Two and a half years is an interminable pause for a global design event that has been running every year since 1961. Yet, the Milan furniture fair returned in early September, delayed and reformatted due to Covid-19. Once again, architecture had a strong presence, thriving in both installations and architectural furnishings unveiled for the first time. At the main exhibition center Fiera Milano, the Salone del Mobile was rebranded to “supersalone,” a compact show—despite its grand name—spread across just four pavilions, in comparison to the 24 in 2019, and accessible only after proof of Covid vaccination or test. (Final attendance numbers were 60,000, as compared to over 200,000 in the years leading up to the last Salone.) Offsite events were also trimmed, compared to years prior, but you could still easily fill all six days with the abundance of design offerings around the city.
Luxury fashion house Hermès hosted the most dazzling installation this year. On a pink sand beach (actually a sports center in the Brera district), stood a line of graphically hand-painted one-story volumes made of lime, each 16 feet long, 32 feet wide, and 23 feet high, by Paris-based architect and designer Charlotte Macaux Perelman, a David Rockwell alum and founder of Studio CMP.
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