The Salone del Mobile, the world’s most important furniture and design trade fair, was able to take place again in September 2021 after being canceled in 2020.
In 2020, the Milan Salone del Mobile had to be canceled due to the pandemic. This year, it was moved from April to September. As “Supersalone”, it has now opened its doors with a new concept and significantly slimmed down. Editor-in-chief Fabian Peters visited the Salone del Mobile 2021 for us.
Some people were surprised to discover that the Milan exhibition grounds were bustling with activity on the opening day of the “Supersalone”. Not that the crowds were comparable to the regular Salone del Mobile, where manufacturers regularly have to close their stands due to overcrowding. But the yawning emptiness that many had predicted failed to materialize. Should the event, which the organizers wisely chose to call an exhibition rather than a trade fair, therefore be considered a success? Many exhibitors saw it for what it was supposed to be. A sign of life for the Italian furniture and design industry after the country’s traumatic coronavirus months.
Even though there were only four halls instead of the usual 24, and even though only a handful of foreign exhibitors took part, the signal from Milan was audible and the international media also showed great interest. The big show – it probably won’t start again until next year. Then the Salone will return to its regular date in April. However, the curiosity of the press at the Salone del Mobile 2021 was not only due to the fact that the event was finally opening its doors again after being canceled in 2020 and rescheduled for 2021. It was also due to the “Supersalone” concept. It was largely created with the help of Stefano Boeri, the architect of the ground-breaking “Bosco Verticale” skyscraper.
Boeri’s approach is radical: no stands, no company CI, no zones for dealer meetings. Instead, a uniform presentation system in which large-format room dividers structure the halls. Each trade fair participant could design a few meters of this room divider. They then had a strip between ten and forty meters long, around four meters high and around two meters deep at their disposal. The concept of the Salone del Mobile 2021 had rightly received some praise in advance because it put a stop to the material battles of previous years. As the room dividers are reusable, this form of trade fair is also much more sustainable. However, it is now clear that the Salone 2022 will return to the classic stand concept. What will happen to the Boeri walls then remains to be seen.
As expected, the exhibitors were less enthusiastic about the Supersalone exhibition concept than the critics. There was a certain reluctance on the part of many companies and brands to deal with the requirements of the new concept. One thing was clear at first glance: Attempts to use the hall strip like a very narrow exhibition stand were doomed to failure. Instead, self-restraint was the key. Brands such as Foscarini, Magis and Poliform had each selected just one new product, which then stood as an exhibit in front of the room divider. The room divider itself becomes a screen onto which films are projected. Magis, for example, shows impressions from the development process of the “Costume” sofa by Stefan Diez, which is the focus of this year’s company presentation.
Molteni&C makes even more original use of its narrow space. It was created by designer Ron Gilad. He places Molteni’s re-edition of a Gio Ponti piece of furniture, the “Round” D.154.5 armchair, at the center of attention. In doing so, he builds a bridge to the design year 1954 with a charming reminiscence of the golden years of flight. Like in an airplane, the armchairs are arranged in groups of two in front of the rear wall. Anyone sitting on them can look through circular “airplane windows” into an artificial sky and listen to the captain’s announcements.
One would actually wish that the Salone del Mobile would not immediately shelve the innovative ideas inherent in the Supersalone concept. After all, all the gigantic trade fair stands and the masses of visitors that flock to Milan and the exhibition halls are hardly justifiable from a sustainability perspective. Instead, a well-designed, compact trade fair with a framework architecture like Stefano Boeri’s could come to the people. Why not take the Supersalone on tour and show it in Shanghai, Rio and St. Petersburg?
This year’s “Fuori Salone” in Milan’s city center showed how much can be achieved with economical means and low material consumption. This “trade fair outside the trade fair” was more important than ever for visitors in 2021. This was because many manufacturers preferred to exhibit in the city rather than at the official Salone del Mobile 2021. And they had a free supporter on the first days of the fair – the wonderful late summer weather. Whether it was Flos, Laufen, Kvadrat or Occhio – visitors were busy enjoying espresso or wine in the courtyards and backyards of the showrooms.
Some brands that do not have their own showroom in Milan are trying their hand as subtenants in 2021: Thonet at SieMatic, for example, or the young lighting manufacturer Midgard at Agape. USM’s appearance is particularly original. Together with Monocle magazine, the Swiss company has moved into a bicycle store in the Brera district. Thanks to the wonderful weather, USM can play along with the street space. And the Haller modular system can demonstrate its qualities as outdoor and café terrace furniture. Passers-by and visitors to the Salone gratefully accept the offer of drinks and relaxation.
This year, the Salone del Mobile 2021 and the Fuori Salone offered a whole range of good arguments for not returning to the gigantomania of previous years in 2022. Nobody really missed the umpteenth visitor record that the organizers of the Milan furniture fair like to proclaim this year.
Read more about interiors in our online magazine Interieur & Design.
From one event in 2021 to the next: the Architecture Biennale has also been postponed by one year. The exhibition is currently taking place until November 21, 2021 under the title “How will we live together”. Read more about the Architecture Biennale 2021 here.
