Salone del Mobile moves to September 2021, marking 60 years of the design fair

The biggest global design fair, Salone del Mobile.Milano, which convenes every year in April, is set to host its subsequent edition from September 5-10, 2021, after the 2020 edition was cancelled in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hosted at the heart of Milan Design Week, the fair showcases cutting-edge developments in the field of furniture design, lighting, and kitchenware.

Fair President Claudio Luti, who in an earlier conversation with STIR had shared what coming together will mean after a year of social distancing, and the role of design in the post pandemic landscape, announced the revised schedule on November 26, 2020.

“Being able to hold the Salone next year is an absolute priority for all those of us whose lives revolve around design,” he said in a press announcement.

“Moving the fair to September will leave enough time for the ongoing acute phase of the pandemic to subside and that this will provide a real chance to kickstart design at global level. We all need the Salone in Milan.”

The 2021 edition will mark the 60th anniversary of the fair, which was launched in Milan in 1961 as a vehicle for promoting Italian exports of furnishing and accessories. Over the years, the fair size expanded to accommodate over 13,000 companies to showcase incredible innovation in furniture design across the world.

“Next year will be a milestone edition… After such a long absence, we want to create a single and unique presentation of the design system: a choral exhibition. Kitchen, bathroom, lighting, office will be exhibited all together for the first time in the Salone del Mobile.Milano history,” Luti told STIR in the interview.

Even as this year’s fair bowed out to make way for the next, it continues to hold the design community together with a promise to bring a much refined, relevant, and groundbreaking comeback.

Keeping the spirit alive and staying in solidarity with the Milan Design Week amid COVID-19 pandemic, STIR in collaboration with FLOS hosted a special series titled, Moments of Affection: Milanese Alliances (M.A.M.A), where design leaders such as Richard Hutten, Fabio Novembre, Ross Lovegrove, Marcel Wanders, Kelly Hoppen and more reflected on their memories from Milano. Click here to read more.