For Milan Design Week 2017, the organisations and institutions that support and promote Belgian design under the collective name Belgium is Design, have joined forces to take part in the group event A Matter of Perception at Palazzo Litta whose 2017 theme is dedicated to Linking Minds. The 17th century Palazzo hosts the Belgian platform, curated by DAMN° Magazine / Siegrid Demyttenaere, under the title Belgitude. Rather than defining affinities or peculiarities, this title is a simple declaration of pride in diversity: different historical roots, different languages, different backgrounds, skills and industrial specialities. Fearless to innovate, or to open up new horizons, or to mix identities. This is Belgium. Elaborating on the 2016 approach, Belgium is Design asked 10 designers to select the companies they wanted to collaborate with. The reasons for their choices are boundless: affinity, continuity or curiosity… Belgitude is about exchanging know-hows, collaborative excellence, friendly dialogues, but most of all, it is about local production, and definitely, about time. The time that is behind creation is both fast and slow. Six months to design and make an object sets the stopwatches ticking, yet this small-scale country has a major quality: a poetic, ironic and surrealistic attitude to make everything possible.

WBDM - Wallonie-Bruxelles Design Mode is now a faithful advocate of the SaloneSatellite, the platform within the Salone internazionale del Mobile in Milan and is exclusively dedicated to young designers aged under 35. A genuine springboard for many designers, this space represents a destination and an objective for thousands of emerging designers. The collective stand that WBDM has organised for around twelve years is an exceptional opportunity to relate, show and interact with the professional sector from all over the world. In the name of a design culture that is truly sustainable and in accordance with a healthy and authentic design practice, this time, each of the 6 Belgian designers selected presents a single project (and its potential variations) to relate their vision, the process and values that will influence the industry, the trend-setters and consumers of tomorrow.