“An ecosystem of innovation that intensifies global connection”: this was one of the images launched from the stage of Teatro Franco Parenti in Milan as Maria Porro, president of Salone del Mobile.Milano, presented with dj Linus an edition of the event aiming to revolutionize its taxonomy, starting from its physical layout and the implementation of its cultural offerings.

An attitude to revolutionize while keeping the course that is peculiar to Milanese people, as Mayor Giuseppe Sala has stressed, and Porro has fully confirmed: “The strength of the fair lies in keeping a very clear focus: design, furniture, light. Starting from the blank sheet of FieraMilano in Rho, we are then given the opportunity to design an ideal city”, the figure with which the renewal of the layout of this upcoming Salone was to be summarized.

A great deal of listening work, more than 2,300 interviews and focus groups between the fair and the city, led to the idea of a single-level presentation, a progressive and organic visitor experience for people who have less and less time, and instead of clustering exhibitors by style, areas will be organized by target audience.

Then there is the major experiment of Euroluce, where the greatest efforts of spatial and cultural innovation are concentrated: the set-up conceived by Lombardini22 for the 4 pavilions hosting the biennial fair dedicated to lighting – this year extended also to the technical disciplines that constitute the background of light design – recalls the spatiality of the historic center of an ideal Italian city, emphasizing its character as a relational, social and visual device.

“An egg of Columbus”, Beppe Finessi calls it, a place to find special things, objects, books, works of art: the cultural content he is curating will be articulated among 4 thematic exhibitions, a talk space, a bookstore and refreshment spaces.

The exhibitions will articulate around the theme of light, the exploration Albe. Lights of Tomorrow curated by Matteo Pirola in search of “luminous intuitions that reveal themselves without necessarily being lamps”, Martina Sanzarello’s Fiat Bulb paying homage to the history of the light bulb in times of great transformations, the research by Michele Calzavara investigating the relationship between interiors and designed light, and the solo exhibition of photographer Helène Binet curated by Massimo Curzi. In the words of Binet, who has long been accustomed to exploring the work of those who collect and orchestrate light through design, the structure of this cultural program is iconically summed up: “We cannot know an object without light, but light needs the object to exist. We need light to understand the world, but light needs us to exist”.

The space will then be defined by the interventions of Italian design duo FormaFantasma: the 12 Costellazioni (Constellations) first and foremost, delicate interventions exhalting the works on show through poor materials – wood and paper – modular, recyclable, reusable; the bookstore run by Corraini centered on consultation and reading books, beyond selling; Aurore (Dawns), the conference space that will transforms along the day.

Salone Satellite as well will join this interconnected system this year, fitting into the Euroluce pavilions to create a continuum with the fair. Curator Marva Griffin has presented the concept Design Schools - Universities / Building the (im)possible. Process, Progress, Practice with which Satellite brings together 27 institutions from 12 countries – 550 young designers from 34 countries, to be more precise ¬– around a question as simple as it is difficult: “design, where are you going?” Around this theme will also revolve the meetings, the Salone Satellite Award, and the widespread exhibition of lighting designs that have become products through Satellite's scouting.

The last two components of the Salone's revolution are digital presence and sustainability. The non-tangible part of the event focuses on the novelty of an interactive wayfinding system to identify and visit the pavilions, as well as on the digital content offer curated by Annalisa Rosso, who will enrich the fair with an additional schedule of talks. 

In terms of sustainability, this fair renews its joining of the Global Compact, and especially takes action to obtain ISO 2021 certification for event sustainability, an issue that has become even more of a priority after the reflections brought by the pandemic stop, and in the context of a focus on global climate issues with which the event has to deal every year.