Scenes from Milan Design Week
Crowds at Milan show

The Milan international furniture and design fair is the largest such exhibition in the world.

Two things to know about Milan Design Week: 

The Salone del Mobile, aka the Milan international furniture and interiors fair, was founded in 1961 and is still the world’s largest, with 2.5 million sq. ft., 2,000-plus exhibitors, and 550 young designers in the Salone Satellite area.

Fuorisalone, or “outside the fair,” a half-dozen districts and events around the city where showrooms, workshops, empty warehouses, public parks and even churches are occupied by brands, designers and design schools. Between both events it’s estimated that more than a million people converged on Milan this year. 

A third thing to know: you’re never going to see it all. It’s literally the biggest design event in the world. But what happens here filters not only into furniture design, but home products, architecture, interiors, product design and even fashion. 

We’re focusing here on a few highlights relevant to the furniture industry to inform and inspire. (For more photos, visit materialintelligence.com and check out our exhibitions and events coverage.)

Furniture buzz in a nutshell

  • Softer colors, with just enough gray to work with the rising preference for black hardware and accents
  • Open woodgrains in natural tones, soft finishes
  • “Maximalism” – overstuffed upholstered furniture and luxurious tones and touches
  • Bringing the outside in – biophilia 
  • Bringing home to work, and work to home – flexible spaces, more functionality, fewer distractions
  • Circularity, sustainability, climate-positive materials, and transparency
IKEA giant Allen key sculpture
IKEA’s iconic Allen key was central to the Swedish company’s Milan exhibit.

IKEA: ‘Assembling the Future Together’ 
Just what does a brand like IKEA think it’s doing in Milan for Design Week? Having fun, connecting with young designers with a mix of irreverence and sustainability leadership, as well as hiring renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz to attend the event to talk about her role as IKEA Artist in Residence for the company’s Life at Home Report. 
Once again foregoing the fair, IKEA occupied an entire warehouse in one of the city’s design districts. It celebrated 80 years with iconic designs from history (shown: the Lagfors occasional table from 2004) and a soaring sculpture of its most ubiquitous design: the Allen key. 

The company also did some serious landscaping to illustrate its intention to be a circular business by 2030. That means designing items from the very first stage of conception to be reused, refurbished, remanufactured, and eventually recycled, as well as replacing raw materials made from fossil fuels with sustainable materials. 

In addition to recycling 75.7% of its operational waste in 2022, the company’s spare-parts service enabled 1.8 million customers to repair and extend the life of their IKEA products. Even its best-selling BILLY bookcase was redesigned to improve its circular impacts by shifting from veneer to paper foil and reducing plastic. Most materials used to produce the new bookcases now come from renewable sources. 

The assembly process, too, was updated to include a wedged dowel, an ingenious joint developed by IKEA engineers. Minimizing the need for extra assembly tools, these small, wedge-shaped pegs literally let people click their furniture together, like a puzzle. Not only does this make the experience of building products quicker and easier, but it enables them to be taken apart and reassembled many times without losing structural integrity.  

Sancal’s ‘Bold’ occasional table
Designed by Studiopepe, Sancal’s Bold occasional table celebrates the geometry and audacious shapes of Milan’s Studio Memphis, which inspired the design world in the 1980s. It’s available in lacquered MDF, ash veneer, or in the case with the Designer’s Edition featuring a “unique vintage veneer.”

Ozzio convertable table
Designed to be converted from a six-seater to a 10-seater by one person from one side of the table, the Arizona Extendable Table from Ozzio was a hit at the show.


Ozzio Italia’s expanding table
Designed to be converted from a six-seater to a 10-seater by one person from one side of the table, the Arizona Extendable Table (shown above) carries a wood treatment found widely at this year’s fair: as natural as possible, informal but still elegant, with just enough grey to work and play well with the rise of black hardware, surfaces, and elements. A designer from Miami commented that seeing woodgrains at right angles added energy and made the piece less stuffy. 

Fantoni exhibit
Fantoni's exhibit was focused on the hybrid workplace with furniture made from the company's own TFL.


Fantoni’s Angle on Workplace 3.0: ‘Panorama’
Italy’s Fantoni envisions a hybrid workplace with plenty of third spaces for learning and focus, social and collaboration. They’re puzzled together using 57 unique components, all made from the company’s own TFL with 100% recycled wood cores. 

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Kenn Busch

Material Intelligence organizes educational material exhibits like the Materials Pavilion at NeoCon, creates and presents certified educational content on materials and sustainability for architects and interior designers, and collaborates with design educators and students to nurture new thinking about materials and materiality. Founder Kenn Busch also covers the major materials and design fairs in Europe for the A&D and manufacturing communities, and presents at industry conferences like the Closets Conference and Expo and the Executive Briefing Conference. www.MaterialIntelligence.com  www.ClimatePositiveNow.org