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Architect-designed furniture and products at the 2024 Salone del Mobile

2024-04-19T13:13:00-04:00

Milan Design Week’s Salone del Mobile is set to conclude on Sunday, after a week which has seen the unveiling of a wide range of furnishing products.

“It is here that prototypes and innovations in terms of furnishings, domestic spaces, and lifestyles are presented: bedrooms, living and dining areas, entrance corridors, and service areas, outdoor spaces with their furniture and cupboards, upholsterers, tables and chairs set the scene for a narrative that starts with this room, exploring how the way we live is changing and, consequently, home living and furnishing,” the organizers said about the 2024 edition.

This year’s trade fair has included several products designed in collaboration with architects and architectural designers, continuing a trend that we reported on back in previous years, where we showcased work by Zaha Hadid Architects, Kengo Kuma and Associates, and OMA. To highlight this trend once again, our editorial team has collected some of the standout collaborations betw...

MAD Architects creates Milan Design Week pavilion inspired by mountains

2024-04-18T12:17:00-04:00

MAD Architects has completed its latest installation for Milan Design Week. Titled ‘Amazing Walk.’ the project marks the seventh time MAD has participated in the event.

Image credit: Moreno Maggi

Set within the Cortile della Farmacia courtyard at the University of Milan, the ‘Amazing Walk’ seeks to “blur the boundary between built and natural environments in a surreal way.” Standing 24.6 feet tall, the internal column-free piece is formed of hundreds of triangular elements configured to reflect “the shape of mountains.”

Image credit: Moreno Maggi

The installation is constructed from an aluminum alloy covered in a semi-permeable composite membrane. The resulting finish offers varying visuals under different lighting conditions while, during the night, lights and mist blur the edges of the materials to give the illusion that the pavilion is floating.

Image credit: Moreno Maggi

“This open design invites explorat...

David Lynch discusses his scenographic installation at Salone del Mobile with curator Antonio Monda

2024-04-18T12:11:00-04:00

David Lynch is participating in this year's Salone del Mobile with an installation titled ‘Interiors by David Lynch. Thinking Room’ he designed to offer visitors of the fair a respite while serving tribute to the lurid scenography fans of his classic films Blue Velvet and Lost Highway will find pleasingly familiar.

The centerpiece of the installation is an oversized wooden armchair, designed by Lynch himself, with intricate brass tubes positioned overhead, creating a striking visual and tactile experience. Lynch's approach to design reflects his cinematic vision, where every element is imbued with meaning and emotion.

"Interiors by David Lynch. A Thinking Room," interior view. Image: courtesy Lombardini22

As part of the special weeklong exhibition, Salone curator Antonio Monda interviewed Lynch (who has also tried his hand at the visual arts, furniture making, and nightlife space design) about his contribution and the central role his advocacy for transcendental meditation plays in ...

Samuel Ross unveils Brutalism-inspired Kohler smart toilet concept for Milan Design Week

2024-04-02T12:59:00-04:00

Designer Samuel Ross has shared a preview of the new Formation 02, his first smart toilet concept for Kohler, ahead of the opening of this year’s Milan Design Week on April 16th.

The piece is inspired by Brutalist architecture and will retail for $25,000. The brand is marketing his creation as an inspired demarcation from the traditional silhouettes used in its Eir Smart Toilet line.

Ross sees it as a sculptural enhancement of a necessity intended for use in a variety of settings he describes as capable of delivering "democratic, open, public experiences."

Image courtesy Kohler Co.

His design intentions were so described via a scrollable digital 'Manifesto' relating Ross and his studio SR_A’s philosophy and new model for water solutions. This adds to Ross’ longstanding creative relationship with Kohler, which includes the Formation 01 faucets the new product, rendered Haptic Orange, serves to compliment.

Image courtesy Kohler Co.

"Our objective goes beyond function — it’s closer to v...

Carlo Ratti Associati team creates ‘world’s largest board game’ at Milan Design Week

2023-04-27T10:55:00-04:00

A team comprising Carlo Ratti Associati, Italo Rota, Eni, and Blob Factory Gaming have presented an installation at Milan Design Week which transformed Milan’s Botanical Garden into a 37,000-square-foot interactive game. Titled ‘Walk the Talk,’ the board game saw over 400 energy-harvesting luminescent tiles form multiple pathways and crossroads across the landscape, engaging players in what the team calls “a discourse underlying the future of mobility.”

Image credit: Marco Beck Peccoz

The installation has been structured as a “metaphorical stroll around Milan” featuring the city’s major landmarks. Each of the 400 wooden tiles and 32 types of icons represents either an obstacle or a solution to the game’s theme of urban mobility, from traffic to public transportation and electric car sharing. Working either alone or in groups, players navigate throughout the ‘city’ by finding solutions to challenges such as overcrowded neighborhoods or a lack of pedestrian areas.

Image credit: Marco B...

MAD details new MOMENTUM installation for Milan Design Week 2023

2023-04-17T14:02:00-04:00

The lead-up to this year's Milan Design Week festival will include a new installation from Ma Yansong and Andrea D’Antrassi of MAD Architects as part of the INTERNI Design Re-Evolution exhibition held at the University of Milan.

Titled MOMENTUM, the 8-by-12.5-meter iron cube structure is tilted 45 degrees from its base and is being commissioned by AXA IM Alts for the duration of the fair. During the day, its ETFE polymer surface will reflect its surroundings while at night, the installation becomes more transparent as it yields to the artificial light source before becoming “the moment, a dialogue between thought and evolution that’s both pure and disarming.”

MAD says its presence “represents the moment when a new awareness is born, when the creative process begins.”

Image courtesy MAD Architects

“At a time when everything is immediate, and everything can be replicated digitally, MOMENTUM is, on the one hand, the spark, the original idea; on the other, it is the study, complexity an...

Take a look at some of our favorite architect-designed furniture and homegoods products at Salone del Mobile

2022-06-13T11:52:00-04:00

Milan Design Week’s Salone del Mobile is wrapping up this weekend with another impressive field of new furniture collections gracing its exhibition halls and the international design stage for the first time.

Furniture design has been an increasing hallmark of the architectural trade beginning with the advent of the Baroque Revival style in the 1890s. Iconic pieces from Charles and Ray Eames, Mies van der Rohe, Arne Jacobsen, and Isamu Noguchi have become heavily-copied household mainstays as a result. The 60th Salone was a showcase of architects’ continued experimentation and theorizing within that tradition, featuring designs from OMA, Zaha Hadid, and several other leading international studios.

Every piece in each collection strives to be an individual work of art that carries forward the discipline using the exhibition theme of Design with Nature developed by president Maria Porro. The 2022 Salone has 2,000 exhibitors overall. Scroll down to see our selection of architect-design...

Suchi Reddy on the bridge between neuroaesthetics and experience

2022-03-21T12:14:00-04:00

I think of architecture as embodied art. It's about holistically experiencing our world through all of our senses, and so architecture is the perfect matrix for considering neuroaesthetics. The same parts of your brain that teach you to think about the future are the same ones that are manipulated by your experience of space. The better your space is, the better you are going to be.

The outsized impact architectural forms have on the human psyche is still a growing field of research and has been behind Suchi Reddy’s recent installations at the Salone del Mobile and Smithsonian Institution as well as her ethereal design for the first Google storefront in New York City.

The Reddymade founder also spoke about her upcoming Canadian project entitled Becoming, and why the personal experiences behind her creative process have led to similar forms of heartfelt architectonic expression.

“The work is inspired by the liminal experience of an immigrant. Tectonically expressed as an arch form, it represents both a gateway and a process of transformation. Inspired by the multi-national demographics of Surrey, I felt it was important to propose an artwork that celebrates the process of becoming oneself, expressing the transmutation of people through cultures and lands as an el...

Milan's Salone del Mobile announces 2022 dates and theme

2022-03-18T17:44:00-04:00

Milan’s Salone del Mobile has announced dates and theme for this year’s milestone edition of the popular design fair.

This 60th Salone will be held from June 7th to the 12th in the Fiera Milano Rho and will look to reestablish itself coming out of a pandemic-tinged two-year period that has given way to an uncertain global environment colored by war.

According to a press announcement, the aim of this year’s fair is 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 Salone has always been a catalyst for creativity, positivity and energy. We have always been a place of dialogue and construction, in Milan and at the Shanghai and Moscow editions,” President Maria Porro said in a statement.

Previously on Archinect: Salone del Mobile appoints Maria Porro as its new president

“Now, we are as shocked as everyone else by the war in Ukraine and believe ...

Savio Firmino unveils chair collection inspired by architectural landmarks, underwritten by the Blockchain

2021-10-01T12:42:00-04:00

Italian furniture and interior design studio Savio Firmino has unveiled a collection of 16 chairs inspired by some of the world’s most iconic architectural landmarks. Titled CITYNG, and designed in collaboration with artist Cosimo De Vita, the collection was exhibited at the 2021 Salone del Mobile in September. The iconic design event, which was curated this year by Stefano Boeri, came one month after the Salone del Mobile appointed Maria Porro as its new president.

Image courtesy of Savio Firmino

The collection of 16 chairs depicts both a geographical journey between West and East and a temporal journey between tradition and contemporary design. “The chair not only becomes a symbolic object of the cities but also symbolically represents their values, traditions, and cultural substratum,” explains Savio Firmino. “It starts in Europe from Florence, the hometown of both Cosimo and the Savio Firmino company, continues to Milan, the city of the Salone and of design par excellence, to t...

Salone del Mobile appoints Maria Porro as its new president

2021-07-22T13:27:00-04:00

Milanese furniture fair Salone del Mobile has named Maria Porro as its new president. Porro was most recently the president of Assarredo, an Italian trade association for furniture manufacturing.

Porro’s appointment comes during a notable period for the international design event, which was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic and postponed until September this year. Additionally, her arrival follows the departure of former Salone del Mobile president Claudito Lutti, who resigned in April.

“I grew up with the Salone del Mobile,” said Porro. “When I was a kid, my grandfather Carlo used to take me along to the pavilions at the old venue. I followed when the Fair moved to its new site in Rho, and I was thrilled to be able to attend the Shanghai Furniture Fair.”

Previously on Architect: Salone del Mobile 2021 to commence in September

Porro, along with the board members of Federlegno Arredo Eventi, the trade entity that owns the Salone del Mobile, will lead the event as it pr...

Salone del Mobile 2021 to commence in September

2021-05-07T16:07:00-04:00

Salone del Mobile 2021 is going ahead in September 2021. A note by the fair confirms the next edition of the globally renowned furniture fair will take place between 5-10 September 2021, for a 59th edition ‘led by innovation and uniqueness.’

The decision comes after Salone del Mobile president Claudito Luti resigned on April 23, 2021, following a long period of uncertainty relating to the September dates and support from the Italian government for the fair to go forward. The event was originally called off following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The note explains that after much internal debate and planning, the agreement to proceed was arrived at unanimously. It highlights the event’s strengths, its historical and symbolic values, and its important role in Italy’s economic recovery.

Special thematic exhibitions are currently being planned to showcase the important work carried out by the furniture companies over the last 18 months.

Salone del Mobile was previously held in September from 1961 through 1989 before switching to April in 1990.

Event date for the 60th edition of the Salone del Mobile is announced

2020-11-27T14:42:00-05:00

Many architecture and design events underwent several schedule updates and programming changes as the world adjusted to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year the highly anticipated Salone del Mobile in Milan was hopeful it would continue with its 2020 programming. Eventually, its board decided to postpone once again and push the date to May 2021.

During our previous coverage of the event, its organizers shared, "the Board ultimately decided they couldn't move forward with that plan in these unprecedented circumstances." However, on November 26th, Claudio Luti (President of the Salone del Mobile) released this statement announcing the official date for the event's 60th edition, September 5 -10, 2021.

The statement from Salone del Mobile in full reads

"Being able to hold the Salone next year is an absolute priority for all those of us whose lives revolve around design.

We believe that moving the fair to September will leave enough time for the ongoing acute phase of the pandemic to subsid...

2020 Salone del Mobile Milan postponed to April 2021

2020-03-27T15:14:00-04:00

Salone del Mobile Milan announced today that the 2020 edition of the anticipated event has been postponed to April 13-18, 2021. The Board of the Salone del Mobile made the decision in light of the coronavirus health crisis that continues to significantly impact countries across the globe. Back in February, the 2020 event was initially rescheduled to take place this June. But the Board ultimately decided they couldn't move forward with that plan in these unprecedented circumstances.

Looking forward, Salone del Mobile expressed optimism for next year's event. The 2021 edition marks their 60th anniversary, which will be celebrated with a single, sector-wide trade fair. For the first time, all biennial exhibitions will be held in conjunction with the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition, Workplace3.0, S.Project, and SaloneSatellite. This sector-wide trade fair “will represent a fresh opportunity to pull together to revitalize our businesses, ...

Salone del Mobile in Milan pushed back to June amid concerns over Coronavirus

2020-02-26T00:01:00-05:00

As the impacts of the Coronavirus outbreak spread across the globe, large-scale gatherings and conferences planned for this spring are weighing whether to proceed as planned. Italy, where the annual Salone del Mobile Milan and the Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia are set to get underway in just a few weeks, is one of the hardest hit countries outside of China grappling with the respiratory illness.

Today, the organizers of Salone del Mobile Milan, which drew over 434,500 visitors from 188 countries in 2018, moved to push back the event to June 16th. In a joint press statement posted to Twitter, Milan Mayor Guiseppe Sala, Salone del Mobile President Claudio Luti, and Federlegno Arredo Eventi President Emanuele Orsini explain their plan to postpone the upcoming edition of the Salone del Mobile Milan due to coronavirus fears.

The statement from Salone del Mobile in full reads

"...following an extraordinary meeting today with the board of Federlegno Arredo Eventi, and ...

Where does architecture fit in at this year's Salone del Mobile?

2019-04-10T16:50:00-04:00

April 9th kicks of a week filled with head-turning designs and exhibitions at this year's Salone del Mobile in Milan. Over 300,000 visitors from all over the globe come to experience the newest designs and ideas in product, furniture, and interiors. In conjunction with Milan Design Week, Salone del Mobile is one of the most highly anticipated design events of the year. From Muuto to Armani design professionals and enthusiasts flock to Milan to be apart of the conversation and witness upcoming design trends and innovations.

However, beyond the newest product trends and furniture designs where do architects fit? The event takes place in Milan, a city filled with rich architectural landscapes and history. This year's event even honors the 500th anniversary of Leonardo DaVinci's passing. A pioneer in the arts, science, and architecture an installation by Alessandro Colombo and Davide Rampello create a visual representation of da Vinci's approach to buildings and design. However, within...

The Salone del Mobile installation exploring design's impact on human biology

2019-03-26T10:31:00-04:00

The installation is called A Space for Being: Exploring Design’s Impact On Our Biology, and it digs into the topic of neuroaesthetics–basically, the study of how beauty affects your brain. It’s three rooms that will be set up in Spazio Maiocchi, built in conjunction with architect Suchi Reddy. They’re not exactly identical, but each room decorated with the same furniture line from Muuto...

In 2018 Google debuted its first home installation at the Milan Furniture Fair, aka Salone del Mobile. Although the company's debut of its domestic software was not something new or revolutionary, it allowed for the multi-billion dollar company to enter the realm of spatial design through their industrial design products. For this year's Salone de Mobile, Google has teamed with Suchi Reddy, founder of Reddymade Architecture, Muuto's Design Director Christian Grosen, and the team from the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University to create an immersive design installation which addresses the topic of neuroaesthetics.

Google makes its debut at Salone del Mobile 2018 with a special exhibition at Rosanna Orlandi’s iconic gallery in Milan. Image courtesy of Google

Google has already established itself as a front runner in enhanci...

UNStudio and Swiss furniture brand USM join forces in Milan to explore the boundaries between work and domesticity

2018-04-20T14:06:00-04:00

"Work rules our lives today more than ever," says the design team behind Homework, an installation at Milan Design Week's furniture focused event, the 2018 Salone del Mobile, that explores the historically shifting boundaries between private and public spaces.

In 2012, a study by a bed manufacturer found that 80% of young New York City professionals work from bed regularly. As technology increasingly invades our home life, the way we occupy domestic interiors has greatly shifted with the potential for work to be exported virtually anywhere. Many of the most profound revisions to the architecture of daily life have occurred through the blurring of these spaces and how they change the ways in which we inhabit them.

USM, a Swiss manufacturer that specializes in modular furniture, is exploring what this might mean for them. Enlisting the help of UNStudio, the team created a theatrical installation that envisions the changes taking place within the world of work.

In their...