By Caroline Roux

In 2021, Maria Porro was appointed President of Salone del Mobile.Milano – the first time a woman and someone as young as 37 had taken the role. The world’s biggest design event (mobile is Italian for furniture), it has taken place in the northern Italian city of Milan since 1961, attracting over 300,000 visitors, all keen to see the very latest in design and lighting brought to the city by 2,000 exhibitors from nearly 40 countries.

But under Porro’s leadership, things are changing. Her outlook is global and highly artistic. She studied scenography at the Accademia di Brera – Milan’s preeminent art school – and worked in the theater world before joining the four-generation family design and furniture business, also called Porro, in 2014. She grew up surrounded by art. American theater director Robert Wilson was a friend, and Porro herself collects an eclectic mix of artworks and objects.

In December, the Salone del Mobile launched its first partnership with Art Basel, creating a chic Collectors Lounge, with the participation of Italian companies, inside the Miami Beach edition of the fair. In March, the Salone will also deck out the Collectors Lounge at Art Basel Hong Kong, bringing a curated showcase of Italian design to Asia.

The partnership signals an increasing proximity between the worlds of art and design, with collectors often fueled by a passion for both, and artists themselves sometimes straddling both possibilities in their practice. ‘It is about blurring the boundaries,’ says Porro of her enthusiasm to bring design to the heart of the art fair, ‘and demonstrating the cultural heritage and craftsmanship of Italy.’ Here, she talks to Caroline Roux about expanding creative dialogue, elevating Italian makers, and the pull of beautifully made things.

Why did you choose Art Basel as a partner, and Miami and Hong Kong as the destinations for the Collectors Lounges?

Both places are important hubs, Miami for the US and Hong Kong for Asia. Miami is definitely very interesting for us as a place to showcase Italian design. There is so much real estate development, with so many people moving there in recent years. But also, Art Basel Miami Beach has had an important role there, growing the city’s cultural significance enormously. Both are very strong points for networking too – vibrant, active, and energetic.

The Art Basel connection started with conversations I had with [Chief Artistic Officer and Global Director of Art Basel Fairs] Vincenzo de Bellis. He lives in Milan and we often see each other at the city’s cultural events and talk about the challenges we are facing – Covid was a monster for both of us, as you can imagine. In times of big change, which we are going through now with new technologies and geopolitical reshuffling, there’s a temptation to close ourselves off. But I believe this is the moment for real cross-pollination.

Art Basel, like the Salone, is business-oriented, but with a deep cultural basis. It is not just a fair, but a major part of a complex cultural ecosystem and it activates a huge range of other events and possibilities around it, a flourishing of activity, just as Salone does. So the compatibility was very much there already. Partnerships only work when values are shared.

How would you describe your experience in Miami?

Well, it all happened very quickly. We brought it together in under 3 months with 20 key Italian furniture producers who were really keen to take part and Lissoni & Partners willing to design the interior. The brands included Arper, Artemide, Calligaris, DavideGroppi, Edra, Emu, Ethimo, Exteta, Foscarini, Gallotti&Radice, Gervasoni, Glas Italia, Living Divani, Molteni&C, Natuzzi Italia, Paola Lenti, Poltrona Frau, Porada, Visionnaire, and my family’s company Porro, which was 100 years old in 2025. Everyone was very happy – the atmosphere, the connections made, the quality of the crowd were excellent. Collectors spent hours in the lounge, with several notable guests stopping by, and some also went on to purchase furnishings from the space.$

Do you think the dialogue between art, design, and architecture is stronger than ever?

I think it’s a constant dialogue that we all benefit from. Design, because it’s part industrial and part artisanal, has often been considered a minor art, but it’s no less significant in the artistic world. At best it is about beauty and form. But also, because I have a training in theater, I believe in the importance of every art form – from costume design to music to acting to the lighting design. No one’s skill is more or less important. And design and architecture are the same – the building and the interior support the presentation of individual pieces, but it’s the whole that matters. Our job is to create things that come together like a symphony.

For that reason, we are also creating a new section at the Salone this year called ‘Raritas’, for collectible contemporary and historic design. A lot of interior designers visit the Salone, and this area of collecting is becoming more and more a part of the landscape.

You have also introduced art events to the Salone del Mobile.Milano

Yes, in 2025 I invited Robert Wilson to create a new work for the Museo della Pietà Rondanini which houses Michelangelo’s final, and deeply moving, unfinished sculpture. He created a 30-minute performance of light and sound that elevated the sense of meditation in the space, and we extended it long after the Salone had finished, until the middle of May, as a unique cultural event for the city. Only a few months later, Bob left us.

Es Devlin also made a stunning work in the courtyard of the Pinacoteca di Brera, the Library of Light, featuring 3,000 glowing books and reflective mirrors where reading took place. We brought another version of this to the Faena Beach in Miami as the Library of Us. Working with people like Robert Wilson, Es Devlin, and Paulo Sorrentino, or an architect like Pierre-Yves Rochon, brings more value to our world.

I believe you were particularly close to Robert Wilson?

I went to the Watermill with him one time, the arts center he set up in New York State in 1992. He had an incredible collection there. In one long narrow room were vases from 3,000 BC, Andy Warhol screen prints, and objects by the Italian designer Bruno Munari, and even a pair of ballet shoes that had belonged to Rudolf Nureyev.

How about in your house? What do you collect?

I collect all sorts of things: I love illustration; I have Italian paintings from the early 20th century, and lots of furniture prototypes. But I’ll mix it all together, an oil painting next to something my daughter has made in clay and an old wooden bowl I found one day up a mountain.

Finally, can you tell us what to expect in Hong Kong?

I can’t! Not because I don’t want to, but because we are still working on it. You’ll have to watch this space.