SaloneSatellite 2018: design to come

The theme for SaloneSatellite 2018 is “design to come”, reflecting the event’s prime objective which is to discover, follow, valorise and offer concrete possibilities to young designers under 35. This year marks the 21st edition of the world’s leading event for talented young designers – an edition for reflecting on the future of design, right from its origins, and for exploring the delicate balance between craftsmanship and the new technologies.

On the eve of the upcoming edition, being held concurrently with the Salone del Mobile.Milano, from 17th to 22nd April, the event is reaffirming its vocation and its mission to spark conversation and reflections on and study into the future of design.

650 young designers will be ranged over 2,800 square metres in Pavilions 13-15 at Fiera Milano in Rho. With the theme assigned to this year’s young designers, Africa / Latin America: Rising Design – Design Emergente, SaloneSatellite is putting the spotlight firmly on the Southern Hemisphere. Africa and Latin America are two huge melting pots of creativity and design.

The theme has inspired a journey that will change our perception and understanding of design, to which an exhibition on the wealth of design in both continents is testament. The Latin American part will be curated by brothers Humberto and Fernando Campana, designers who have been active for some time in the social rehabilitation of marginalised people, and the African part by the Franco-Moroccan designer Hicham Lahlou, founder of the Africa Design Award & Days, committed to promoting up-and-coming generations of African creatives.

The aim is to showcase design of vernacular derivation together with what is on offer today, or could soon be available, for dealing with social and environmental emergencies and fostering an informed way of life for the future. For their part, the young SaloneSatellite protagonists from all over the world, will be asked to showcase works that explore the relationship between heritage and the contemporary scene, with projects poised between the new technologies and craftsmanship. An exploration of experimentation, memory, slow design, nature and the force of matter, anthropomorphism, creative recycling, cross-contamination and digital effects, with the power to amaze and trigger reflection.

A major new departure for this edition is SaloneSatellite’s participation in the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, instituted by the European Commission and implemented and run in Italy by the Ministry for Cultural Heritage (Mibact). The scheme is designed to support and encourage the efforts of those working in European cultural heritage, with a view to raising awareness of the value of cultural heritage as an asset and a resource for the European economy. FederlegnoArredo and the Salone del Mobile.Milano have always subscribed to the European Commission’s approach. As SaloneSatellite clearly fulfils the Commission’s criteria for taking part in the initiative (job creation, local and regional development, tourism, social inclusion, community engagement, identity building), it was only natural to want to join in.

The selection process is, as always, extremely competitive, in order to uphold SaloneSatellite’s excellent reputation, as it “crowns” promising young designers destined for the market and the design star system. Last but not least, the SaloneSatellite Award – now into its 9th edition – marks a further step towards facilitating the interface between demand and supply, between business people and designers and between creativity and production. The Award is conferred by an international Jury of prominent figures in the design world, which selects the 3 best products on exhibit.

Article and images courtesy Salone del Mobile.Milano. For more information visit salonemilano.it/en/