Exhibitions A look to the future with the innovations at SaloneSatellite 2023 Text by Laura Barsottini Add to bookmarks SaloneSatellite, ph. Ludovica Mangini The themes informing the event dedicated to designers under35 are training and the design of the future Founded by Marva Griffin in 1998, SaloneSatellite is the Salone del Mobile.Milano space dedicated to interface between young designers and businesses. This edition is a particularly packed one, featuring the creations of 550 designers under35 from 31 different countries, along with 28 Design Schools and Universities from 18 different countries. SaloneSatellite, ph. Ludovica Mangini The choice of theme for this edition, Design Schools – Universities / BUILDING THE (IM)POSSIBLE Process, Progress, Practice, was by no means random, and the work by the student graduates-to-be is intended to respond to the question “Design: WHERE ARE YOU GOING?” with new approaches for tackling the significant challenges that environmental, economic and social changes are posing. School of Design, Pratt Institute at SaloneSatellite, ph. Francesco Stelitano The installation, curated by the architect Ricardo Bello Dias, creates a sort of backdrop formed by the design school stands, against which the workstations of the young designers unfold. Panels with small metal wefts reflect a soft, natural light that almost seems to want to strike up a contrast between the renewal of slow design, on a human scale, and the frenzied outside world. This also forms the inspiration for Euroluce, which is hosting SaloneSatellite in its pavilions, and which is making a return to the Salone del Mobile.Milano after 4 long years. SaloneSatellite, ph. Ludovica Mangini One of the schools, POLI.Design, is on home turf – it’s the Design Department at Milan Polytechnic University, which has come up with a curious multimedia system that, through a coloured lens, a rudimentary hearing device and a floor plastered with the QR codes of the students’ projects, aims to respond to the question “Design: WHERE ARE YOU GOING?” The DAE, Design Academy Eindhoven, is showcasing an experimental live radio that will broadcast debates curated by the students for the entire duration of the Salone del Mobile.Milano. The College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University, is presenting the EndlessForm project, set up by Professor Zhang Zhoujie, which uses high technology and algorithms to create design objects. Then the ECAL/Ecole Cantonale d’Art de Lausanne at the University of Art and Design Lausanne is showcasing four projects dotted around the city, whilst the Pratt institute of New York has focused on five words, each interpreting a different value: “enable”, “empower”, “connect”, “humanize” and “sustain”. Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe at SaloneSatellite, ph. Francesco Stelitano Bringing together the values shared by Euroluce and SaloneSatellite, which may be different in form but are actually deeply connected – promoting design tailored to living well and to sustainability – the exhibition Sate… light. 1998-2022 SaloneSatellite Young Designers, a collection of lamps conceived by SaloneSatellite designers that have since gone into production, is being held in the space bordering the two events.
Exhibitions The latest outdoor furnishing, championing sustainability, material and colour Comfortable and sustainable, outdoor furnishing lends itself to many different interpretations, channelling innovation and constantly evolving aesthetics Marilena Pitino
Stories The biology of light, according to Manuel Spitschan What does chronobiology have to do with design? Manuel Spitschan, professor at the Technische Universität München, explains why light is essential to our well-being. And why designers should know more about it to design better. Giulia Zappa
Sustainability The Piazze Aperte scheme is really changing the face of Milan Since 2018, the two local governments helmed by Mayor Giuseppe Sala have closed more than fifty of the city’s streets and roads to traffic – but not to people. And this is just the beginning Fabrizio Fasanella
