Fuorisalone Award selects and promotes both the most memorable installations showcased in Milan and contents, projects, activities of relevance and interest for the international design community (Special Mentions).
The award aims to have a strongly democratic value, as it is decreed on the basis of direct public votes, made possible on a dedicated section. The audience, which is large and varied every year, is thus finally invited to vote on the most engaging and exciting installations and events.
The combined work of a technical committee, on the other hand, focuses on contents and projects of relevance to Design, qualitatively innovative and rich in meaning, which compete for special prizes. A section therefore of the Award that aims to raise the issue of Design Culture, which is not necessarily manifested in its physical and aesthetic expression, but in its deeper content, producing value and offering alternative and increasingly innovative visions.
Fuorisalone
Award
The most engaging and exciting installations and events compete for the Fuorisalone Award every year.
Starting with a selection of the 12 most memorable installations of the current edition, when voting is active, users can select their favourite by clicking on the voting icon, and that's it.
The audience can cast their vote directly online. At the end of Design Week, voting closes and the winner is announced.
Voting is only possible during the days of Milano Design Week.
Special
Mentions
A combined work carried out by a technical committee, formed by industry insiders and the editorial staff of Fuorisalone.it, instead focuses on contents of relevance for the project and design sector, qualitatively innovative and rich in meaning.
Special Mentions support the value of Design Culture, which is not necessarily only expressed in its physical and aesthetic appearance.
The selected projects compete for 3 Special Mentions in the categories:
SUSTAINABILITY & RESEARCH
Recognition for projects that focus on materials research and experimentation as key elements of sustainability, understood as a continuous process capable of generating new responsible practices. An approach that values time, analysis, verification and reuse as active tools in the project.
TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION
This award recognises projects that integrate technology, including Artificial Intelligence, into the design process to open up new scenarios for production, language and use. Innovation that extends design thinking without replacing it.
ENGAGEMENT & INTERACTION
This mention is dedicated to projects that activate a real dialogue with people and the context, transforming design into a shared experience capable of engaging, including and generating participation. The project is also measured by the quality of the relationships it manages to build.
Special Media Partner Mention
Introduced in 2024, the Media Partners Special Mention entrusts the authority of the media involved in Fuorisalone.it with the judgement based on a shortlist of the 12 most memorable projects. A “critics” award' that will accompany the one voted by the public.
Special Mention “Essere Progetto”
New for 2026 is the Special Mention ‘Essere Progetto’, which rewards the project that most significantly interprets the theme of Fuorisalone 2026, valuing the process as an essential part of the final result. It is a recognition of design practices capable of making method, research and responsibility visible, beyond form and object.
The Fuorisalone award
The 2022 edition saw the involvement of Mauro Martino, digital artist and Artificial Intelligence expert who in the award, created using the 3D printing technique, summarized the complexity of the data extrapolated from the Fuorisalone.it platform during the pandemic.
From the 2023 edition, the recognition for the winner of the Fuorisalone Award and of the Special Mentions changes its image: its design is completely revised and created as a stylization of the traditional pin that has characterized our activity for 20 years.
A tribute to what has always been the official map for navigating between installations, exhibitions, parties and discussion panels during the most important week for the design industry. Conceived by the Studiolabo team and created by Pollodesign Factory, a Milanese company active in the field of design and production, and Tiburtini, a Rome-based company specialising in paper products and a leader in high-end and custom manufacturing. 1+5 versions of the award, the most important addressed to the winner and another five designed for special mentions.
Editions
2025
WINNER
Marc-Antoine Barrois
Mission Aldebaran
MENTIONS
- MUJI - MUJI MUJI 5.5
- Google - Google presents Making the Invisible Visible
- KIA - Opposites United: Eclipse of Perceptions
- Cassina - Staging Modernity
- Lexus - I A-Un
2024
WINNER
Lasvit
Re/Creation
MENTIONS
- Dotdotdot - Data Bugs - AI is a mirror
- Zegna - Born in oasi Zegna
- Gruppo Cosentino - Earthic ® Lab X Formafantasma
- nendo: whispers of nature
- Elica - Elica Straordinaria
2023
WINNER
SolidNature
Beyond the Surface
MENTIONS
- Les Eaux Primordiales - Expériences Immobiles
- RE;CODE - RE;COLLECTIVE MILAN
- KIA - Opposites United Artwork Exhibition
- NEMO lighting - Enlightenment | Ron Gilad + NEMO
2022
WINNER
Kohler x Arsham:
Divided Layers
MENTIONS
- Eni Plenitude & Interni - Design Re-Generation
- Refractory Studio - Holotype
- Huawei/Space Popular/MEET - Tomorrow Living
- Hermès - Alla ricerca della leggerezza