will host Design with Nature – a project developed with architect Mario Cucinella – which explores the themes of circular economy and reuse, starting with the idea that cities could be possible reserves of the future where most of the raw materials used in construction could be sourced. The installation channels three main themes, namely, ecological transition; home as the prime urban element; and the city as a mine, ranging over a large area that turns into both a landscape and, simultaneously, a refuge for discussion, sharing, reading, reflecting and working. The materials in this architectural structure derive from natural supply chains – demonstrating that ecological transition is already ongoing and that businesses can be the catalysts of this change – or from waste products upcycled and recycled.
Salone Internazionale del Mobile
The Salone Internazionale del Mobile, the International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition and Workplace3.0 will offer a great many aesthetic avenues in which the protagonists are products of quality and research.
EuroCucina
Now in its 23rd edition, EuroCucina will bring together 82 exhibitors, each of them showcasing a wide range of top-quality goods. They will be spread over an area equal to 16,000 m2, largely in Pavilions 9 and 11. Furniture companies exhibiting total living concepts will be presenting their kitchen proposals on their respective stands. The event will also feature its collateral event FTK (Technology For the Kitchen) and the International Bathroom Exhibition.
FTK (Technology for the Kitchen)
The prime focus of the event will be showcasing responsible, inclusive and related technology for a more sustainable future of built-in electrical appliances. 39 participants will be spread over more than 11,000 m2 in Pavilions 9-11 and 13-15. These structured narratives will inform collections of products – from those for refrigeration and freezing to those for cooking and extracting – with cutting edge performance for achieving the best possible results, driving down consumption, improving quality of life and prolonging the lives of the appliances
S.Project
Making a return after its debut in 2019, S.Project a fairly new Salone concept has already become a point of reference for interior design solutions at the international level. It will play host to 90 exhibitors, spread over an area equal to 13.000 m2 in Pavilions 13 and 15 at Fiera Milano, Rho. This space will also host the great no-brand installation Design with Nature, conceived and curated by the architect Mario Cucinella to celebrate 60 years of the Salone del Mobile.Milano and the commitment of an entire sector to environmental sustainability. S.Project aims to pick up on trends, evidencing the most significant lines of contemporary design research: the hybridisation of contexts and the move from the design of individual pieces to that of whole environments.
SaloneSatellite
More than 600 young designers will be taking part in the 23rd edition of SaloneSatellite. This year’s theme is Designing For Our Future Selves / Progettare Per I Nostri Domani. This edition will invite to reflect on inclusive design, fostering autonomy, comfort, movement, usability, interaction and safety for all. SaloneSatellite also boasts a new layout, designed along the theme of the piazza as a meeting place, underscoring the role of this event as a generator of new connections between the international design schools, young people, the new start-ups and the manufacturing world.
Extra shenanigan
Additionally, following the supersalone experience, a stimulating programme of talks will add conversations and debates featuring the most outstanding figures on the contemporary design scene into the mix. A monumental site-specific film installation will feature in Palazzo Reale’s Sala delle Cariatidi, based on the 11 values that have always been embedded in the Salone’s DNA. 11 films d’auteur by 11 leading Italian filmmakers will be screened. Each of the filmmakers has taken a term from the manifesto and interpreted it in their own imitable style, turning it into a short film.
Image credits: Salone del Mobile.Milano