“supersalone” – work is now in progress for the Special 2021 Salone del Mobile.Milano event.

Preparations for a new Special 2021 event under the banner of the Salone del Mobile. Milano are firmly under way, with a new name and logo – “supersalone” – a new format, and five designers working alongside curator Stefano Boeri: Andrea Caputo, Maria Cristina Didero, Anniina Koivu, Lukas Wegwerth and Marco Ferrari and Elisa Pasqual of Studio Folder.

The “supersalone” Special 2021 Salone del Mobile.Milano event, slated for 5th to 10th September at Rho, Fiera Milano is beginning to take shape. Thanks to a new concept, an exceptional team of curators and the fact that it will be the first large design exhibition to open its doors, it promises to reaffirm the centrality of Milan and the Salone del Mobile.Milano on the international design, cultural and innovation scene.  

“supersalone”: a highly auspicious name and logo, which serves as the manifesto for the event. This will be a unique occasion, a one-off event, powerfully and immediately attractive and communicative. It will be open every day, not just to professionals but also to the general public; it will not be a purely commercial event, but will foster original cross-pollinations, openings up, fusions and extroversions while fully respecting the health regulations and protocols imposed nationally to combat the spread of Coronavirus.

The architect Stefano Boeri and an international team of collaborators – Andrea Caputo, Maria Cristina Didero, Anniina Koivu, Lukas Wegwerth and Marco Ferrari and Elisa Pasqual of Studio Folder – all carefully selected by Mr. Boeri on the basis of their abilities and skills as designers, curators, installation and graphic designers, will gather round the table. The team will work with Giorgio Donà, co-founder and director of Stefano Boeri Interiors, pooling openness, enthusiasm, awareness and rigour in a bid to come up with innovative itineraries that will valorise projects and products in setting built on proximity, reflection and sharing.  

Arc. Stefani Boeri and the co-curators at press conference
Arc. Stefani Boeri and the co-curators at press conference

The proposed format will be that of a large design library, which will celebrate the renewed attention and care devoted to contemporary living spaces, designed to valorise and harmonise the new products and creations brought out by the companies over the last 18 months with their traditional products which, thanks to the debut of the Salone del Mobile.Milano digital platform, will be available to purchase at the culmination of a packed and engaging customer journey (part of the profits will go to a charitable cause).

“The “supersalone”is the result of the generosity and the creativity of the companies and design professionals at an extremely delicate point in the recovery and relaunch of the economy and culture. For the first time, the Salone del Mobile.Milano will be open throughout to the great consumer public, allowing them a chance to select and purchase the very best international design products. Thanks to the joint efforts of thousands of producers, professionals, retailers, technicians, workmen, display specialists, designers and fans, for six days the Rho Fairgrounds will once again be the epicentre of international design. I would like to thank FederlegnoArredo and the Salone del Mobile.Milano for their confidence in me and for their courage in being determined to honour such an important appointment,”

architect Stefano Boeri.
supersalone exhibition space and display 01
supersalone exhibition space and display 02
supersalone exhibition space and display 03

The layout will consist of long parallel sets, designed for the specific goods categories, and will allow the companies to narrate their own identities and their own products on vertical walls and, in some cases, on horizontal surfaces, both of which will be modular. This fluid and dynamic exhibition set-up will allow visitors to navigate freely inside a huge national and international archive of creativity, excellence and savoir faire.

With circularity and sustainability uppermost, all the display materials and components have been designed to be dismantled and reused. Furthermore, thanks to the Forestami project, a green welcome area with 200 trees, will be set up at the East Gate of the fairgrounds. The trees will subsequently be relocated to Milan’s metropolitan area after the six-day event.  

supersalone exhibition space and display 04

The display in the fairgrounds will be cross-pollinated and broken up by themed areas and itineraries devised by Studio Stefano Boeri Architetti and the five co-designers: arenas for talks on knowledge sharing and deepening, dedicated lounges for commercial and business company meetings, areas reserved for young students at design schools and for a display of chairs awarded with the Compasso d’Oro curated by the ADI, food courts conceived and set up in partnership with Identità Golose – The International Chef Congress, and socialising and relaxation areas. A special programme of meetings with some of the leading figures on the contemporary scene and thinkers of tomorrow will alternate with large live music events, in collaboration with the top, most representative sectoral experts. A different way of conceiving the exhibition space, allowing it to become a place with multiple opportunities for interface and, simultaneously, an invitation to stop, think and feel and, therefore, an antidote to the hasty trivialisation of so many exhibitions.

Triennale Milano will be the hub of the “supersalone” city, with a range of cultural offerings including a series of totally original projects on top of the institution’s exhibitions. 

In this context, the combination of digital and physical presence will make for a highly engaging experience. The new Salone del Mobile.Milano platform, which will launch on 30th June, has been designed to promote the design on exhibit with original content and medium-specific language, and to put the user at the centre of the event before, during and after their visit. The exhibition spaces and themed itineraries will dialogue with the platform in a wholly original manner, and the products visualised and reserved for later purchase. It is a digital crossroads that will create new forms of integration and interconnection between different worlds, users and markets.

“supersalone” – a unique project in line with the exceptional times in which we live, geared not just to sectoral professionals and the international design community, but also to the general public, who will have access to the fairgrounds for the entire duration of the event. This is how the Salone del Mobile.Milano intends to serve as a promoter of and catalyst for activities, thoughts and feelings that will allow the entire sector and the supply chain as a whole to get off to an optimistic new start in September.

Subscribe
Subscribe to stay updated on featured projects, design news and insights across Africa.

I have read and agree to the privacy policy

THE DESIGN LIST