In 1998, to liaise the networking between firms and young designers, curator Marva Griffin set up a spin-off of the Salone del Mobile, the Salone Satellite, catered for under-35s only. The name was created by Massimo and Lella Vignelli, who back then were working on the Salone’s coordinate image and graphics. Year after year, the Salone Satellite discovered and launched some of the brightest talents of the new generation of designers, including – among others – Sebastian Wrong, Matali Crasset, Oki Sato/Nendo, Cristina Celestino, Patrick Jouin and Lorenzo Damiani. 

Every year, the Salone Satellite designates a theme (African and Latin American design being one of them, or the relationship between food and design. This year it will involve the students of design schools and universities to answer the question “Design, where are you going?”). Overall, the young designers who partook in the Salone Satellite have been more than 12,000 hailing from 48 and counting countries. Since 2018 their works have been collected in the permanent collection of the Salone Satellite, housed in Lentate sul Seveso, inside Legno Arredo’s new formative centre Polo Formativo.

Opening image: Salone Satellite 2023. Courtesy Salone del Mobile.Milano