The 10 most successful projects of Fuorisalone 2020

The 2020 is now approaching its end. It is the conclusion of a year that, starting from its own critical issues, has provided an opportunity to highlight the strengths and flaws of a form of communication as unconventional as the digital one. 

Studiolabo has taken the field with Fuorisalone.it, developing a 5-month design communication format. We started in June with the launch of Fuorisalone Digital and its tools (Fuorisalone TV, Fuorisalone Meets, Fuorisalone China and Fuorisalone Japan) to arrive in October proposing Fuorisalone Design City, a hybrid version, between physical and digital, of the usual Milanese event. 

Most of the companies and players in Italian and international design were also able to embrace this opportunity by engaging in original proposals, showing themselves to be active when the whole world was forced to stand still. 

In this scenario we have seen very satisfying results, in some ways unexpected. Like the type of users who visited our platform in 2020, which turned out to be very different from the traditional ones. If in past years the average Fuorisalone.it audience was mainly linked to the physical event on the territory (the Fuorisalone), during 2020 a more sectorial type of user came forward: insiders, professionals really interested more in the content than in the event. A more profiled public, attracted not by the temporary phenomenon, but by the product itself.

As Fuorisalone.it, we thought of illustrating a selection of 10 events that, in this hybrid form between the digital and the (little) physical, have been an opportunity to show and open up to a new way of communicating with the public.

CC-TAPIS
cc-tapis presents in its showroom the new Feathers collection designed by Maarten De Ceulaer and the Gesture collective project, which explores gesture as the root of artistic expression in five different collections designed by Patricia Urquiola, Mae Engelgeer, Philippe Malouin, Sabine Marcelis and Yuri Himuro.



SIGNATURE KITCHEN SUITE
Signature Kitchen Suite, the new brand of high-end built-in appliances part of the LG Electronics group, chooses the digital medium to announce the opening of its first showroom in Europe, in Piazza Cavour in Milan, which will be a new reference point in the city for lovers of food, design and innovation. 



LAGO

Lago presents the LAGO Home Office collection: a project born during the pandemic, from the curiosity to respond to the new needs of contemporary living and from listening to the company's community of architects, interior designers, dealers and customers. The collection proposes transversal solutions, designed to guarantee customization, spatial flexibility but at the same time privacy and living comfort.



NO SIGNAL ZONE – POSSO REGALARTI LA DISCONNESSIONE?
The talented designer Sara Ricciardi presents NO SIGNAL ZONE, a cloud of purple balloons located in one of the beautiful Milanese courtyards in the 5Vie district, on the occasion of Fuorisalone Design City. An evocative and intentionally very Instagrammable installation, an invitation to disconnect temporarily to connect to the world, to life, to the "here and now".



BISAZZA
Four original new mosaic patterns (Ortensia, Bocca, Serratura, Soli a Capri) are born from the encounter between the historical brands Bisazza and Fornasetti. The "Fornasetti" trait and his iconic figures are rendered through decorations that enhance the brilliance and transparency of the glass pieces and through the refined combination of sixty colour shades. The collection is presented not only virtually, but also in the recent flagship store in via Solferino in the heart of the Brera Design District. 



B&B
B&B Italia presents the new collection that starts from the home as an evolving landscape, capable of welcoming design objects with a strong architectural presence. Powerful, bold products, able to combine city and home, large scale and domestic dimension, by Mario Bellini (with the re-edition of Camaleonda, for which a virtual presentation has also been made, which can be viewed here, Blitz and Cutter), Piero Lissoni (with Liagò) and Yabu Pushelberg (with the Naviglio seating system).



SALVATORI
Salvatori, the well-known Tuscan company, presents its new collections of home accessories and complements in the setting of its iconic showroom in Brera. After a first digital launch in April, Salvatori introduces also physically, on the occasion of Fuorisalone Design City, the new creations realized in collaboration with Piero Lissoni, Yabu Pushelberg, Elisa Ossino and Federico Babina.



CEDIT
The technological research of the Florim Group is combined with the creative spirit of Elena Salmistraro who gives life to "Chimera", the new collection of the CEDIT - Ceramiche d'Italia brand. Four families of large slabs (Empathy, Roots, Rhythm and Colour) characterised by a marked visual extroversion typical of the designer, with subjects that mix different codes of stroke and colour with cuttings derived from the surface appearance of stones, fabrics and leathers. The video is still visible on Fuorisalone TV.



VISIONNAIRE
Visionnaire presents Beauty, the 2020 collection that illustrates the company's aptitude for creating products of extraordinary uniqueness and beauty. This year Visionnaire expands its Art Design proposal, setting itself the challenge of contextualising it in a retail perspective and involving exceptionally talented designers (Draga&Aurel, Alessandro La Spada, Mauro Lipparini, Marco Piva and Marc Ange). The brand takes full advantage of the potential of Fuorisalone Digital, presenting a series of 3 live talks that embrace the fundamental themes of the company's creative journey. The videos can be viewed at this link.



NILUFAR
Once again this year Nilufar Gallery amazes us by presenting the works of contemporary designers with a precise design aesthetic, strongly characterised and iconic. Studio Nucleo, Bethan Laura Wood, Martino Gamper, Massimiliano Locatelli and Federica Perazzoli demonstrate how, through their works, their constantly evolving poetics and philosophy find perfect agreement with the pioneering vision of the Milanese gallery.

With today, we enter 2021 and with it we hope for a return to a physical everyday life, with a new edition of Salone del Mobile postponed to after the summer and with a double edition of Fuorisalone, digital in April and phygital in September. It is impossible not to take into account what 2020 has been, and the importance and role that digital has played in communicating and promoting design around the world. Indeed, digital has shown its peculiarity of being able to create a historical memory, accessible over time thanks to increasingly dedicated tools. 

Digital, therefore, can only maintain an active role in support of the more traditional form of displaying design, the one we are most used to, the physical form, which has been thrilling and training visitors to Salone del Mobile and Fuorisalone for years.