Milano FuoriSalone 2021: Interni November is out with a rich report from Design Week

A success that went beyond all expectations. After a year and a half of pause for the pandemic, the FuoriSalone 2021 represented a major breakthrough for the world of furnishings. Many experts on economics and sociology have chimed in regarding what happened in Milan in September, and they all agree that the world’s favorite Design Week was a symbol of a rebound: in the design industry, in the city, but also in the wider system of our country as a whole. The narrative presented herein of this incredible FuoriSalone, an event for which we traditionally set aside one entire issue, reflects the viewpoint of Interni. Which is a perspective on products, projects, concrete facts. Let’s start with the numbers: over 180,000 people visited the three locations of the exhibition Interni Creative Connections: at the Università degli Studi, where the show remained open to the public from 4 to 19 September, well beyond the span of the Salone (4-10 September), as usual; at the Orto Botanico di Brera, from 4 to 12 September; and at the Audi City Lab (for the first time at Via della Spiga 26) from dal 5 to 27 September.

Milano FuoriSalone 2021

A record influx that confirms the absolutely central importance of our event for the FuoriSalone, which reached its 30th anniversary this year, since it began in 1990 precisely by initiative of Interni. In spite of the critical impact of this historical moment, the presentations organized around the city were many (nearly 200 indicated in our Guide), but above all they were full of high quality and interesting contents. Those seeking design in the lively myriad of happenings in Milan found much more than mere décor proposals. They found the results of research and reflection on our habitat in general, and they were able to discover places, contributions and projects that involved the city and the entire community, in an extraordinarily wide range of sectors. Never before has the FuoriSalone so clearly revealed the model of a multi-polar Milan where design becomes the driver of different and distant initiatives. Never before has the FuoriSalone so clearly demonstrated that it is a necessary reality for the Salone del Mobile, without which Milan could never have become the unrivaled international Design Capital.

Above, the cover (illustrated by Lucio Schiavon) of the November 2021 issue. At the opening, an internal view of the tower designed by AMDL CIRCLE and Michele De Lucchi for Whirlpool, set up in the Cortile d'Onore of the State University of Milan as part of the Creative Connections exhibition, organized from Interni for FuoriSalone 2021. Photo Andrea Martiradonna.

Motion graphic: Daniele Basilico.