SALONE RARITAS. CURATED ICONS, UNIQUE OBJECTS, AND OUTSIDER PIECES

A new exhibition space dedicated to limited edition design and high-end creative manufacturing debuts at the 64^th edition of Salone del Mobile.Milano

Salone Raritas. Curated icons, unique objects, and outsider pieces is the new exhibition and curatorial endeavour dedicated to special and limited editions of design, unique pieces, antiques and fine craftsmanship, set to make its debut from 21^st to 26^th April 2026 at Pavilions 9-11, Fiera Milano, Rho.

A place for galleries of excellence and the international design supply chain – architects, interior designers, developers, hospitality and contract professionals – to meet, where the cultural value of the pieces will dialogue with the scale of major contemporary commissions.

Curated by Annalisa Rosso, Editorial Director and Cultural Events Advisor of the Salone del Mobile, and set up by Formafantasma, Salone Raritas was created to bridge the gap between highly-skilled creative production and the B2B contemporary design market. The aim is to build a select environment fostering networking opportunities and perspectives, generating new ways of presenting and purchasing unique pieces, limited editions and ‘outsider’ objects which, when included in high-profile projects, can define the identity of public and private interiors.

The exhibition design is by Formafantasma, who conceived the Salone Raritas area in the manner of a large architectural lantern: a porous landscape, bold in its materiality, designed to enrich the stories it contains without overwhelming them. It is designed to ensure recognisability and rhythm, while a predefined colour and material palette allows for calibrated customisation.

On the major contemporary design scene, Salone Raritas identifies a change of pace: international hospitality, residential and hospitality real estate development, and experiential retail increasingly incorporate limited edition works and furnishings as levers of identity and positioning.

Including collectible design in the Salone means taking the lead in an evolving field, bringing it to the attention of investors, developers and clients in search of quality, rarity and a coherent narrative as new value indicators for hotels, residences and public spaces.

Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, had this to say: “Salone Raritas was born of an awareness that is also a responsibility, which is to read the evolution of the international market and provide a response consistent with the identity of the Salone del Mobile.Milano. Our role has always been to stay ahead of the curve: today we are doing so by throwing open a new chapter devoted to authorial design, research and antiques – an extraordinarily fertile territory – which interacts directly with the professional design system. Salone Raritas will be a curatorial platform with a strong market awareness, capable of picking up on the growing demand for rare and iconic pieces from architects, developers, brands and investors, who now recognise this type of design as a strategic asset in terms of affirming identity and vision. At a time when the professional world is focusing on uniqueness, content and quality, Salone Raritas fully interprets the Salone’s role as an activator of international connections, visions and languages. This project dovetails with our history, but it also lays bare a significant openness towards new scenarios, unique and research pieces, limited editions and high-end creative manufacturing are entering fully into the heart of the Salone for the first time. Welcoming and valorising these pieces means recognising the value of design conceived to last over time, which the Salone has always promoted and supported as an authentic expression of design culture. We are also throwing open a new channel of direct dialogue with the B2B and contract worlds, creating a platform designed to meet the needs of a professional audience that sets huge store by the quality, identity and cultural value of projects.“

“We have worked to build a new design, cultural and commercial ecosystem that constitutes a concrete and valuable opportunity for both exhibitors and visitors, generating new connections and market opportunities. Salone Raritas heralds a new chapter for the collectible design segment, which is evolving and expanding its characteristics and range of possibilities. Salone Raritas builds open channels of communication between realities that until very recently seemed far apart, allowing many of them a chance to meet for the first time. The Salone is thus confirming its status as an institution capable of generating relationships, perspectives and new forms of shared growth,” said Annalisa Rosso, Editorial Director and Cultural Events Advisor for the Salone del Mobile and curator of Salone Raritas.

The project will be further underpinned by the Salone ecosystem: a global platform that attracts over 300,000 visitors from more than 160 different countries and over 5,200 international journalists every year, multiplying the visibility of a sector that traditionally operates on a small scale. In the Salone Raritas space, this scale translates to a curated and immediately readable narrative, in which the character of each gallery remains intact within a unified exhibition layout.

Formafantasma – Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin – see exhibition design as both a critical and a functional device: “We imagined Salone Raritas as a legible and permeable architectural landscape, a lantern that puts light and rhythm at the service of the pieces. The design allows each gallery to express its own identity while maintaining a choral narrative, designed for both visitor memorability and for market effectiveness.”

Configured in this way, Salone Raritas offers an immersive and distinctive experience, in which unique pieces and limited series become accessible to interlocutors who seldom cross paths in other circuits, consolidating the Salone del Mobile.Milano’s mission is not just as a commercial platform but also as a cultural infrastructure: a place where rarity ceases to be an exception and becomes a shared design language.

Biographies

Maria Porro

Maria Porro, born in Como in 1983, has been President of Assarredo since being unanimously elected in September 2020, and is the first woman to take on this role. She joined the Board of Directors of Assarredo in 2017 and the General Council of FederlegnoArredo in 2019. She is Director of Marketing and Communication at Porro S.p.A., an old-established Italian design brand, set up by her great-grandfather Giulio in 1925. She joined the company permanently in 2014, with responsibility for bolstering the company’s international trade network and strengthening its communication strategies, before taking on her current role, with sustainable development very much to the forefront. She graduated cum laude in Set Design from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, and worked in theatre, art and large events as a designer, coordinator and curator. She has always maintained strong ties to the family firm and the design world, collaborating with her father, Lorenzo Porro and with the Lissoni Associati studio in particular, in the field of stylistic research and new product development, and personally overseeing the company’s presentations at the Salone del Mobile. Starting from July 2021, she has become the President of Salone del Mobile.Milano.

Annalisa Rosso

Annalisa Rosso is Salone del Mobile.Milano’s Editorial Director and Cultural Events Advisor, and Director of The Euroluce International Lighting Forum. Among the projects conceived and developed for Salone, the exhibition “Interiors by David Lynch. A Thinking Room” in Milan, and the performative installation “The Orbit’s Orbit” by Matilde Cassani in Shanghai. Rosso also curated talks with speakers such as Shigeru Ban, Francis Kéré, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and John Pawson. She co-founded Mr.Lawrence, a strategic design consultancy fostering meaningful connections and defining new market perspectives. Key collaborations include B&B Italia, Nemo Group, EMU, Ambientec, ETEL, Four Seasons Milano, DesignSingapore Council, Craft ACT Australia, IRTHI UAE. TEDx speaker and Design Ambassador for the Italian Design Day in Prague, Hong Kong and Copenhagen, she has served on juries and committees including The Design Prize in Milan, Design Parade in Hyères, Designblok in Prague, Collectible in Brussels, Madrid Design Festival, and The Advisory Hive of Società delle Api.

Formafantasma

Formafantasma (Andrea Trimarchi, Simone Farresin) is a research-based design studio investigating the ecological, historical, political and social forces shaping the discipline of design today. Whether designing for a client or developing self – initiated projects, the studio applies the same rigorous attention to context, processes and details. Formafantasma’s analytical nature translates in meticulous visual outcomes, products and strategies.