DESIGN ITALY EDITORIAL by Cristina Morozzi - Travel in Italy 7 - MILAN

The seventh stage of our trip to Italy takes us to Milan, the world capital of design and the city of Salone del Mobile. Read the editorial by Cristina Morozzi.

"Milan close to Europe, Milan close at hand, Milan sugar and tar ... Milan that you take with you to earth, and the moon, Milan that laughs and has fun", sang Lucio Dalla in 1979.

Milan has become the capital of design thanks to a peculiar socio-geographical condition. First, it has a precious industrial basin, the hilly area of Brianza, full of workshops/factories and carpenters who created cabinet-making masterpieces for the first transatlantic liners.

Half an hour by car from Milan, Brianza is inhabited by an exceptional concentration of virtuous artisans, with a marked predisposition for creativity and open to any experimentation. In Milan, the generation of architects who wanted to renew the way of living found in the artisans of Brianza the ideal accomplices to give substance to their visions.

From the union between architects with a vocation for design and carpenters from Brianza, with flair and desire to do, the furniture companies that the world envies us were born. This network of family-run businesses, powered by a network of ingenious prototypers, forms the backbone of the Italian design system.

Milan as the capital of design was made by Vico Magistretti, Achille Castiglioni, Marco Zanuso, Ettore Sottsass, but also Cesare Cassina, Aurelio Zanotta, Pierino Busnelli (B&B), Giulio Castelli (Kartell) and many others.

Entrepreneurs capable of transforming a sketch into a product and carrying out projects. This companies’ network, which has managed to preserve their desire to take risks, attracts designers worldwide to Milan. In Milan, designers don't need to be artisans; some do it very well for them. Thus, designers can focus on the creative and theoretical side.

The Milanese department store La Rinascente, named after Gabriele D'Annunzio, was one of the first to sell design furniture and was also the promoter in 1954 of the Compasso d'Oro, the award for quality design, born from a Gio Ponti idea.

The Salone del Mobile was born in Milan in 1961. The original nucleus, made up of Brianza companies with their daring experiments, attracted an ever-increasing number of participants from the rest of Italy and the world.

From the dialectical union between the designer and the Brianza-based company, iconic pieces were born (and continue to do so) that do not know the wear and tear of time.

We cannot speak of the true Milanese style because Milan welcomes design influences from all over the world. However, it is possible to trace a common thread made up of impeccable execution and the ability of companies to combine innovation with artisan tradition.

These companies have the vision to project themselves into the future.

Cristina Morozzi