It’s finally here. Namely the return of that moment of the year in which we set off to explore a city, Milan, as it explodes in sort of major happening made of people and ideas. In 2022, after a long hiatus during which we have all learned that it is possible to do many things from home, we can rediscover the pleasures of meeting and greeting. As Maria Porro, President of Salone del Mobile.Milano says: “It is the rediscovery of the here and now.” The moment in which ideas are born, visions are compared. A multi-channel moment: the buzz about installations not-to-be-missed travels by word of mouth, live on Instagram, on a calling card a friend has left on your scooter, or via WhatsApp. Or simply by running into an acquaintance on the street. During the week devoted to design, Milan transforms us all into threads of a grand network. We see together, and we think together.
This overload of stimulation eventually settles, becomes experience. And then culture. Or we might call it taste, if you prefer. This is the extraordinarily fertile ground where intuitions take root, leading (in one, two or three years?) to the birth of new products. For a person like me, hailing from a family of design lovers, this is a fascinating process, similar in many ways to artistic creation, but with stronger ties to reality. It is exciting to witness these key moments, which make you feel like you are part of the flow of history. And it is encouraging to realize that this feeling is shared: just consider the enthusiasm with which so many designers (31!) responded to our query about their personal “restart.”
I would like to thank Paolo Bleve for having invited me to work at IFDM, where I can experience this world from a privileged vantage point. For me, it is a project full of energy in its way of intertwining the medium of printed paper (an old love story) and online information, which is everyone’s daily bread by now. To him, our whole dynamic group and all our readers, my best wishes for a great Milano Design Week. See you at Bar Basso!
