Over 300,000 visitors from around the world will descend upon Milan, Italy April 17-22 to preview the 51st edition of the Saloni, a showcase of thousands of high-end products for the global market. Nearly 2,500 exhibitors will offer products from furniture, furnishing accessories, kitchens, bathrooms, and prototypes by young design talent.

The 15th SaloneSatellite exhibition is devoted to “Design<–>Technology” and showcases the most promising international designers, offering them visibility and an opportunity for contact with the exhibiting companies. Alongside the exhibition, there is the Competition for the three most outstanding Kitchen and Bathroom products in each of the two sectors.

The events being held in the city focus more than ever this year on quality products and lifestyle enhancement.

The Teatro dell’Arte at the Triennale di Milano will be showing “Design Dance” – a project by Michela Marelli and Francesca Molteni. The latter has already curated several events for the Saloni, “A Celestial Bathroom” at the Milan Planetarium in 2010 – enables the works by the protagonists of design to speak and act, dance even. The objects become actors and storytellers because, as with all the fruits of human creativity, they narrate the emotional run-up to their inception. Modern day objects and objects from the past, classical and modern, together with SaloneSatellite designs will “come true” by going into production.

During the six days of the Saloni, the Ambrosiana, a historic library and custodian of the classical world of books, will host Attilio Stocchi’s “skybook” installation – a multimedia homage to the Roman heart of the city and a reflection on living and inhabiting space as related in various ancient works.

MOST, a design center concept created by British designer Tom Dixon, will take over four spaces into an ambitious environment for innovation and culture delivering a diverse group of leading global brands and young designers.

La Chance, a new French company, will make their debut in Milan with a collection of furniture and lighting designed by a young generation of innovative designers from all around the world. Jean-Baptiste Souletie and Louise Breguet, founders of La Chance, will present designs from Pierre Favresse (FR), Bashko Trybek (PL), Suzanne de Graef (NL), Luca Nichetto (IT), Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance (FR), Charles Kalpakian (FR), Note Design Studio (SE), Francois Dumas (FR), Dan Yeffet and Lucie Koldova (IL/CZ), Pool Design (FR) and Jonah Takagi (USA).

A new and important destination instigated by British designer Tom Dixon will turn the National Museum of Science and Technology Milan into an ambitious environment for innovation and culture.

Martina Mondadori with TAR Magazine will run a lecture and seminar programme throughout the week of MOST. Held in the museum’s impressive auditorium, there will be two talks a day with high profile leaders and designers from across the globe. “I am so proud to be part of this new project taking place in my city: Milan has always been the Design Capital and the National Museum of Science and Technology is a historical landmark for the city. It perfectly combines three aspects which will be the guidelines for our project: creativity, culture and entertainment. I will be hosting the TAR conversations, gathering the magazine’s most important contributors to confront live for the first time in Milan. It is a way for me to pay tribute to my city to bring international talents during the Salone del Mobile”, said Mondadori.

The National Museum of Science and Technology has never been used in this way before. It promises to be a vibrant meeting point for those coming to Milan in April. “In a fit of spontaneous madness we decided that the world’s most important meeting place for global design obsessives needed a new epicentre, a space for quiet contemplation or chaotic energy – a platform for the exchange of big ideas. So we called Ambra and Martina and cooked up the idea to share one of the best kept secrets in Milan – the National Museum of Science and Technology, where Leonardo da Vinci’s air screw jostles for space alongside a submarine in a 16th century monastery. We have created a place where we can demonstrate the new democratisation and hyperactive innovation of technology in art, food, fashion, manufacturing and communication,” said Dixon.

Organisers Cosmit and FederlegnoArredo are opening the Saloni to the public all day on Saturday for the first time this year, in addition to the traditional Sunday opening, which last year saw over 32,000 visitors pass through the gates.