The Salone del Mobile Milan Design (Eco) System Annual Report wins the 29th Compasso d’Oro ADI Award
This prestigious award recognises the methodological quality and interdisciplinary approach of the research project conceived and promoted by the Salone del Mobile.Milano Observatory to analyse a unique global ecosystem which, every April, generates economic growth and innovation, contributing significantly to the identity of Milan, the international capital of design.
The Milan Design (Eco) System Annual Report, conceived and promoted by the Salone del Mobile.Milano, with the scientific support of the School of Design at the Politecnico di Milano, has netted the 29th Compasso d’Oro ADI Award in the Theoretical, Historical and Critical Research and Editorial Project category.
As part of this research project, the Salone del Mobile.Milano established a permanent Observatory, with the aim of collecting, organising and interpreting data and contributions from the various players within the system to make the value generated by the Salone and Milan Design Week legible not as the sum of individual initiatives, but as a collective phenomenon that has a bearing on Milan’s international standing and the evolution of design culture.
In its statement, the Jury recognised the Salone del Mobile.Milano’s ability to shoulder a broader responsibility towards the entire design system: “An institution transcends, through a service design process, its narrow associative boundaries to assume broad responsibilities with regard to the entire design system that periodically convenes in Milan. A scientific method of data collection, combined with the capacity for listening and inclusion, produce a comprehensive picture of the economic and cultural impact that becomes the basis for the continuous improvement of a phenomenon of which we should be deeply proud.”
The award was collected by the President of FLA Eventi, Gianfranco Marinelli, alongside Luca Palermo, CEO and General Manager of FLA Eventi, and Marco Sabetta, General Manager of the Salone del Mobile, together with the creators, curators and authors of the research project – Susanna Legrenzi, Communication Strategy Advisor and Curator of the Salone del Mobile.Milano Observatory, and Professors Francesco Zurlo and Stefano Maffei, representing the School of Design at the Politecnico di Milano.
The work of the Salone del Mobile.Milano Observatory, a permanent research body established to support the Salone in developing tools for analysing, measuring and interpreting its ecosystem, lies at the heart of the project. The Observatory has operated since 2024 as a platform for dialogue between institutions, universities, research centres, businesses, associations, professionals and stakeholders, with the aim of consolidating a culture of data and applied research.
The third edition of the Milan Design (Eco) System Annual Report will be presented in December 2026.
This recognition is for a cultural and curatorial project that redefined the Euroluce 2023 exhibition format, transforming it into a “city of light” and an interdisciplinary, immersive and polycentric experience.
“The City of Lights” cultural project, developed for Euroluce 2023, netted an Honourable Mention at the 29th Compasso d’Oro ADI Awards, the most prestigious Italian design award, founded in 1954 based on an idea by Gio Ponti and promoted by the ADI Association for Industrial Design.
The award recognises the curatorial and design vision that revitalised the 31st edition of Euroluce, transforming it into a widespread cultural platform capable of integrating design, architecture, contemporary art, photography, theoretical research, publishing and experimental exhibition design within a new exhibition framework centred around the visitor experience. The project was conceived by the Salone del Mobile.Milano and Assoluce, under the guidance of President Carlo Urbinati, with the aim of radically rethinking the format of the biennial lighting event, balancing business, culture and the quality of the exhibition experience.
Carlo Urbinati, President Assoluce of FederlegnoArredo, commented: “It is not every day that one is fortunate enough to see the value of an idea recognised, as is the case today at the Assoluce Executive Committee meeting with the presentation of an Honourable Mention for the stimulus and support provided to the Salone in the restructuring of Euroluce and beyond. In fact, it involved reexamining the ‘trade fair’ concept and seeking to enrich it with the experience and aspirations of those who had previously attended the event. We are particularly and genuinely proud to have come up with the ‘Visitor at the Centre’ vision.”
Conceived and scientifically coordinated by Beppe Finessi, and developed from the general exhibition layout designed by Lombardini22, “The City of Lights” eschewed the traditional trade fair grid layout to give shape to a veritable “city of light”: a fluid, immersive and relational organism, built around spaces for meeting, pausing, passing through, viewing and culture.
A new exhibition and urban landscape in which light was presented as a cultural phenomenon, a perceptual experience and a design material.
The project brought together curators, artists, creatives and scholars in a comprehensive multidisciplinary programme comprising exhibitions, site-specific installations, immersive spaces and talks. A cultural ecosystem spread across the four Euroluce pavilions, conceived as a collective experience of knowledge, imagination and dialogue.
