After a false start in 2020 and a quiet return the year following, Salone del Mobile is back in Milan. While the Italian design week is always something of a grand affair, flooding the entire city with creatives from the world over, this year’s events marked something of a watershed moment for Milan, whose creative resurgence comes roaring back only two years after the pandemic’s particularly devastating impact on the city. Even the weather worked out for a Milan revival; while normally Salone is held in mid-spring, this year’s June weather pulled the Goldilocks feat of being just right.
As Milan is one of the world’s fashion capitals, it was no surprise that brands seized the opportunity to impress with unexpected collaborations that surprised even the most cynical. Hermès was a highlight, setting the La Pelota sports center aglow with multi-colored, geometric lightboxes. Another brand using color in interesting ways was Paul Smith, whose signature standout palette of rainbow brights translated deftly to a collection of sofas by De Padova.
Other standout exhibitions, of which there were many, were the Loewe Foundation, whose focus on weaving and craftsmanship delivered and expanded on the brand’s ever-consistent aesthetic, and a surprising meeting of the minds in the Carhartt x Toogood collaboration, which brought the utilitarian ethos of streetwear to an oft buttoned-up city.
In what she calls the “bat cave” of her store, JJ Martin, the queen of colorful print, created a tableware collection inspired by Rome. We particularly loved the plates with tricolor rim and her bud vases—specifically one that mimics the intricate form of an artichoke. Studio Luca Guadagnino has launched a furniture line reflective of the Italian director’s flawless aesthetic. And then there were the multiple tributes to the late Off-White designer Vorgil Abloh, proving, once again, his indelible impact on the world of fashion and design, and the intersection between the two.
Alcova, which is located a lengthy eight metro stops from the Duomo, took center stage at Salone this year, becoming Milan’s hot area to watch. Alcova saw some of the most innovative of this year’s exhibitions, from a collaboration between Morocco’s Beni Rugs and interior stylist Colin King—in which muted tones recalled the entryway Terrazo floors of Milan’s most elegant palazzos—to the debut wallpaper collection of Nicol Castellini Baldissera, the Italian author of Inside Tangier (a PRIOR office mainstay). Laila Gohar, the design world’s favorite chef-slash-culinary sculptress, was omnipresent in Alcova, showing the range of her Gohar World tableware products in collaboration with Gucci; their divine ricotta candle embodies the collection’s seamless fusion of all forms of good taste. On the topic of candles, British designer Luke Edward Hall made several ceramic ones, along with plates in collaboration with Italian brand Ginori. The collection featured illustrations of five fictional destinations with names like “Bat Creek Ridge,” embodying the designer’s signature playful touch and high-kitsch aesthetic.
He also threw one of this year’s great parties at a retro osteria at the edge of town, which at one point broke into a celebration of 1970s Italian disco. Always a Euro crowd pleaser.
Salone is as much a site of social gathering as it is of design, and all the familiar faces came out to Galleria Tommaso Calabro for the Wall Street Journal party. Bar Basso was where everyone ended up, on multiple nights running out of glassware for their signature negroni sbagliato, which swaps gin for prosecco. As Milan continues to evolve, the only thing that doesn’t change in this city of forward-thinking is the old neon sign outside Bar Basso.
Ciao from Milano,
