The 62nd edition of the Salone del Mobile.Milano will take place at Rho Fiera Milano from 16th to 21st Aprii, with a new, bold, literally “out of the box” approach, a necessary condition for innovating itself and evolving.
The upshot has been the relaunch of the optimisation of the layout and visitar paths in EuroCucina and the lnternational Bathroom Exhibition, thanks to the contribution of neuroscience and the adoption of a human-at-the-centre philosophy; a total redistribution of the pavilions with a view to grouping the exhibitors by content and visitor target so as to amplify the value and meaning of the visitor experience; an exceptional, packed and multidisciplinary cultural offering throughout the entire event; a constantly evolving communication campaign which, by harnessing artificial intelligence, picks up on the conversations of the international design community; the collaboration with the Department and School of Design at Politecnico di Milano University, in a bid to study the Salone-as ecosystem, exploring the phenomenon and its socio-economie impact on the region. Added to this are the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of SaloneSatellite with an exhibition at Triennale Milano which goes beyond the traditional exhibition canons, and will be a very real Wunderkammer of objects, prototypes, sketches, stories, images and testimonials.
Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, had this to say: “Capturing new trends, the evolution of an entire sector, by involving and listening to communities near and far, identifying new approaches, methodologies and technologies, experimenting, being on the frontier, as they say: this is still the ambition of the Salone del Mobile today. Neuroscience, artificial intelligence, new formats and paths, a unitary but widespread cultural project encompassing consistency and multi-disciplinarity. David Lynch’s thinking rooms, the Salotto NY installation that takes us underwater, using poetry and numbers to take stock of the state of the art of the bathroom industry. Then there are the talks with a large number of guests, including the Pritzker Prize-winner Francis Kéré and the visionary performances of artists and food designers: everything has been designed to offer visitors and exhibitors an exceptional experience in terms of content and container, impossible to replicate except here, at the Salone di Milano, unthinkable to miss, even though it is not limited to a single week, but is spread throughout the whole year thanks to the driving and inclusive force of our digital platform.”
The 2024 events will bring together more than 1,900 exhibitors, including 600 young talents under 35 and 22 design schools. The Salone will create worlds – the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, the lnternational Furnishing Accessories Exhibition, Workplace3.0, S.Project, EuroCucina with FTK, the lnternational Bathroom Exhibition and SaloneSatellite – the single storey layout, the aesthetic paths, the experiential spaces and the rest and relaxation areas will be renewed; there will be conferences and round tables with international guests, vertical workshops on hot design topics and formative meetings for young people; there will be immersive and interactive site-specific installations for learning about the state of the art of the industry or reflecting on the physical and emotional value of interiors; it will stage artistic performances generating visions of tomorrow; it will build a circular bookshop and arena, as well as a new design library.
April this year heralds the biennials EuroCucina, with its collateral event FTK, Technology For the Kitchen (Pavilions 2-4) and the lnternational Bathroom Exhibition (Pavilions 6- 10) which will be boasting new exhibition layouts, reworked by Lombardini22. At the request of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, and for the first time in a trade fair context, the studio has harnessed neuroscience to improve the visitor experience, analysing visitors’ neurological, emotional and perceptual reactions to the various paths, and the location and distribution of the exhibition and rest areas.
This also marks a special year for SaloneSatellite (Pavilions 5-7), which will mark its 25th edition with 600 talented young designers and 22 design schools. This year’s theme will be Connecting Design Since 1998. To celebrate this milestone, an exhibition at Triennale (from 16th to 28th April) – with an exhibition project by Beppe Finessi and set up by Ricardo Bello Dias – that rethinks the entire history of the Exhibition without simply resorting to a parade of objects.
There will be three great installations. The first, lnteriors by David Lynch. A Thinking Room (Pavilions 5-7) comes to the Salone del Mobile from David Lynch, the famous director of films that channel the subconscious. Two identical and mirrored thinking rooms are conceived as symbolic doors that must be entered in order to immerse oneself in the event.
Ethics, sustainability and technology, but also the power, fascination and fragility of water. Under the Surface, the second installation designed and produced by Accurat, Design Group Italia and Emiliano Ponzi for the lnternational Bathroom Exhibition (Pavilion 10), was born of many different considerations.
Right in the centre of EuroCucina, a large, fluid and welcoming stage will host six independent and international food magazines which, along with artists, designers and chefs from all over the world, will present an unprecedented and original vision of the present and future of the ingredients that nature has to offer. All You Have Ever Wanted to Know About Food Design in Six Performances is the overarching title for six projects involving reflections, shows, talks and taste experiences that will unfold day by day.
A fresh programme of Talks and Round Tables, entitled Drafting Futures. Conversations about Next Perspectives, curated by Annalisa Rosso, will bring together some of the most interesting people around today whose virtuous practices are laying the ground for a different and more aware future. The morning talks will be held at 11.00 am in the Drafting Futures Arena designed by Formafantasma, reusing the seating from the previous edition.
A new project will also be inaugurated in the Arena at this edition: the Salone del Mobile Library, also designed by Formafantasma, which, at the suggestion of the speakers at this and future editions of the event, will house the books destined to change our actions and future prospects – for the better.
Finally, the collaboration with Fuorisalone has been confirmed again for this year, enhancing the visibility of the exhibitors by strategically identifying their locations in the fairground pavilions and their events in the city on the Fuorisalone.it map.
