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
Sur-Mesure | ÉLITIS
During Milan Design Week 2024, Élitis presents Sur-Mesure, a project by Marion Mailaender at Assab One. The installation, true to the elegant and playful style of the French architect, plays with the concept of “tailor-made,” transforming Élitis fabrics and wallpapers into giant clothing pieces. This journey celebrates the high quality of materials, offering “wearable” architecture and inviting visitors to rediscover objects through new perspectives and inversions of meaning.
This book tells the cosmopolitan life and career of Gregory Gatserelia, a Canadian-Lebanese architect and collector of Georgian origin. Through photos of interiors, from private homes to numerous clubs and restaurants, it explores his fascinating world between Beirut, Paris, and Milan, marked by attention to detail and surprises, like his signature decorative ceilings. The volume includes interviews with Patrick Perrin, Victor Gastou, Jacopo Foggini, and Najla El Zein.
On the occasion of Italian Design Day 2024 in Taipei, the “Connecting Choices” exhibition, curated for the Taiwan Design Research Institute in collaboration with Key Role and Augusto Ling, featured a dual area dedicated to Italian coffee culture and design journalism, with contributions from 12 renowned Taiwanese architects and designers who selected 35 Italian projects.
Six Senses’ first urban hotel translates the contemporary vision of Roman classicism from the architectural project by Studio Patricia Urquiola into the selection of artworks. Site-specific works by Alberto Selvestrel, Analogia Project, Andrea Mauti, Caterina Licitra Ponti, Beatrice Bonafini, Paolo Giordano, Sara Salvemini, Tarek Abbar, T-Yong Chung, Eliška Konečná, Marco Emmanuele, and POL Polloniato are featured.
For the second year in a row, Dolce&Gabbana presents eleven young international designers at Milan Design Week 2024 with the second edition of Gen D – Generazione Designer. Selected by Federica Sala, designers Byungsub Kim, Hannah Lim, Jie Wu, Riccardo Cenedella, Ella Bulley, Thabisa Mjo, Laurids Gallée, Mestix, Mingyu Xu, and Touche Touche experimented with Italian artisanal techniques in a cultural mosaic celebrating diversity and innovation.
The intervention by AMDL CIRCLE and Michele De Lucchi transforms the terrace into a modern Pantheon with a magical red garden to celebrate the art of Italian silver and glass. Inside the structure, Lily Scout Kwong’s botanical installation, featuring carnivorous plants, engages in a dialogue between the floral collections of the Milanese maison and pieces from the recent collaboration with Venini.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Cassina iMaestri Collection and MDW 2023, Cassina presents the exhibition ‘Echoes, 50 years of iMaestri,’ curated with Patricia Urquiola. The exhibition celebrates the company’s journey in developing Modern Movement furniture and includes prototypes, archive artifacts, and unpublished photographs, highlighting the legacy of great architects.