Surviving the design week: Salone del Mobile

By Llamas' Valley | April 28, 2023 Comments

Salone del Mobile, an international furniture fair in Milan, is probably the most known and important furniture fair ever. No wonder, given that Italy is a country renowned, among other things, for the tradition of design furniture, numerous family-owned furniture companies, and world-famous architects.

Speaking of historical family-run design furniture, this year one of the most impressive booths, in my opinion, was that of Zanotta, looking like a an urban environment invaded by nature or a jungle invaded by the world of design. It was not a coincidence, as the key element this year, which the idea of the stand has evolved around, was a table Fenice that has a long and colorful story. It was designed by the Italian architect Piero Bottoni back in 1936, for a private property called Villa Muggia in Imola (Italy). The amazing thing is that the villa has gone through both, prosperous and hard times, has been even bombarded, but the table stands there up to this day, even though the villa itself has been abandoned and is now invaded by the nature. A genuine fusion of nature and architecture.

This year, green notes could be found in many other booths as well. Apart from the greenery itself, which could be seen all over, there were a lot of colors of nature. For example, at least several outdoor furniture companies have presented their furniture in outdoor velvet collections featuring the colors of nature: shades of green, brown and blue.

Once one was stepping out of the green environment, there was a city jungle awaiting around the corner. For instance, Lago, another family-run Italian design company, headed by Daniele Lago, whose purpose is to be one step ahead of the competition. This year the company presented slogan NEVER STOP, which, according to me, is an excellent reflection of Daniele himself and this dynamic company that never stops surprising with things like talking furniture, music table with integrated loudspeakers and bluetooth connection device, etc. In fact, people never stopped wandering around the booth, as this year, Lago took us to a journey around Italy, creating 10 different environments in the mood characteristic to selected 10 of top 25 Italian urban destinations according to Trivago: from Turin and Vicenza in the North to Naples and Matera in the South.

Speaking of moods, they were changing significantly, while wandering from one booth to another, from Talking Minds at the Kartel booth with bright, vivid colors and huge posters on the walls to seemingly relaxed environment of MissoniHome that was suddenly changing to very intense and stimulating one, thanks to the effects of lights. Moroso, another renowned brand of design furniture, has “dressed” some of its products in Rubelli and Kvadrat fabrics that, they say, we will see in the upcoming 2016/2017 collection of the Prada.

This year is also the year of Eurocucine, featuring world-acclaimed kitchen furniture brands, also them being quite green. Arclinea, for example, presented a new kitchen Principia by the famous Italian architect Antonio Citterio, who has been collaborating with the company since eighties. The colours prevailing in the booth were, again, the colours of nature: marble, wood, with green notes in every environment. The Eurocucine halls, in general, could be defined as the space where high technologies were demonstrated.

As always, this Salone del Mobile, including uncountable colorful events Fuori Salone, has been very hectic, crowded, colorful, and inspiring. I’d say, an experience to be lived, at least once in a lifetime!