Yesterday, 13 February, the Salone del Mobile.Milano press conference took place. For the information and design sector, this is the moment that, in a way, marks the beginning of the event in April (from the 16th to the 21st, this year for the 62nd edition): some contents are revealed, the fair begins to take shape. What was presented to the trade yesterday speaks of an increasingly innovative Salone, capable of translating experiences into conceptual stimuli for the design community.
The event was deliberately unusual, introduced by a large panda talking to us humans about the environment. It was a precise statement of intent, not to be taken for granted in its placement at the beginning of the event AND, by analogy, it introduced an important concept: because this year’s Salone is being presented as a true ecosystem.
“Everything has been designed to offer visitors and exhibitors an exceptional experience in terms of content and containers,” explains President Maria Porro. And nothing contemporary has been spared: “Neuroscience, artificial intelligence, new formats and paths, a unified but diffuse cultural project between coherence and multidisciplinarity, David Lynch’s spaces for thinking, the Salotto NY installation that takes us underwater and between poetry and numbers to take stock of the state of the art in the bathroom industry, but also conversations with guests such as Pritzker Prize winner Francis Kéré and visionary performances by artists and food designers,” she added.
Based on the concept of resilience and adaptability, which the Covid era has made the protagonist of human existence, the show proposes several innovations. First of all, the re-launch of the optimisation of the layouts and routes of the EuroCucina biennial – with the accompanying event FTK, Technology For the Kitchen – and the Salone Internazionale del Bagno, thanks to the contribution of neuroscience and under the aegis of a “man at the centre” philosophy by the Lombardini22 studio: suffice it to think that to visit all the stands of the biennial events it will be enough to walk 640 metres instead of the previous 1.2 kilometres.
An exceptional cultural offer, rich and multidisciplinary, which is reflected in three installations spread throughout the event: Interiors by David Lynch. A Thinking Room (Halls 5-7), Under the Surface, designed and realised by Accurat, Design Group Italia and Emiliano Ponzi for the Salone Internazionale del Bagno (Hall 10), and All You Ever Wanted to Know About Food Design in six performances at the centre of EuroCucina (Halls 2-4).
In addition, the 25th anniversary of SaloneSatellite will be celebrated with an exhibition at the Triennale, which will go beyond the traditional exhibition canon to become a veritable Wunderkammer of objects, prototypes, sketches, images and testimonials, and – at the fair – with a programme of talks and round tables curated by Annalisa Rosso, which will take place in the Drafting Futures arena, designed by Formafantasma, using materials from last year’s show. On the agenda are meetings with top designers such as the aforementioned Francis Kéré, John Pawson and Jeanne Gang.
Finally, some figures: the 2024 events (Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Salone Internazionale del Complemento d’Arredo, Workplace 3.0, S.Project, EuroCucina with FTK, Salone Internazionale del Bagno, SaloneSatellite) will bring together more than 1,900 exhibitors, including 600 young talents under 35, and 22 design schools on 172,500 square metres of exhibition space, with 30% of foreign companies (excluding SaloneSatellite).
