A Day in Milan for Salone del Mobile with Our Own Julia Gamolina

Julia Gamolina is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Madame Architect. More of her writing has been featured in Fast Company, A Women’s Thing, Metropolis Magazine, Architizer, and the Architect's Newspaper. Trained as an architect herself, Julia stays grounded in professional practice as an Associate Principal and Business Development Director at Ennead Architects, where she focuses on the educational, cultural, and healthcare markets. In the same vein, Julia is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute, teaching a graduate level Professional Practice Seminar on the history and the practices of the profession. In visiting Milan for Salone del Mobile, Julia’s day involves press previews, Italian courtyard installations, gelato nightcaps, and many footwear changes.

Lunch with Collecto at the home of Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte.

9:00am: I wake up, still jet-lagged from yesterday’s arrival. I am in Milan as International Press to cover Salone del Mobile. My mom is with me — as my professional demands increase, I’ve found that the way to maintain a sense of integration with the other things in my life that I love, is to incorporate them as much as possible with what I need to do for my work. My best friends will come to design events and openings, and my mom or boyfriend will join me for travel. 

We are still reeling from last night at Teatro Alla Scala, for opening night. We saw the symphony performance, and then Roberto Bolle’s Appollo. We were surprised that the crowd was mostly local — we only heard Italian in the theatre all night! We had a gelato nightcap as we enjoyed the night view of the Duomo, and so wake up not particularly hungry. 

9:30am: I have breakfast at the hotel as my mom sleeps longer, reading through my emails and other notifications while enjoying an espresso. We are here for three full days, and I know that the days will be packed. I am bracing myself and review my schedule, allotting buffer time for travel, footwear changes, a hopefully a potential nap (I’m a big nap person). I am also mentally preparing to be really “on” — to take in what I see and make literal note of it, for write ups later. 

10:30am: We are out the door, stopping for another espresso at the bar on the way to our first appointment. I studied abroad in Rome and loved this tradition there — a quick mental and physical break and the ability to stretch your legs somewhat — and this really invigorates me.

The Lexus Installation, by Germane Barnes and Aqua Creations.

11:30am: My first appointment is a press preview of “La Scatola Magica: 11 Parole per 11 Autori”, a new installation at Palazzo Reale. We get a little lost on our way there, and after ducking into multiple courtyards and lobbies of civic buildings that weren’t quite it, we are finally guided to the courtyard that takes us to its entrance off of the Duomo piazza. The installation is a projection of eleven short films by eleven leading Italian creators, to celebrate the 60th edition of Salone and it’s eleven institutional values — emotion, enterprise, quality, design, networking, communication, culture, young people, ingenuity, Milan, and savoir faire. The films are all unique and captivating, but we duck out early to make it to our next appointment in time. 

12:30pm: Our second stop is lunch with Collecto, to which we were invited by the wonderful Dan Rubenstein, who hosts The Grand Tourist podcast. The lunch is at the Milan home of Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte. We walk here from the Duomo, our preferred way to get around during Design Week because we want to take in the city. I am always fascinated - with façade and window articulation, with the vibrancy of activity on the streets, with streetwear. It’s trite but inspiration really is everywhere and the eye has to travel!

Because we walk, as we arrive, we find a stairway into another building where we can change our footwear. Milan is very accommodating for this — there are stoops, and windowsills, and benches everywhere. We look around the apartment and the collection and mingle a little, and chat with designer Josh Greene before heading over for our next appointment. 

View from our hotel room.

2:30pm: We walk another half hour to the Tortona neighborhood to see the Superstudio event space and the installations in it. We are invited by DADA Goldberg’s Lexi Lorio, who is representing Aqua Creations and their installation collaboration with Germane Barnes for Lexus. It is striking, both in terms of scale but also concept. Lexi introduces me to the founder, and we chat a bit about design in Italy, and the representation of women in the community. There is still a long way to go! Mom and I then tour the rest of the Super Studio exhibits. 

3:30pm: We are wiped out from the day — the heat, walking, jet lag, and overstimulation of sights (in a good way!) - so we take a car back to the hotel. I immediately lie down for a nap — thank goodness for the window shutters — knowing that we still have a full evening ahead of us. 

5:00pm: I wake up, read through the emails in my inboxes, and save some to give thorough attention to for later. Thankfully, I frontloaded a lot of work, both for Madame Architect and for Ennead, before the trip so I don’t have too much to stay on top of. Because I travel more and more often these days, largely in my business development role at Ennead, the days during which I am in NYC tend to be dense and I am at my desk at home many evenings. Tonight though, is a chance to unplug and enjoy Milan at nighttime.

6:00pm: Sneakers are on, and we are on our way to Poltrona Frau’s reception for their 100+10 year anniversary celebration. We make good use of built in seating on the sidewalk to change our shoes again.

6:30pm: We’ve arrived at the reception, to a long long line of guests waiting to check in. Not knowing what to expect for our first Salone evening celebration, we are surprised but know how this goes. We will learn tomorrow and Wednesday that there are lines all over the city during Design Week, at times even all along one street.

Poltrona Frau installation and reception.

We wait a little, our names are on the list, and we walk in. We make our way through the front rooms to the first courtyard, in which is a DJ, a bar, and an installation to celebrate the collection. The bar is packed, and the installation really spectacular, with forms and proportions reminiscent of Roman design, but material choices bringing us to today’s time and place. 

We probably wait fifteen minutes for our Aperol Spritzes, but we don’t mind because the people watching is amazing and the Italian surrounding us is music to my ears. I love seeing the fun outfits and to my delight, there is less black than I thought. 

7:30pm: Bites are being served that are quintessentially Italian - prosciutto and cheese mini-sandwiches, olives, bread sticks. We had no dinner plans tonight wanting to keep a part of the day relatively open and not be on a schedule for once, so we decide to find a spot to sit in the second courtyard where most are mingling once they’ve seen the installation in the first. We lean back, relax, breathe and take it all in — we are in Milan for Design Week!

8:30pm: We make our way through the showroom one more time to make sure we haven’t missed anything. I find the desk of my dreams - I discussed my obsession with desks during a recent film shoot I did — stay tuned — and this one is the perfect size (meaning big!). We take a lot of photos. 

9:00pm: The sun still has not set as we begin our meander back to the hotel, passing a few other evening celebrations on our way (seeing familiar logos, like ArchDaily). Each day, from and to our hotel, we pass the Porta Venezia and the Giardini Pubblici Indro Montanelli, and once we do, we know we are close to our home for the week.

There are gelato shops and cafes left and right, and we stop in one for another gelato nightcap — Fior di Late in a cone for me, and Pistacchio in a cup for my mom.

10:00pm: We make it home, shower, and I get back to emails and social media. I don’t last long — after a long, active, and stimulating day, I am ready to close my eyes. I say goodnight to my mom, who is on her own jetlag schedule and is awake, and turn off my light. I lay on the pillow, and mentally prepare to head to the convention center tomorrow for the actual fair, and to meet and chat with Maria Porro. As I doze off, I meditate on the enormous gratitude I have for being able to travel again and meet with so many fascinating members of the design community, and being invited here and the privilege of being able to share my experiences.