Independent curator & design advisor
Independent curator and design advisor, Federica Sala has made design the gravitational centre of her life.
With an interdisciplinary approach, she is in constant dialogue with art, architecture and publishing in relation to exhibitions, commercial or informative projects.
Highly curious by nature, she firmly believes in the power of transformation, which she has made into a pillar of her profession.
Born in Milan, but with extensive experience gained in France, she worked for five years in the design department of the Centre Pompidou in Paris working with high-calibre designers such as Philippe Starck and Ettore Sottsass Jr, as well as with Fabrica, the research centre of the Benetton group. After this came the Enel Contemporanea years, working on a project for H+ together with Francesco Bonami, which resulted in her working with, among others, Carsten Höller and the Starn brothers.
Between 2010 and 2019 she co-founded and co-directed PS, one of the first agencies created to unite content and communication. PS curated the ‘Object’ section of the Milan International Fair of Modern and Contemporary Art (miart), the exhibitions of the 5VIE Art+ Design district (Max Lamb, Raw-Edges, Sabine Marcelis, Matteo Cibic) and the artists’ residences (Italian villages) project for Airbnb.
In 2018, together with Patricia Urquiola, she curated the monographic exhibition dedicated to the Triennale di Milan, which was followed in 2021 by the exhibition: Giulio Castelli. La cultura imprenditoriale del sistema design, marking the opening of the ADI Design Museum.
She currently continues to work as an independent curator collaborating in Italy and abroad with Italian and international institutions and agencies such as Buccellati, Dolce&Gabbana, Cassina, Rizzoli International, Six Senses, Venini and Assab One, focusing on the transversality of the various disciplines related to the world of design. Last but not least, in July 2022 she became the Editorial Director of the quintessentially eclectic magazine ‘The Good Life Italia’.
Latest news
A flame for research | Mingardo
On the occasion of the Milano Design Week of September’21, an unprecedented collection of candelabras, conceived ad hoc by a series of national and international designers such as Michele De Lucchi, Jaime Hayon, Philippe Malouin, Alberto & Francesco Meda, Luca Nichetto, Matteo Thun, Patricia Urquiola, Marcel Wanders studio, Panter & Tourron, and Federica Biasi, is displayed in an exhibition and then auctioned by Christie’s Italia to support the research against cancer of the Mario Negri Institute.
On the occasion of the Milano Design Week of September’21, an unprecedented collection of candelabras, conceived ad hoc by a series of national and international designers such as Michele De Lucchi, Jaime Hayon, Philippe Malouin, Alberto & Francesco Meda, Luca Nichetto, Matteo Thun, Patricia Urquiola, Marcel Wanders studio, Panter & Tourron, and Federica Biasi, is displayed in an exhibition and then auctioned by Christie’s Italia to support the research against cancer of the Mario Negri Institute.
Minimal/Baroque is the artistic story of sculptor and designer Gianluca Pacchioni. The book, published by Rizzoli International and the result of a ten-year collaboration with the photographer Lorenzo Pennati, brings us through Pacchioni’s universe, from the discovery of his love for iron to the Milanese studio/laboratory where he produces works of art and limited editions of design objects destined for collections all over the world.
Ordet presents, for the first time in an exhibition, the research and development phases that characterize Marcin Rusak’s work. He collects and dissects, crystallizes, and destroys natural elements, transforming them or giving them new life. His collections are a great living ecosystem of objects that enclose a vital element whose evolutionary cycle is not only not exhausted but becomes the basis for the subsequent metamorphosis.
On the occasion of the Milano Design Week, the 5th edition of the format conceived by Elena Quarestani, which investigates the relationship between architecture, art, and design but above all the meaning that today takes the word “create”, is back. inge vinck/inge vinck jan de vylder architecten, Claudia Losi and Caretto/Spagna intervene with works that speak of care, attention and another, non-invasive way of inhabiting the world.