The Spectacle of Salone del Mobile

Marimekko’s graphic punch

It’s hard to resist a great pattern. Marimekko and Apartamento magazine have collaborated on a dreamy reinvention of a traditional Milanese café on Via Stoppani. From the floors to the flower-shaped focaccia, the Finnish brand’s peppy motif was the main feature at the weeklong pop-up called Bar Unikko. Rebekka Bay, the brand’s creative director, explained that Marimekko’s iconic flower pattern originated from a rather defiant stroke from its first textile designer, Maija Isola. In 1964, Isola’s bold design won over Marimekko co-founder Armi Ratia despite her known disdain for dainty floral motifs that proliferated during that time.

Dropcity: A permanent space for design and architecture

Over the years, critics of Salone have questioned the true cost of fabulous but short-sighted brand takeovers. This bid for permanence is exactly what Dropcity aspires for. Its founder, architect Andrea Caputo describes the  new public design center growing in the tunnels behind Milan Central Station as a locus for creative fervor, citing the roster of exhibitions, design markets, public talks, DJ sets, and a permanent maker space for up-and-coming designers and architects.

Stylish scavengers

Sustainability is ever on Salone’s agenda and plenty of exhibitors offered ideas for beautiful, earth-friendly building materials and processes. At Alcova—the most popular of the fuorisalone—French designer Aurélien Veyrat brought his brilliant sculptures made from salvaged bricks, glass and other materials rescued from construction sites close to his studio in Lille. In Dropcity, timber from downed trees collected from Milan’s devastating 2023 flood served as an evocative material for a new computer-aided wood cutting and joinery machine developed by the German studio, Streev.

The Triennale in transformation

The century-old design and art museum in Parco Sempione is in the throes of a thrilling renovation. Guided by the original vision of its architect Giovanni Muzio, the first new space—a light-filled research archive and study center symbolically named “Cuore” (heart)—opened to the public earlier this year. Another project in the works is the transformation of a mythic underground nightclub that the institution has recently acquired.

Glitch Camp and Salone’s housing problem

The great irony of Milan’s furniture fair is that it can be very hard to find a place to stay. Hotel prices in central districts soared to $2,000 a night, making the fair inaccessible to most designers. This made Camp Glitch a brilliant anomaly among this year’s fuorisalone. Conceived by Riccardo Balbo, dean of the Istituto Europeo di Design, the project offered free accommodations for any student enrolled in a design institution, 30 years and younger.

Camp Glitch also provided a sense of community that can be sorely absent in the hectic and disparate fair. “The shared experience is great,” says Rob Reuland, an FIT student who was among the 300 who got to sleep in a Ferrino tent at the Milanosport – Enrico Cappelli Savorelli Sports Centre. “With so many things vying for attention, it’s too bad we don’t get to invest as much time in social relations during Salone.” Balbo says they are continuing to  experiment with the format and hinted that they may open it up for design aficionados over 30 years old.

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• Anne Quito
• David Lynch
• Marimekko
• Milan Design Week
• Salone del Mobile