Notes from ‘Supersalone’ in Milan 2021
I am back from a sunny Milan Design Week and what a week it has been! Milan Design Week has evolved from a well-known furniture fair into a reflection of the current design, fashion and art world – encompassing the functional, experiential and existential elements. This year Salone del Mobile was the first large design exhibition to open its doors. After the 2020 gap it came back in a new format as “Supersalone” with architect Stefano Boeri as a curator.
There was much excitement about this new edition of the Salone del Mobile 2021. There were no traditional stands, no division between kitchens, bathrooms, furniture or lighting. It was more a collective exhibition than an expanse of stands. Now I am not sure this approached worked as well. Most of the stands were just displaying their products with very little creative approach. Stand after stand the furniture felt repetitive. In this context it was easy to spot several stands that actually went an extra mile to stand out against the crowd. I’d like to talk about some of them here.