Milan Design Week is a showcase of globally recognized excellence and innovation. Its foundation lies in a deep-rooted design culture—furniture design—which has historically shaped the city’s identity. Since 1961, this has been represented by the Salone del Mobile trade fair, and since 1990, thanks to Interni magazine, by the FuoriSalone, a citywide network of events that transforms Milan into the world’s design capital.
“The real question today,” comments Antonio Romano, “is how to strengthen the identity of the Salone del Mobile and define the evolving role of Design Week. Looking ahead, it cannot remain confined solely to furniture design (and its closest derivatives), especially as the term design is now one of the most widely adapted words in every vocabulary—even philosopher Luciano Floridi describes his field as conceptual design! What concerns me, ultimately, is success turning into self-celebration. That’s why Design Week must embrace the many dimensions of design, exploring their intersections and leveraging Milan’s long-standing ability to attract creativity.”
How Can Milan and Design Week Stay Attractive?
“We need to rethink FuoriSalone without weakening Salone del Mobile. It’s essential to promote a city-wide program of events that go beyond what happens at the fair and the furniture sector—preserving the quality of Milan’s genius loci while embracing international experiences. Milan must remain in the spotlight by enhancing its appeal across different creative and industrial fields.However, if the event becomes too focused on spectacle or turns into mere self-congratulation, its future is uncertain. The key shouldn’t be the obsession with the present moment or the relentless pursuit of the ‘new & more new’ driven by likes and instant metrics.”
What does Milan represent for Inarea?
“We opened our Milan offices in 1988: Enichem had become an important client, and we needed to ensure a near-daily presence. Shortly after, Snam and Union Carbide joined, and with the latter, we began a collaboration at a European level. Because Milan at that time was also this: a design capital where you could meet international players. Our first foreign clients were gained precisely because of our presence here.
In 1999, we won the competition to redesign the city crest and reorganize the identity system for the Municipality of Milan. This project allowed us to capture the essence of the city at a critical moment in its history, highlighting the distinctive Milanese combination of a deep attachment to tradition and a passion for innovation. The new design of the crest quickly replaced all previous versions, but the core of the project was the intention to turn the word ‘Milan’ itself into a brand. After all, many businesses (starting with Prada) had already associated their brands with their Milan identity, clearly proving that the city itself was (and still is) an added value. We designed a new typeface – aptly named Milano City – and separated the word from the phrase ‘Comune di Milano.’ The project was halted when the Albertini administration ended; though it still exists, it has since been modified.
During these years of profound urban transformation, we also completed significant branding projects for real estate developments that reshaped the city’s skyline: Milano Santa Giulia, followed a few years later by Milano Porta Nuova, and later Pirelli RE (now Prelios). Staying within the realm of Milan-based institutions, it’s worth noting our rebranding work for Borsa Italiana and Edison. Additionally, in the energy sector, we also created the name and brand for the new Lombard multiutility, A2A.” “In the same sector, but in more recent times, we worked on the rebrandings of Snam and Italgas, and continuing from memory, the brand identities for the Italian Infrastructure Fund F2i, Fondazione Cariplo, Fondazione Fiera Milano, Conservatorio di Milano, Casa Milan, and many other projects, some born in Milan but destined elsewhere, such as the brand identity for the Venice Biennale, which truly deserves a mention… However, one of the most enduring projects, which impacts the daily life of Milanese citizens, is the rationalization of ATM‘s wayfinding system. For this, we revised the signage (the pictogram system) and created a custom typeface (Metro Type).”