The Salone del Mobile.Milano is not just a trade fair – it’s a system! And everybody agrees on it. It is a global system revolving around Milan. The last edition was a record in terms of visitors and events both at Rho Fiera fairgrounds and at the Design Week across the city, but the 58th edition, 9-14 April 2019, has all it needs to be even more successful.

Claudio Luti, President of the Salone del Mobile, confirmed it during the press conference: “It is important to consolidate the Salone del Mobile’s powers of attraction, offering its visitors not just a wide range of products, but, especially, opportunities for international interface and for reflection on the relationship between creativity and business.” To those who asked if the Salone.Milano Moscow and Salone.Milano Shanghai could be a sort of competitor, Luti reassuringly answered, “the event is and will be here.” International operators, including those from Russia and China, always say: “See you in Milan.”Of course, great commitment is required not to lower the guard and maintain the primacy.

The press conference dedicated to the presentation of the Salone del Mobile 2019, held on 14 February 2018 at Palazzo della Triennale, saw the participation of Alberto Bonisoli, Italian minister of cultural heritage and activities, who highlighted the importance of design for the Italian cultural heritage and reported that a specific committee is working to protect this (material and immaterial) ‘treasure’ with particular attention to museums. He also announced that the government may allocate 10 million euro in support of it.

Giuseppe Sala, Mayor of Milan, reaffirmed the city’s connection with the Salone pointing out that Milan has been awarded as Best City 2019 by the Wallpaper Design Awards. An open and concrete metroPOLIS dedicated to design, increasingly open to tourists, that makes up for 10% of Italian GDP but still needs governmental support.

Emanuele Orsini, President Federlegno Arredo Eventi, mentioned an important information: the production of furniture represents the 5% of Italian industry. Note that 2,100 brands will take part in the Salone and Italy hosts 80,000 brands. Federlegno Arredo pays attention to both big companies and SMEs and the Federation is about to have a new headquarters designed by architect Michele de Lucchi, open to anybody who is interested in design.

Architect Stefano Boeri, President of Triennale di Milano, a fundamental institution for this project, announced that a permanent museum dedicated to design will open on 8 April 2019 on the ground floor of the Palazzo on via Alemagna.

INGENUITY: A NEW CHAPTER IN THE MANIFESTO OF THE SALONE DEL MOBILE.MILANO

Launched in 2018, the Manifesto of the Salone del Mobile.Milano is the “constitution” that connects the world’s most important furniture fair andMilan, which for decades have been working together on internationalization. And in 2019 it is amplified with a strong word, “ingenuity,” meaningintelligence as the origin of creativity, talent, skills to do and think. An appropriate concept in the year of the celebrations of the genius of Leonardo da Vinci, which also alludes to the liveliness of the entrepreneurial/design spirit and to the industriousness of Milan and the surrounding territories.

A NEW “SCATTERED” EXHIBITION FOR THE OFFICE

In line with the great changes that are taking place in the world of work, Workspace 3.0 2019 is not concentrated in just some pavilions but scattered: the 52 exhibiting companies will be arranged along a different path going through various pavilions dedicated to furniture reflecting the hybridization of office work, in the latest years, with other functional spaces, including private houses. It includes places open to sharing and coworking, with versatile and smart furnishings featuring technology. The innovations in the workspace are reflected by the Salone with the keywords Liquid Space, Privacy, Worker centered design.

S.PROJECT: INTERIOR DESIGN LIVES HERE

Moreover, during this edition a crosscutting exhibition path (pavilions 22 and 24) dedicated to design products and decorative and technical interior design solutions: S.Project will be a multifaceted and multisectorial space hosting 66 exhibitors, 32% of them international.

Euroluce AND SALONE SATELLITE

The biennial International Lighting Exhibition, field where technological innovation is more evident and spectacular than others, in 2019 will host 421 exhibitors (48% of them from other countries). The theme of the 22nd edition of the SaloneSatellite, an established springboard for young talents who are given the chance to meet journalists and entrepreneurs, will be ‘Food as a Design Object’.