Classic furniture, experimental works and art-meets-design rule at Milan Design Week

IN 1961, the Milan Furniture Fair (or Salone del Mobile) was launched with the aim of promoting the Italian furniture industry. Over the years, it grew to become the world’s most important design event held at the Fiera Milano convention grounds at Rho, where new designs are unveiled, and buyers, distributors, architects and designers gather for trade and conversation. 

This year’s event that ran from Apr 16 to 21 had a record audience, with foreign attendees numbering 370,824 for a growth of 20.2 per cent from 2023 – an encouraging boost from a few years ago, when the festival skipped the 2020 edition due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While the Salone is still the anchor showcase of what is now a citywide celebration of design called Milan Design Week, it is outside the fairgrounds (or Fuorisalone) where more exciting happenings have headed.  

“These destination venues provide exhibitions an opportunity to be personalised to the context and therefore are more immersive, compared to temporary (booths at Rho),” says Robert Cheng, founder of Brewin Design Office, whose works include the Museum Library at the National Gallery of Singapore and the upcoming Capella Kyoto.