In honor of this week kicking off the 63rd edition of Milan Design Week, running from April 7th through the 13th, let’s take a moment to revel in the fair’s history.
Having earned the title of being the world’s largest and most prestigious design event, Milan Design Week— also referred to as Salone del Mobile— is a furniture and design fair in Milan, Italy that dominates one week of April each year.
In 1961, the fair was brought to life by furniture manufacturers a part of the Federelegno-Arredo trade association. Their goal was to highlight Italian furniture, in hopes of making the country stand out in the world of design. Luckily for them, the turnout for the first edition was impressive, as almost 12,000 visitors were in attendance.
"The Secret Garden" event during the Fuorisalone 2012 in Milan, inside the Brera Botanical Garden; installation by Paola Navone with the Murano glass company: Barovier & Toso. License
Growing steadily each year thereafter, the fair began to showcase international exhibitors as it gained widespread popularity. In 1972, the design hub moved to the location it has claimed ever since– the Fiera Milano exhibition center in Rho, one of Milan’s suburbs.
Though Salone del Mobile acts as the headlining show, the week-long event is further enhanced by Fuorisalone, a collection of exhibitions, installations, art talks, pop-ups, and educational lectures peppered throughout the city.
Fuorisalone (which translates to “outside the Salone”) spontaneously came to fruition by a handful of Italian furnishing and industrial design companies in the early 1980s. This sector emerged from a willingness to blend trending designs not only with furniture, but also with fashion, food, and tech.
Now, every spring, Milan blooms into a vibrant cultural center as artists, designers, and architects congregate in the city to attend the event. With nearly 500,000 guests visiting from across the globe, luxury brands use this week to test and market new products, while simultaneously enhancing their engagement with consumers.
On top of these distinguished designer brands taking space on the floor— the likes of Gucci, Prada, and Louis Vuitton, to name a few— one secondary exhibit in particular is working to highlight emerging artists. The SaloneSatellite is a pavilion within Salone del Mobile that provides less-established artists under the age of 35 with the opportunity to showcase their contemporary work and network with others in the industry.
Across a space of 210,000 sqm, visitors can also expect to find furniture, light works, textiles, innovative household items, and other interior design decor on display among the 2,000-plus partnering companies. This year, special projects and installations will touch on themes centered around sustainable design, artificial intelligence, and even some physically immersive experiences for guests.
