Need to Know
23 : 04 : 18

Considering the current socio-economic and political climate, it was surprising to see a lack of provocative work that confronted these issues head-on. However, several technology brands did focus the global pollution problem and proposed solutions to improve air quality for consumers.

Panasonic presented ‘Air Inventions’; an immersive installation that showcased the brands latest air-conditioning technology, allowing visitors to experience the cleanest, purest air in Milan. Set inside a large air dome 20 metres in diameter, the air in the space was purified using a proprietary technology called Nanoe X, which is indiscernible to visitors. Nanoe X collects moisture from the surrounding atmosphere and applies a high voltage to create nano-sized particles of water. The technology has the ability to penetrate fabrics to remove odours and inhibit allergens and mould. Panasonic used projection mapped animations of particles transitioning through various states and a co-ordinating soundscape to add tactility to the experience.

Three-dimensional software design company Dassault Systemés also sought to find design-led solutions to pollution. The company partnered with four leading designers Kengo Kuma, Daan Roosegaarde, Wesley Goatley and Superflux, challenging them to use existing pollution neutralising materials to create localised clean air solutions.

Central to the exhibition was Kuma’s expansive spiralling installation Breath/ng, a material which can absorb the equivalent of amount of pollution produced by 90,000 cars, and Goately's reactive installation, which confronted the political biases when reporting pollution data.

Rather than just using Milan purely as a venue, several designers were sympathetic to Milanese culture and infrastructure, using the city’s streets and residents as a means to question the role of design in future urban centres.

Not for Sale by Design Academy Eindhoven was a series of installations embedded into the daily life of a Milanese residential street, Via Pietro Crespi. Designed to explore the micro-societies that exist around the quotidian transaction of goods, a newsagent, barber shop, and food market all located on the street hosted speculative projects from the Academy. Each store owner was a part of the installation, engaging passers-by in conversation and encouraging them to view the work.

MINI Living's Built by All project demonstrated how unused spaces, such as abandoned shopping centres and warehouses in cities like Milan, have the potential to become new co-living communities. Working with Studiomama, Built By All proposed that residents should lie at the heart of the design process and co-create the space alongside professional architects. Within the disused factory space were four modular designs that were all informed by the residents' lifestyles such as a soundproof capsule home for a music producer.

MINI Living continues to push the boundaries of urban housing and has been using events like the Salone as a testbed of ideas to inform their work. Their first real-life co-living concept is already in development in Shanghai.

As noted at last year’s show, there has been an increasing shift towards exhibitors using performance as a means to engage visitors in larger, topical discussions beyond just product.

Israeli designer Erez Nevi Pana questioned whether it is possible to design a furniture free from any animal byproducts. Having discovered that typical building materials such as paint, resins, glues and cements contain animal-derived materials, he set out on a journey around the world to create five objects that are aligned with his vegan ethics. For one piece, he travelled to the Dead Sea to construct a stool made from crystallized salt accumulated over eight months at the bottom of the ocean. The pieces were displayed on mountains of the original source material – from salt to trash to textiles. Although the final products were beautiful, it is the extreme lengths Pana was required to go to, to produce an animal-free product, that provoked a dialogue around the issue.

Dutch architectural firm Space Encounters took a more inclusive approach and created a performance space where visitors were encouraged to be part of the exhibition. Creating a working performance space called Bar Anne, Space Encounters hosted a series of talks, discussions, music presentations and dancing, with their designs actually in use within the space throughout the week. ‘You can try them, test them, sit on them, jump on them and even sleep on them. Be our guest,’ the firm stated.

As each year passes, the Salone becomes more dominated by big brands, who are using the show as a platform to showcase their design awareness. This year, that translated into a notable increase of smaller designers using the fair's exposure to generate new retail opportunities.

Several designers incorporated merchandise into their offering or even built their concept around the retail model, which is traditionally absent from the show. The Swiss design university ECAL's store Digital Market was a 3D-printing production farm, that produced objects designed by Master Product Design students and sold directly on site.

Similarly, Design Academy Eindhoven sold merchandise in the local food market as part of their Not For Sale exhibition and interestingly, at the end of Nendo’s extensive solo exhibition, there was an interactive store where visitors could purchase a surprise gift from three, oversized gumball machine’s to take away an element of the exhibition. It was a way to make design more accessible, in a fair where the products themselves often run in the thousands of euros.