The aim and ambition of The Lost Graduation Show is to share the stage at “supersalone,” the special September event organised by the Salone del Mobile.Milano and curated by Stefano Boeri, with design schools from around the world which, given the current exceptional situation, have been unable to offer students graduating in 2020/21 an opportunity to present their projects to the public. 

An absolute first in the history of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, The Lost Graduation Show will be a large exhibition, curated by Anniina Koivu, touching on all areas of furniture design, and more besides. Incursions into the world of mobility, inclusive, medical and sports design, materials research and design sustainability will document the state of the art of an entire sector. An exhibition that promises (also and especially) to explore the new languages of home living and come up with potential solutions to the most urgent questions facing contemporary design. Starting with the practice of the new generation of designers starting to take on the world of industry and manufacturing.

Sorted into subjects, the exhibition will be an opportunity for the schools to promote and support their students, gathered in from all five continents, in a bid to come up with interesting triggers for reflection and narrate the new directions “young” design is taking.

““supersalone” is set to be an unmissable event, when the visiting public at large will have a chance to compare the latest innovations from the companies with the most experimental projects from the international design schools. A blast of creative oxygen after the long winter of the pandemic,” said curator Stefano Boeri.

Marco Sabetta, General Manager of the Salone, had this to say: “The ultimate aim of the Salone del Mobile.Milano is to create, safeguard and spread the culture of design and savoir faire. Therefore, helping the schools promote professional figures capable of taking on the complexity of the world and envisioning and designing a better future through design has always been in its DNA. We are therefore proud to be able to host The Lost Graduation Show at “supersalone.” It is a unique venture, and its multicultural reach will show us how we will dwell, live, work, communicate and so on, through our internal spaces.” 

“Visiting the Salone del Mobile.Milano each year is a fount of energy and new ideas,” said Anniina Koivu, curator of the exhibition. “Now, after an 18-month blackout, we can hardly wait to pick up the pace, start producing again, meeting face-to-face and having fun. I am sure that “supersalone” will short-circuit the stand-by mode in which we are all languishing. The Lost Graduation Show will provide a unique opportunity for picking up the threads of the discourse, assessing with fresh eyes the most urgent issues design should be tackling and which directions to take. What better way to kick off again than by focusing on the questions of the new generation of designers and their replies? Best of all will be finding out that the themes closest to the hearts of the young creatives are surprisingly similar the world over. Bringing them all together on a global stage represents an opportunity for rebirth.”

Alongside the physical exhibition, all the selected works will be uploaded onto a digital platform – @thelostgraduationshow – in order to reach an even wider audience and allow anyone who so desires to contact the young creatives directly. Lastly, a jury of international experts and protagonists of the design world will assess the projects on exhibit and assign awards to the best in each category.

Through The Lost Graduation Show, the “supersalone” wants to support the design schools as they promote the new generation of designers, narrating their enthusiasm, courage and hard work at a time of huge transition for the profession. It will endeavour to find out who they are and what’s next for these designers carving out their own position in a decidedly complex, yet stimulating world, with its challenges, issues, responsibilities and globality.