More than 400,000 design aficionados will descend on Milan next week for the 58th-annual Salone del Mobile—don’t get lost in the crowd! Our handy guide to what’s happening at the fair (and beyond) will keep you in the know. Buon viaggio!
LOGISTICS
Pre-registration: Save yourself a headache—and skip the lines—by registering for the show ahead of time.
Getting to the fair: The main show is located at FieraMilano Rho (SS del Sempione, 28, Rho), a 30-minute subway ride from the city center on the M1 line. Because you’ll be riding the train to the last stop, you can’t use the same metro ticket you’d use to zip around the city; be sure to purchase a standard ticket. Even better? Buy a round-trip ticket so that you’re not stuck in the queue for the kiosk after a long day of walking at the show.
Food and drink: Grab lunch early—the restaurants at FieraMilano have been known to run out of options by mid-afternoon!
Map app: Download the Salone del Mobile.Milano 2019 app for easy access to exhibitors’ booth numbers—and more importantly, a map!
AT THE FAIR
Straight from our editors’ notebooks, here’s a hall-by-hall guide to all of the don't-miss exhibitors at the top of BOH’s list.
Contemporary Italian design brand Cantori debuts a new collection from the design duo Maurizio Manzoni and Roberto Tapinassi of StudioMEMO. (Hall 1, C5)
Roche Bobois launches Nativ, a collection designed by Paris-based, Israel-born multidisciplinary designer Raphael Navot. (Hall 6, C30)
Danish home and office design brand Montana Furniture was founded by a contemporary of Arne Jacobsen and Verner Panton, whose son, now the company’s CEO, is the great-grandson of Fritz Hansen—how’s that for a family tree? The company is presenting Pantonova, a line of modular wire seating first created by Panton in 1971. (Hall 6, D26)
Legacy Italian furniture brand Gallotti&Radice, best known for its pioneering design using glass in the 1970s, debuts a new collection with internationally renowned French-Lebanese design studio David/Nicolas. (Hall 7, L12)
Potocco Italy, fifth-generation owned and operated (and Salone exhibitor since the very first fair), celebrates its centennial with product by Chiara Andreatti, Luis A. Arrivillago, Bernhardt & Vella, Federica Biasi, Gabriele and Oscar Buratti, Serena Confalonieri, Favaretto & Partners, Mario Ferrarini, Johan Lindstén, David Lopez Quincoces, Radice Orlandini, Storagemilano, and Stephan Veit. (Hall 7, L19 and M20)
In a booth designed by architect and designer Ferruccio Laviani, leather furniture maker Frag debuts new products from Analogia Project, Dainellistudio, Michele di Fonzo, Christophe Pillet, Gordon Guillaumier, and Mist-o. (Hall 16, D51-D55)
Vitra unveils four environments to feature a host of new products: a new seating system by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby that makes a compelling case for taking your work to the sofa; ceramic vases from Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec; Rookie, a small office chair with minimal but meaningful adjustments by Konstantin Grcic; and the Vlinder sofa from Dutch industrial designer Hella Jongerius, who also developed the brand’s Colour & Material library. (Hall 20, B07 and C12)
In addition to new products from Danish design icons Hans J. Wegner, Borge Mogensen and Frits Henningsen, Carl Hansen & Son unveils its latest collaboration with Austrian design trio EOOS. (Hall 22, A25 and A29)
Designers Sebastian Herkner and Henrik Pedersen unveil their latest outdoor collections in teak specialist Gloster’s booth. (Hall 22, D31–D35)
Heritage fabric brand Dedar shows its 2019 collection—a medley of wools and velvets, raw silks, jacquards, wallcoverings and outdoor fabrics. (Hall 24, A21)
We’ll also be stopping by Italian furnishings brand Promemoria (Hall 5, F15); sustainably sourced Belgian wood furniture maker Ethnicraft (Hall 12, A03 and B04); Spanish rug resource Nanimarquina (Hall 16, D22); colorful Italian design brand Slide (Hall 16, E48); entrepreneurial Italian company Magis (Hall 20, C15 and D14); and Danish design brand Fritz Hansen (Hall 22, D23 and E22).
SPECIAL EXHIBITIONS AT THE FAIR
Workplace3.0
This year, the 53 exhibitors in Salone’s lab for all things office—plus everything from furnishings for public spaces to A/V solutions and acoustics technology—will be spread throughout the fair to emphasize the increasing flexibility of workspaces.
Euroluce
The biannual design fair, also known as the International Lighting Exhibition, is back. With more than 420 exhibitors, attendees will get a glimpse of the best in lighting design. Just remember—only fall in love with products that are destined to be wired for the U.S.! (Halls 9–11 and 13–15)
Highlights will include Nightbloom, Lladró’s new collection of porcelain lights by Marcel Wanders (Hall 9, G20); Luceplan’s launch of new collections designed by Monica Armani, Stephen Burks, Zsuzsanna Horvath, Daniel Rybakken and Diego Sferrazza (Hall 13, B15–B19); luxury lightbulb maker Tala’s LED innovations (Hall 15, B37–B39); and Lasvit’s latest collection of glass lighting (Hall 15, C43 and D36).
In a stand designed by Italian architect and designer Michele De Lucchi, Artemide debuts new product from Atelier Oi and the Campana Brothers, and expands upon its Gople collection with Bjarke Ingels Group, with new finishes and more diminutive iterations of the line’s successful suspension, table and wall lights (Hall 13, C09 and D18). Italian designer Ferruccio Laviani not only debuts his Uptown lamp for Foscarini (one of the brand’s 10 lighting launches at the show, by the likes of Andrea Anastasio and Marc Sadler), but he also designed the brand’s booth (Hall 11, A29 and B18).
SaloneSatellite
Since 1998, this event has been the premier destination for young designers—and a place for manufacturers to scout the best up-and-coming talent. More than 550 exhibitors will have their work on view across Pavilions 22 to 24. This year’s event also highlights the relationship between design and the culinary arts, as the under-35 designers were challenged to find solutions to issues that can bring about a global food revolution. (Halls 13–15)
S.Project
This new exhibition space puts a spotlight on brands that defy categorization. Notable exhibitors include B&B Italia, FLOS and Louis Poulsen (Hall 24, C01, C21, E02 and E20), which will exhibit together under the banner of their Design Holding supergroup for the first time. (Halls 22–24)
De-signo
In honor of the 500th anniversary of the death of Leonardo da Vinci, several exhibitions pay respect to his contributions to the city of Milan, where he lived and worked for 20 years, and to the design world at large. In the fair, “De-signo: The Art of Italian Design Before and After Leonardo”—an immersive installation created by Davide Rampello and designed by the architect Alessandro Colombo—explores how the genius’s ideas link to contemporary Italian design. (Hall 24)
