Every year, Milan Design Week plays host to the largest furniture trade show in the world. The Salone del Mobile, which takes place this year from 16–21 April, is held annually in the Rho Fiera Milano spaces in the Italian city. Established in 1961, the furniture convention is where major brands and furniture manufacturers present the best of their work, as well as a meeting ground for cross-pollination and an organic opportunity to share ideas.
The annual design showcase has only grown more global in recent years, becoming more inclusive in its range of brands and technological innovations, a development that’s evident in the 2024 edition of the convention. While the fair presents prototypes and creations ranging that includes full-sized domestic spaces such as living and dining areas, we’ve had our eyes on the homeware and furniture pieces from some of our favourite luxury labels.
MCM
For the first time in the trade show’s history, German fashion house MCM has presented its Wearable Casa Collection. From the minds at Atelier Biagetti, the Milan-based interior design firm, the collection from MCM presents seven pieces that combine the form-follows-function characteristic of Bauhaus design with the playfulness and connection of nomadic spirit. The pieces, curated by Maria Cristina Didero, aim to deliver a sense of irony, allowing each object to transcend its original role and functionality.
Loewe
As part of Loewe’s continued efforts to collaborate with artists and their crafts, the Spanish luxury label has commissioned lamps, specially for Salone del Mobile 2024. Titled LOEWE Lamps, the brand has tapped 24 globally-renowned artists to create floor, ceiling and suspended lamps for the convention. Across various mediums, the artists created their own interpretations of the key lighting fixture and its role in living spaces. A standout design comes from Genta Ishizuka, the 2019 winner of the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize, who taps Japanese urushi lacquer, taking on an organic form reminiscent of an amorphous cell.
Ralph Lauren
Presented at Palazzo Ralph Lauren was the Modern Driver collection for Fall 2024. Inspired by Ralph Lauren’s own love for automotives—if you didn’t know, the fashion designer is a renowned car collector who owns some of the world’s most sought-after models—and speed, the sculptural furnishings from the Modern Driver collection are crafted with burl and mahogany wood and channelled leather, as an ode to each vehicle in Mr Lauren’s personal collection.
Hermès
Sparking a dialogue on origins and movement, the collection from Hermès for Milan Design Week invites users to consider their relationship with the world around them. Using natural materials, including brick, slate and wood, the luxury French house presents a lineup of centrepieces and buckets crafted purely from leather, and furniture, like sleek lounge chairs and lamps. Through subtle odes to its equestrian heritage, the home collection merges the house’s careful savoir-faire with its long-held history as a luxury maison.
Giorgio Armani
Titled Echoes Of The World, Giorgio Armani presents the founder’s personal journey through cities and towns from across the globe that have influenced and inspired him. Reopening the maison’s historic headquarters in Milan, the new Armani/Casa collection brings visitors on a journey through the cultures that weave fashion and design for the house of Giorgio Armani, including places in Europe, Japan, China, Morocco and Arabia. Plus, the feeling of home becomes real when you realise that the Echoes Of The World spaces contain items from Mr Armani’s personal home and collection.
Bottega Veneta
The humble stool comes alive in On The Rocks, an exhibition by Bottega Veneta, in partnership with Foundation Le Corbusier and Cassina. Inspired by the LC14 Tabouret Cabanon created by the Swiss-French designer whose work played a pivotal role in modernist architecture, On The Rocks speaks to the simple sophistication of the stool. For Bottega Veneta, the Tabouret is imagined in wooden editions (that first made their appearance in the brand’s Fall/Winter 2024 show), as well as signature leather iterations in four colours: red, yellow, blue and raintree green.
Versace
At Milan Design Week, what you may not expect to encounter is a bespoke audio experience. But Versace is delivering just that, with Versace Home: If These Walls Could Talk. A specially designed soundscape takes guests through the house’s legacy, through the various living spaces. Across Palazzo Versace in Milan, the maison’s iconic motifs and symbols, such as the Medusa, the Barocco and the Greca, make their own onto furnishings and textiles. From the collection, you can’t miss the Medusa ‘95 Conversation sofa that is unabashedly Versace—with its exaggerated and lavish scale.
ALTAVA x Arne Quinze
Beyond conventional expectations of the art and design world, Salone del Mobile is also home to groundbreaking, thought-provoking works. One such example is We Are The Alien by Arne Quinze, the Belgian multidisciplinary artist, in collaboration with ALTAVA. ALTAVA, born from the LVMH La Maison des Startups programme, is a 3D-design company that creates virtual experiences and products for major fashion houses including Prada and Fendi. The immersive, AI-driven We Are The Alien exhibition invites visitors to contemplate the intersecting roles that technology and art play, within the “crash site” space, while encountering unique AI-generated personalities.
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