Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1545128
MANFREDI GIOACCHINI MANFREDI GIOACCHINI Salone del Mobile Milano 2026: Craft, Culture, and Design By Ingrid Abramovitch and Michelle Aviña The 2026 edition of Salone del Mobile in Milan is a yearly highlight for any lover of design, and this year, exhibitions filled the city, from plazas to alleys to boutiques — everywhere you turned, there was something and someone to see. Milan today is full of old-world charm, from ornate villas to centuries-old palazzi and our old friend Bar Basso, ably serving negronis to locals and tourists alike. Salone has become not just a showcase of design and objects, but an occasion on the social calendar. PaperCity creative director Michelle Aviña and contributing editor Ingrid Abramovitch took to the streets, palazzi, and plazas. Here, they share eight that stopped them in their tracks. L'Appartamento by Artemest Imagine a 19th-century Milanese palazzo with frescoed ceilings and an elliptical staircase that winds past rooms retaining their original splendor. Now imagine turning some of the world's top designers loose in that spectacular setting, armed with a theme — Italian Grandeur — and access to some of that country's best crafted lighting, furniture, and decor. The showhouse at Palazzo Donizetti combined fantasy with inspiration as designers Sasha Adler, March and White Design, Rockwell Group, Charlap Hyman & Herrero, and Urjowan Alsharif Interiors each transformed a room inspired by an Italian city on an imaginary grand tour. For furnishings, they had access to anything available through the project's sponsor, Artemest, an online marketplace and design house that features objects and furnishings by Italian artisans and luxury brands. "In a way, it's Visconti," said Adam Charlap Hyman of his twin Palermo-themed salons, where Venetian chandeliers mingled with potted ferns, iconic designs by Gae Aulenti and Gaetano Pesce, and leopard carpets. "But it's probably a bit more Antonioni. I'm imaging an intellectual artist guy living here who has very good taste." Each designer's space was pure cinema, from Rockwell Group's surrealist dining room inspired by Naples to Sasha Adler's vestibule, centered around a twisted iron tree sculpture by Alessandro Rametta of La Fucina di Efesto. If that were not enough, on the palazzo's top floor, design duo Christine and John Gachot staged a recreation of their New York studio to launch their new furniture collection for Artemest. The 35-piece collection, crafted in Italy, The Vestibule by Sasha Adler, L'Appartamento by Artemest The Grand Salon by March and White Design, L'Appartamento by Artemest 63