Salone del Mobile has returned with a slightly different format. The new fair concept, curated by Italian architect Stefano Boeri, aims to forgo branded booths for products displayed on walls and more simple pedestals with QR codes for easily inquiry and purchase. The physical footprint of the fair may have been smaller, but that didn’t dampen the excitement of global design enthusiasts who flocked to Rho Fieramilano in droves to see the latest and great furniture, lighting, and accessories from their favorite brands. We selected 15 highlights from the fair.
Here’s What Wowed at Supersalone
Our editor rounds up 15 standout products from this year’s fair, which headlined Milan Design Week with a pared-down edition that still offered something for everyone.
BY RYAN WADDOUPS September 09, 2021
Soda by Yiannis Ghikas for Miniforms
Available as both a coffee and side table, the shimmering Soda is shaped by three master glass makers into a single volume with three large petals forming the stem. It offers an exuberant interplay of light and shadow while incorporating glassblowing know-how only possessed by a handful of highly skilled Murano artisans.
Round D.154.5 by Gio Ponti for Molteni&C
More than six decades after Gio Ponti first debuted the Round (D.154.5) Chair, the rare and highly sought-after piece is receiving a new lease on life thanks to Molteni&C’s Heritage Collection reissue project. Often referred to as “Otto Pezzi” due to its eight-piece build, the chair features a wooden structure of multi-layered ash that supports rounded seats and backrests upholstered in any textiles and leathers from the Italian brand’s extensive collection.
Slicing by Bjarke Ingels for Artemide
With nods to Artemide’s classic Gople silhouette, Bjarke Ingels Group’s new Slicing family allows overlapping slats to interact with light and emit a gentle glow that can elevate both indoor and outdoor environments.
Victoria by David & Nicolas for Tacchini
Neotenic furniture is alive and well at Tacchini, where the design duo David & Nicolas devised the sumptuously shaped Victoria using polyurethane foam and a tubular polished chrome frame. Its modular build allows for near-limitless configurations, making equally well-suited as a statement sofa or part of a larger setup within busy commercial settings. A mirrored-top coffee table lends an extra sheen.
Corolla by Cristina Celestino for Billiani
The Billiani creative director dreams up a lounge chair whose rounded volumes are marked by wavy lines that reference fashion’s playfulness and experimentalism. Contrasting colors and textures used on the frame and cushioning lend even further dynamism.
NVL Table by Jean Nouvel for MDF Italia
The most memorable attributes of Jean Nouvel’s architecture—pure geometric shapes, formal lightness, graphic lines, and an irrefutable sense of rigor—seamlessly translate to this monochromatic dining table that also bears his name. The lacquered piece’s build recalls a trilith, a structure consisting of two vertical elements supporting a razor-thin top that nests horizontally across.
Big Talk by Adam Goodrum for Blå Station
Adam Goodrum’s vibrant color-blocked lounge chair first debuted as a highlight of Kvadrat’s Knit Project during 3 Days of Design 2020 but returns as one of Swedish furniture brand Blå Station’s marquee offerings. Though the moulded foam chair can hold its own in practically any space, it truly shines when paired facing different directions with a twin because their two color-blocked backrests resemble a serpent.
Formula Contract—Hand Tufted Rug by Nanimarquina
Nanimarquina has produced some of the world’s most innovative rugs throughout its three-decade history. Known for adorning rugs with personality-packed visuals by the likes of Jaime Hayon and Milton Glaser, the Spanish brand is now debuting a contract business division. Designers can now specify one-of-a-kind rugs such as the abstract Hand-Tufted variety, adapt the brand’s existing catalog with custom colors, and source from a new contract collection with more than 250 sustainable combinations.
Barret by Draga & Aurel for Baxter
We wouldn’t mind sinking into Draga & Aurel’s cozy Barret lounge chair, whose sumptuous leather upholstery takes cues from 1970s-era design masterworks yet feels squarely fit for the modern era thanks to a matte black-varnished metal revolving base.
Venus Power by Patricia Urquiola for CC-Tapis
We’ve previously noted how CC-Tapis’s rugs are anything but square, and the latest addition to the Italian stalwart brand’s roster proves that notion tenfold. Venus Power sees Patricia Urquiola encouraging everyone to embrace, listen to, and accept their inner femininity with joyful, cloud-like shapes that make us dream of a world where coexistence came more naturally.
DS-707 by Philippe Malouin for De Sede
Philippe Malouin recalls first seeing De Sede’s eminently recognizable 600 series sofa in a music video in the 1990s. Its serpentine build has stuck with him since and heavily informed his approach to the DS-707, defined by the use of handmade leather and soft, flowing transitions that reference Swiss postmodern furniture. Though it started as an armchair, the Brutalist-inspired DS-707 also shines as a modular sofa that can be customized to your heart’s content.
Filo by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Mattiazzi
The Bouroullec brothers’ fourth chair for Mattiazzi achieves a “graphic quality” with a thick beechwood frame and rope-wrapped seat and backrest. It might be more square than the Bouroullecs’ usual work, but Ronan uses it every day in front of his desk and suggests pairing it with a rectangular table to create an intriguing geometry.
Archibald Gran Comfort by Jean-Marie Massaud for Poltrona Frau
A welcome refresh to Massaud’s award-winning 2009 staple, the Archibald Gran Comfort imagines a sinuous seat whose cushions rise and fall with rich movements and folds on a thin metal architecture. This time around, Archibald becomes even softer thanks to a quilted goose-down baffle.
Secret Cubic Shelves by Olafur Eliasson for Moroso
Olafur Eliasson flirts with geometry even further with these zigzagging shelves, a stackable module originally developed by his longtime collaborator Einar Thorstein. The late mathematician, who had been conducting longstanding research into fivefold symmetry, arrived on a recycled iron unit built around a rhomboid negative space that reveals the power of absence.
Costume by Stefan Diez for Magis
What makes Costume so noteworthy isn’t immediately noticeable. While the sinuously shaped sofa lends visual softness and sustainability through recycled polyethylene, Diez envisioned a piece of furniture in which the individual components aren’t permanently attached to one another so it can be easily dismantled for cleaning or to swap out the upholstery.
