Stefano Boeri to Helm Salone 2021

The Salone del Mobile.Milano confirmed the 2021 iteration — the first installment since the coronavirus pandemic scuttled plans last year — on April 29, five months after it first indicated the event would be pushed to the fall from the event's usual spring schedule. In the announcement the 2021 fair is described as "an all-new event, focused on promoting the companies' latest products, technologies and projects" that will take place at Rho Fiera Milano and a number of city venues, in "dialogue with" an "all-new digital platform" that is set to launch in June.

On May 11 the fair announced that the "internationally-renowned curator" for 2021 would be Stefano Boeri, whose eponymous firm is best known for the much-lauded — and criticized — Bosco Verticale built in Milan in 2014. More recently, in addition to numerous variations on the Bosco Verticale for other places around the world, Boeri was involved in Italy's vaccine efforts, designing temporary pavilions where shots would have been administered. While not even one of the planned 1,500 pavilions was erected due to high costs, vaccinations in and beyond Italy will be integral to the event, determining how many people venture to Milan in September and what form the in-person fair takes. It should be interesting to see how it compares to the Venice Architecture Biennale, which opens next week but without the usual crowded gatherings at the vernissage. Italy, like many other European countries, has fully vaccinated around just 15% of its population; by September, that number should be much closer to one hundred than zero.

So what does Boeri have planned for Salone del Mobile? His statement from May 11:

"We are working on what will be an unmissable event in all respects, open to both professionals and the general public. As well as the companies' recent and most outstanding innovations, high quality design products will be displayed and available at one-off prices, responding to the desire currently being expressed by thousands of families and companies to rethink our domestic and work spaces. The 2021 edition is confirmation, yet again, of Milan's centrality as the global capital of creative innovation and social generosity."