An event with a very rich public program with more than 40 illustrious voices (between architects, innovators, visionaries, entrepreneurs, artists and politicians), a film review in collaboration with the Milan Design Film Festival, four food court designed by Identity Gourmet and animated by nine of the greatest interpreters of Italian cuisine and a large exhibition ofADI / Compasso d'Oro they have the aim of capitalizing on the points of contact between different sectors, experimenting with new exhibition formats, involving and motivating visitors. And, above all, to rekindle – metaphorically speaking – the engines of the city of design par excellence: Milan. In short, this is the "super salon”, The event strongly desired by Federlegno Arredo Eventi Spa and entrusted to the curator Stefano Boeri and an international group of co-designers – Andrea Caputo, Maria Cristina Didero, Anniina Koivu, Lukas Wegwerth, Marco Ferrari and Elisa Pasqual of Studio Folder, Giorgio Donà, co-founder and director of Stefano Boeri Interiors.
A “supersalone” that collects and exhibits the best research, production and experimentation achieved by an entire sector in the last 18 months, but which is, at the same time, projected towards the future, representing an important moment of collective visibility and a driver to relaunch the furniture and design sector. The recognition of this importance and its symbolic value is confirmed by the presence of high governmental and institutional authorities – first of all the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella – which have always testified to how much the Salone represents one of the engines of the Italian economy, thanks to the fertile relationship it manages to create between companies, cities and territories. The Salone del Mobile.Milano will present him as a gift with a reproduction of the poster of the first edition of the Salone (1961) in an exceptional setting designed by the designer duo Formafantasma and built by the young architect-craftsman James Moor and by cabinetmakers Gigi Marelli e Giordano Vigano with the wood of the fir trees felled by the Vaia storm in Val di Fiemme.
At this “supersalone” we worked with a great sense of responsibility, aware of the importance of protect the health and safety of exhibitors, professional operators and the public. Maximum effort and attention was paid to the organizational aspects connected with the prevention of the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and, in particular, the organization of spaces at the fair, guidelines for correct visitor behavior (the constant use of masks and social distancing is mandatory) and to the regulation of accesses and flows. To be able to visit the "supersalone", in fact, entry to the district takes place only after checking the body temperature and it is necessary to show the Green pass or l 'EU Digital COVID Certificates, indispensable tools for creating safe conditions in a protected environment. Certifications implying and proving vaccination (even starting 15 days after the first dose of the vaccine), or complete recovery after infection (within the previous 6 months), or the result of a negative swab (molecular or antigenic/rapid) valid for 48 hours from the time of collection. In the absence of an EU Digital COVID Certificate, the green certifications issued by the countries of the Schengen area and by other countries with equivalent certification or the certificates with the result of a negative swab valid for 48 hours from the time of the collection are considered valid. For this, they are present four hubs for quick swabs (East Gate, South Gate, West Gate and Cargo 1) where it will be possible to carry out a rapid antigen test on site at a cost of 22 euros. This is how the Salone del Mobile.Milano has laid the foundations so that the first major trade fair event in attendance can involve the whole community in a careful and respectful way.
Another great theme underlying the "supersalone" looks to sustainability concept and to the themes of reuse, recycling and circularity. A necessary approach to rediscover, after the recent moments of crisis, not only the same level of economic development, but also a "better and more responsible development". In the strategy for building the event, priority was given to rental and reuse in order to avoid waste of material as much as possible. The spaces available to companies have been designed to highlight the product and reduce the use of support structures to the essentials. All the materials and components of the set-up designed by Andrew Caputo - long parallel partitions, designed for specific product categories - and from Stefano Boeri Interiors – the common areas: food courts, arenas, lounges – they use a small amount of chipboard panels (1.230 mc), obtained with 100% recycled wood, which will then be put back into the production cycle in a circular perspective: they will thus be 553.500 kilograms di CO2 not released into the atmosphere thanks to their recovery. Everything is meant to be disassembled and subsequently reused: the outfitting systems, which do not have any loose components, will be completely recovered; the lounge areas, benches and seats are “dry” assembled and therefore disassembled and can also be used again at different times and contexts. For the larger structures – arenas, Food Courts and exhibition partitions – we opted for rental scaffolding systems, reconfigured to adapt them to the needs of the exhibition.
Also the bricks which give life to the partitions of the installation of The Lost Graduation Show they are all reusable: they are Ytong blocks in autoclaved aerated concrete. Modular, locally sourced, they are part of a system: once the installation is dismantled, will be fully returned to the production cycle. Part of the set-up sheets will not be printed or colored so that reuse can be made more easily and, with a view to avoiding waste of material, the supersalone will not produce brochures or paper information materials. The Identità Golose Food Court will use only compostable cutlery and crockery. Even the beverage sector will minimize the use of plastic, resorting to 100% recyclable PET. To reinforce the green intent of the "supersalone" also i 200 trees that the Salone del Mobile.Milano has donated to Forest me, partly located at the entrance to Porta Est, partly inside the pavilions, which will then be replanted in the Parco Nord Milano, helping to expand a green lung of the Metropolitan City of Milan.
