The SaloneSatellite, a premier springboard for young design talent, turns 18 this year. Vying for the design world’s attention, a new cohort of young designers will present their wares in what is surely both a thrilling and daunting career experience.
The Milan Design Week is quite simply a colossal celebration of design creativity, crafting, making and manufacturing. The official fair—Salone Internazionale del Mobile—is housed in the expansive Fiera Milano on Milan’s fringe, with a raft of additional events, happenings and gatherings taking place in the city center.
Copper droplet over milky table and stool range by Chris Connell. Photo by Ronaldo Cortes.
Arguably a highlight of the Salone del Mobile, the SaloneSatellite is billed as “the world’s premier springboard for young design talent.” Now a mature event, SaloneSatellite has worked diligently to ensure that its status as a major gathering of up-and-coming professionals (typically under 35) is firmly established. Since 1998, more than 10,000 young designers have passed through its doors, many going on to international acclaim. Embodying the theme “Life Planet”, the 18th edition of the SaloneSatellite will feature around 700 participants from around the globe selected by a committee of recognized international design authorities.
Salone Satellite Awards
In addition, the SaloneSatellite Award, now in its sixth year, will foster contact between younger designers and those exhibitors at the Salone del Mobile. A jury of renowned figures in the disciplines of design, publishing and manufacturing will choose three of the best projects in the categories of lighting and office at the SaloneSatellite. This reflects the biennial Euroluce lighting event and Workspace exhibition event, both running during the Salone del Mobile.
With such a sizeable and comprehensive body of young design talent presenting their wares at the SaloneSatellite, it’s impossible every individual designer and studio. However, the following will provide a taste of what can be expected:
Belgian-born French designer Arturo Erbsman of Arturo Erbsman Studio describes his design as reflecting “different points of intersection between manufactured objects and the four elements of nature.” Erbsman’s handmade lights show the essence of the differing manifestations of water, such as condensation, stalactites, ice and snow. His latest creation, Zenith, brings the sun into the home by projecting its luminous rays onto the ceiling.
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- Courtesy of Marie Henriette
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- Rad Miroir. Courtesy of Duke Console.
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- Courtesy of Pierre Emmanuel and Delphine Mathy.
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- Stacked modular bookshelf. Courtesy of Kaju Eda.
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- Twirl Spinning Top. Courtesy of Ficheroulle.
‘Arturo Belgium is Design’ expresses a passion for the many unique features of Belgium’s creative design output. This project constitutes a joint declaration of the country’s Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia regions, each home to a varied selection of skillful designers. The six promising young designers and studios representing the venture are: Ateliers J & J, .RAD Product, Frédérique Ficheroulle, Pierre-Emmanuel Vandeputte, Kaju Design and TwoDesigners.
Copper Industrial Design is a Melbourne-based product development consultancy and studio founded by industrial designers Edward Linacre and Viktor Legin. Its philosophy works to ensure that design embodies nature alongside biological imperatives and states, such as human emotion. Copper’s designs include a range of lighting and furniture pieces.
Antilope table. Courtesy of Frier Frier.
Danish company Frier & Frier was established by Aarhus-based siblings and architects Line and Marie Frier. The company makes quality furnishings that continue the time-honored Danish traditions of craftsmanship, a love of materials and form. Their introductory furniture series, titled “Antilope”, presents a range of tables with a particularly feminine and asymmetric expression.
Sozen is a design studio in Hangzhou, the capital of the Zhejiang province in eastern China. Founded by Zhang Jun Jie, a teacher at the China Academy Of Art, Sozen is considered a practice of life, an innate yearning that coexists with breathing. Combining traditional craft with contemporary process, its designs are honest, simple, tangible and affirmative. It seeks to convey the essence of Chinese culture integrated with modern living.
Ukrainian-born Alexander Zhukovsky has a background in applied arts, artistic woodcarving and industrial design. He founded his design studio in 2008 and is now based in Saint Petersburg. Zhukovsky’s portfolio is broad-ranging, encompassing such areas as lighting, furniture design, sanitary wares and transport design.
Kristian Knobloch is a Munich and London-based industrial designer with marked roots in Nordic culture. During his undergraduate degree, Kristian spent one year at Copenhagen’s Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and is now completing his postgraduate studies in Design Products at the Royal College of Art in London.
The 18th SaloneSatellite runs from 14 to 19 April 2015 in Pavilions 22-24 at the Fiera Milano, Rho.
