“The cultural programme, beyond furniture.”

With this slogan, the Salone del Mobile.Milano described its ever-growing cultural offerings, consisting of opportunities for exploration, immersion and exchange, that aspire to be more than just a contour—a system that can influence the exhibitions themselves at the fair. Central to this strategy is a series of talks and panel discussions held annually at the furniture fair, with the 2024 edition entitled Drafting Futures: Conversations about Next Perspectives. The series of talks was held in an arena designed by Formafantasma, with a programme curated by Annalisa Rosso. “We realised that the Talks are truly crucial events, not just because they host people who make the history of design, but also because they offer a platform for discussion,” commented Rosso.

A fascinating dialogue took place between the president of Salone del Mobile, Maria Porro, and renowned curator and master of interviews, Hans Ulrich Obrist. American architect Jeanne Gang confronted Johanna Agerman Ross on the work of female architects, and attention to users in projects of different scales: from architectural to environmental. The afternoon Roundtables addressed different topics, from the increasingly close relationship between design and yachting, to the role of artificial intelligence in design and the major transformations in the world of hospitality design. The conversation between John Pawson and Deyan Sudjic, critic, curator and long-time friend of the British architect, revolved around the former’s recent book, titled John Pawson: Making Life Simpler, a visual biography published in 2023 by Phaidon and edited by Sudjic. The former director of London's Design Museum began the conversation by talking about their personal relationship and how frequent conversations shaped the publication. “With John, we talk regularly over lunch and sometimes on the phone. We talk constantly. For me, it was interesting to delve into some of his thought processes or design motivations, to go back over certain aspects and discover things I had never thought about,” Sudjic reminisced. He then gave his views on Pawson’s career: “John’s work is often misunderstood. Many believe that for him, minimalism is just taking everything out of space, but they are wrong. His work looks very much at the life of spaces and the habits of people. He does not impose his vision but listens carefully. This aspect of his work is fundamental to me, and I have tried to tell it in the book.”

Following this, Pawson himself commented on his relationship with the appellation of minimalist that is often given to him. “The motto is, ‘Never complain, never explain’. You can't stop people from calling you what they want, so it's better to live with. When I first started, I was studying at the Architectural Association, there was no sympathy for what I was doing. But it never really bothered me particularly. Instead, in the 1980s minimalism became a fashion, and journalists tried to categorise everyone as minimalist. Now, this must be an attractive word because people still use it. For me, the word ‘minimum’ is slightly more accurate, because minimum is something that an object achieves. You can’t improve it by subtraction. To make something simple takes longer, and everything must be right.”

The dialogue between Burkinabe architect Diébédo Francis Kéré and journalist Giulia Ricci was undoubtedly among the most enlightening, displaying a broad horizon of actions for architecture. Kéré intertwined his professional practice with his personal needs and events in his part of the conversation. "When I was still a student, I was convinced I wanted to build a public school in my village. In Germany, they told me that it was not my job to think about this kind of service, but the government’s, the institutions.' I struggled to find funding, and at the same time, I realised that the economic aspect of the project was as important as the formal one. So, in 1998 I started a foundation, called Schulbausteine für Gando, which has now changed its name and is simply The Kéré Foundation.

In addition to fundraising, an important work done by the foundation is in the realm of education. Kéré further expanded on the foundation’s workshops in which local building techniques were taught, enabling people to be able to construct high-quality buildings independently, on an ever-increasing scale and with increasingly complex designs. "People in African villages usually do not have this kind of know-how. So, I had to learn these techniques to be able to teach them. The workshop has now grown and thanks to this activity, we give work to 400 people, which means feeding 400 families.”

Ricci continued the conversation along with some more technical aspects of his work: “Lately, there has been an important transition: from the use of compressed earth bricks to directly casting the clay in formworks, like concrete. This technique has been adopted in projects such as the Naaba Belem Goumma Secondary School and then the Burkina Institute of Technology. I think it is perhaps a very specialised aspect but, in my opinion, truly relevant.” Kéré’s response to Ricci’s observation took a more technically sound tone. He stated: “The first projects in Gando were made of compacted earth bricks. You mix clay with some cement (about 10 per cent) to make the bricks more stable. We have done a lot with this construction method. But I am also interested in continually making small innovations, so we tried a new technique, mixing clay with water, gravel, sand and cement. The result is a mixture that can be poured like concrete. This allows us to build much faster today and respond to the precarious economic conditions of many projects.”

Between personal experiences, design ideas and disciplinary intersections, the Drafting Futures series of conversations offered the public many important moments of reflection, above all demonstrating Salone’s desire to continue to be not only a commercial but also a cultural point of reference for the global design community.

Stay tuned to STIR's coverage of Milan Design Week 2024which showcases the best of exhibitions, studios, designers, installations, brands and events to look out for. Explore EuroCucina and all the design districts—Fuorisalone, 5vie Design Week, Isola Design Week, Brera Design District and Porta Venezia Design District.