Every year the Milan Furniture Show tries to beat its previous record, both in quantity and quality. In its 62nd edition, from April 16 to 21 at Rho Fiera, he opted for technology and sustainability as a way of evolve (that’s one of this year’s words) and maintain its place as a Mecca of global design.
More of 1900 exhibitors from 35 countries showed trends and new products. The 2024 exhibition was completed by the Salón Satélite (the young promises and new talents of the sector, with four Argentines among them) and an exhibition for its first quarter of a century, the biennials EuroCucina 2024 and the International Bathroom Show.
In addition, an immeasurable cultural program and the Outside the Hall (installations, presentations and events on the streets and in branded premises, studios or art galleries), which increasingly spill beyond the limits of the fair and make today almost all of Milan a great Salon.
In first person
Impossible to see everything with that exuberance. It is known that each visitor makes their own selection and at ARQ we choose to tour it with the help of two architects, Leonardo Militello y Gabriela Jagodnik (who made their debut this year), and two interior design experts, Gabi Lopez y José Luis Zacarías Otiñano.
“I came to look for that specialized look that generates sensations in people through a shape, a finish, a texture, a color. Brands from different areas open their world for a while and invite us to be part. Prada, Gucci, Luis Vuitton, Ferrari, Audi, Google, Ikea are some that resonated with me on a global level. But upon arriving, I found hundreds of brands I didn’t know and a few became memorable,” says Jagodnik.
“My first visit to Milano Design Week was a particularly interesting and rewarding trip. a lot of professional inquiry. On the one hand, two very interesting worlds, the Salone del Mobile and the Fuori Salone, which seem to offer two different visions on the same subject: design,” Militello begins.
“Milan transforms in April. The traveling platforms of designers, companies, institutions, developers and researchers who work to a better future in the quality of life of the habitat takes place in this design week,” says Zacarías Otiñano, who highlights the current concepts that he was able to see, as well as the works related to the environment, products, systems and technological innovations.
López indicates the fundamental role of the contest in “the internationalization of companies of the sector, the value of networks of relationships and also the catalyzing force of an exhibition that has surpassed the limits of the fair dimension, driven by the second phase of redesigning the distribution and visitor routes in some of the fair pavilions.”
Due to its expertise, it pays special attention to the biennials dedicated to the bathroom and kitchen, “two sectors strongly committed to experimenting with new aesthetics and functions in highly technical projects that are increasingly oriented toward a sustainable approach.”
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“It is not possible to leave the Hall without visiting the exhibition Thinking Roomfrom the great director and artist David Lynchwho recreated a room for meditation where the interior colors and a large armchair converge with pipes that emulate the coming and going of ideas and invite an act of introspection under the motto of creativity,” highlights Militello.
As a novelty, a collaboration agreement with the Department and School of Design of the Polytechnic University of Milan proposed the creation of a permanent observatory to analyze the Show and everything that Milano Design Week entails in relation to the impact on the community in terms of sustainability, inclusion, circularity, growth and skills transfer.
In this direction was the optimization of the design and routes of the fair, the total redistribution of the pavilions with the objective of grouping exhibitors by content and target to amplify the visitor experience.
Also, the contribution of the neuroscience and the adoption of a human-centered philosophy as well as the communication campaign that, taking advantage of the artificial intelligencecollected conversations from the international design community.
Maria Porro, president of the Salone del Mobilesynthesized the essence of the exhibition: “Capture new trends in the evolution of an entire sector, involve and listen to communities near and far, identify new approaches, methodologies and technologies, experiment, be at the forefront. This is still the ambition of the Salone.”
In addition to that of David Lynch, Porro points out two other great milestones: “the New York installation that immerses us underwater, using poetry and numbers to take stock of the state of the art of the bathroom industry,” he said, referring to “Under the Surface”.
“Then there are The chats with a large number of guests, including the winner of the 2022 Pritzker Prize Francis Kéré. And the visionary performances of artists and food designers.
“Everything has been designed to offer visitors and exhibitors an exceptional experience, impossible to replicate in terms of content and container, except here, at the Salone di Milano. Unthinkable to miss, although it is not limited to a single week, but extends throughout the year thanks to the inclusive drive of our Digital platform”, concludes the director.
La mirada de Jagodnik la completa: “a week when everything is allowed with the sole objective of captivating the public and telling them a story. Sight is not enough to generate a memory in people, but if I can touch it, smell it, feel it, even hear it, that begins to be memorable.”
Like her, surely all the visitors went with the mind, the heart and the rest of the body ready for all that to happen to them.