Milan Design Week 2023 Highlights: Stand Out Exhibits During Salone del Mobile
Milan Design Week is the biggest design event in the world, happening every year. Part of the event is the most anticipated Salone del Mobile, the most important furniture fair in the world. The 61st edition of Salone del Mobile has finally returned to its April slot for 2023, which took place last April 18 to 23 at the Fiera Milano exhibition center.
An array of furniture and lighting from around the world was on display during the fair. According to the organizer, over 2,000 exhibiting brands participated during the Salone del Mobile 2023. Thirty four percent of these brands were from 37 different countries, including 550 young designers from 31 countries, and 28 design schools and universities from 18 countries.
Moreover, the visitor turnout was 15 percent more than in 2022 with 307,418 registered visitors. The organizer highlighted that 65 percent of buyers and sector operators from abroad is particularly significant.
Given the success of this year’s Salone del Mobile, Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile, said: “The 61st edition of the Salone del Mobile.Milano was an international success and we are really delighted that it exceeded expectations. The number of attendees makes for an exceptional result, which we worked very hard, deeply and radically for, to bring new meanings and values to the trade fair visit and create new experiences for the visitors who came along.”
Here are 10 brand exhibitions that stood out during the fair
Misha Milano
For Milan Design Week 2023 Misha presented Nuova Pompei | The Villa of Mysteries: a spectacular setting to introduce the Nuova Pompei wallpaper collection designed by Vito Nesta.
The company made its Fuorisalone debut with an immersive, kaleidoscopic staging, which ran from April 14 to 23, 2023 in Via Canova 7. Visitors were carried away on a journey to discover one of the wonders of the country. After a trip along the Silk Road with previous collections dedicated to an oriental aesthetic and Chinoiserie decorations, with the new collection, Misha is metaphorically coming home, to Italy, to the city of Pompei.
The Nuova Pompei wallpaper collection offers a modern, dynamic reinterpretation, interweaving the city’s history with an eye towards the future. Four different patterns that share the same eloquent use of contemporary, captivating colors: Architetture Grottesche, Paradiso, Mosaico and Sannita.
POTOCCO
Architectural fascination, a delicate and Mediterranean palette and a living philosophy that recalls the lightness: in the Salone del Mobile 2023 Potocco displayed its new projects and collections in a sophisticated, ambitious, and welcoming exhibition framework.
The company is specialized in the production of indoor and outdoor furniture for home and contract and has a century of manufacturing experience. It has been a constant presence in the design exhibition of Milan and was also one of its founding members in 1961.
The latest collections showed the contemporary living vision advocated by the company: it is a call to use domestic spaces rediscovering a slowed temporal dimension, both intimate and personal.
l’Opificio
l’Opificio took part in the 61st edition of the Salone del Mobile to talk about sustainability, beauty and vision and to present two new collections designed by Roberta Borelli – Makeyourhome and Bruno Tarsia.
The company, which produces luxury fabrics and velvets completely made in Italy as well as a collection of cushions and décor accessories, marks its 25th anniversary this year. Over the past quarter century, it has become one of Italy’s top textile manufacturers.
This year, l’Opificio presented a stand with enticing architectural features and an inspired combination of colors, designed by architect and stylist Bruno Tarsia. Soft, flowing shapes and vivid tones invited visitors to discover unexpected perspectives; it is both a metaphor for and an exemplary staging of the added value of l’Opificio’s collections – a tangible added value made up of stylistic elegance and enduring, timeless quality.
The stand had three porthole-style visual elements that focus the visitor’s gaze on the rich detail and intrinsic value of the textiles, specifically on this year’s three main collections: the new Grid by Roberta Borrelli and Les Intrigues by Bruno Tarsia, and Architrame, designed by Lanzavecchia+Wai, which has become one of the brand’s iconic collections.
Radici
During the Salone del Mobile 2023, Radici presented a series of new stories for the textile flooring signed by important names from the world of design and creativity: Chiara Andreatti, Arthur Arbesser, and Studio DWA.
The brand confirms the direction taken during the previous edition of the fair: Chiara Andreatti follows the stand design, the art direction for the most design-related activities, as well as some of the new products for the second year. Andreatti’s sophisticated creativity leads Radici towards the future, proposing a refined aesthetic linked to the world of design.
For Salone del Mobile 2023, Chiara Andreatti signed three new design proposals for textile flooring as well as the layout of the Radici stand at the fair. Alongside Andreatti’s three surfaces, Tama, Velvet and Cookies, studio DWA designed Traffic and Kink, two kaleidoscopic patterns with a disruptive expressive force. Arthur Arbesser also signed Tartan Doodles and Sponge: the former distinguished by an interplay of different layers with contrasting tones and patterns, the latter by a dynamic sponged effect in black and white.
The novelties presented at the Salone del Mobile 2023 tell the story of the brand’s new direction, which opens the doors to the inspiration and aesthetic vision of creatives from different worlds, among design, architecture and fashion, creating unprecedented blends and textures.
Serena Confalonieri: Foodrama, Acanto Restaurant
Serena Confalonieri signed the illustrations of the new Acanto’s menus, the restaurant located inside the historic Hotel Principe di Savoia, one of the most iconic 5-star hotels in Milan.
Through her fresh and sophisticated style, the designer reinterpreted the atmospheres and materials that distinguish the restaurant, creating fluid graphic compositions inspired by Chef Alessandro Buffolino’s dishes.
The 4 illustrations, dedicated respectively to the Breakfast menu, the Lunch&Dinner menu, the Wine List, and the Specials menu, anticipate the guests’ experience.
Serena Confalonieri gave life to a coherent story, creating a common thread between the restaurant’s architecture, the menus, and the gastronomic offer. The designs consisted of a mix of shapes that recall the precious materials used for the interiors, such as the varieties of red, green, black and white marble, some of them enlightened by golden accents. Furthermore, in the illustrations it was also possible to glimpse some details of the chef’s dishes: the section of a pear, the shape of a waffle, and a strawberry. Playing with combinations of nuances and graceful curvilinear movements, Serena Confalonieri’s drawings invited you to immerse yourself completely in the experience, and let yourself be transported into a dreamy atmosphere.
Serena Confalonieri: Cezanne Forma and Cemento
Serena Confalonieri designed Cezanne, a new collection composed of 3 decorative panels created by the Italian company Forma&Cemento, excellence in the field of concrete design led by Marialaura Irvine’s art direction.
The designer found her inspiration looking into the past, confronting herself with the masterful still lifes of the European artistic tradition. In fact, the collection’s name referred to Paul Cézanne, the French artist from the late 1800s, who painted a series of “still life” now exhibited in some of the most important museums in the world. The pictorial representations are taken up by Serena Confalonieri and revisited in a contemporary key: the clean geometries and the use of cement give life to works of art, light and materic at the same time.
Serena Confalonieri: Bouquet, Piazza Schiavone
Serena Confalonieri designed Bouquet, her new urban art project that gives color to Piazza Schiavone, a crossroads between the districts of Bovisa, Dergano and Affori, in the northern area of Milan. The project was presented on Thursday April 20th 2023 on the occasion of the Milan Design Week.
The activity was part of a series of initiatives promoted by RUFA, Scuola Politecnica di Design and Repubblica del Design, in a logic of circularity and interaction of educational models with the local communities. The three entities – thanks to the collaboration of local institutions, such as the Municipality 9, the Municipality of Milan, the experimental recycling plant Design Differente and the Cap group – have decided to join forces for a permanent tactical urban planning project.
The project was created with the students of the Visual Design course held by Serena Confalonieri at the Scuola Politecnica di Design. The result was a big horizontal graphic work that pays homage to the different cultures that live in the area of Municipio 9, a lively melting pot in the northern part of the city.
This variety of cultures becomes a source of inspiration for a lively and multiform floral graphic that follows the segmented plan of the square, giving life to a floral bouquet whose geometries recall of the different countries’ flags, symbolizing the multiculturalism that inhabits the district. Flowers and natural elements branch out, in a play with shapes and colors, from the fountain located in the center of the square, blossoming freely on the concrete.
Serena Confalonieri: Celebration of Colors and Design
Serena Confalonieri celebrated the start of Milan Design Week 2023 with the “Celebration of Colour & Design” set-up.
Last April 17, on the exclusive Ceresio7 rooftop with swimming pool, her mise en scene transported the visitors into an installation inspired by the bright colors of summer.
The designer’s multifaceted soul takes shape one more time into this kaleidoscopic setting, composed of graphic elements that recreate a landscape dotted by umbrellas, as on the seacoasts and swimming pools seen from above. This reference recreates a joyful summer atmosphere.
The set-up not only occupies the elegant cabanas that surround the pool, but it’s also the backdrop for a talk, whose panel is composed not only by the designer, but also by some of the most renowned international color experts.
More colorful elements completed the set-up: those that float on the surface of the pool creating a play of light, color, and reverberations thanks to the graphics reflected in the water. A true celebration of the expressive power of color.
Gupica for Visionnaire
Gupica launched its new lighting project Lucente for Visionnaire.
The designer once again collaborated with the brand – a polestar for the Italian interior design sector – with a collection inspired by the way light splits and reflects on the faceted surfaces of precious stones, creating mesmerizing luminous effects.
The light-diffusing bodies of the lamps, which look like colored gemstones in sophisticated yet simple shapes, are made of a secondary raw material obtained via the recycling of PMMA – commonly known as Plexiglass – reborn with a completely new appearance.
The opaque LED light source, passing through the stones, produces a diffused light that brings out transparency and colors, and a unique graduated appearance – a beam of light that radiates in the room in a dynamic chromatic spectrum.
Salvatori
Visitors to Salvatori’s showroom and boutique during Milan Design Week 2023 were treated to a selection of products and initiatives that highlight the brand’s elegant and distinctive aesthetic, sustainable ethos, and creative flair.
The showroom at via Solferino 11 once again became a must-visit destination for design lovers who will find a host of new collections, inspiring displays, and innovative products that are destined to shape future trends in the tiles, bathroom, and home décor sectors.
The backdrop of the exhibit was a series of stunning, theatrical settings that showcase current and new Salvatori products. Piero Lissoni’s Hito Collection made its debut at the exhibition which offers original solutions for customizing bathroom environments, along with two natural stone textures: Passepartout by the Salvatori Design Centre, and Patchwork by Piero Lissoni. They are joined by the Wood Collection, which interprets iconic Bamboo, Plissé, Spaghetti and Tratti tiles in an elegant Coffee Oak, marking the first time the brand has ever produced textures in wood.
Two themes ran through Salvatori’s new collections and the works of Raffaele Salvoldi. The first was sustainability, focused on using existing materials as part of a drive towards zero waste, while the second was co-creation. With both the artistic work of Raffaele Salvoldi and its own new products centered around a bespoke, participatory approach, Salvatori once again displayed its creative innovation and evolution. Natural stone is the starting point for a journey in search of elegant, aesthetically-pleasing designs that draw on sources of inspiration from a myriad of sources and different worlds.
Photos courtesy of CORA PR
