The Salone del Mobile is almost upon us. The most famous design and furniture event in the world will take place from 17 to 22 April, at Fiera Milano area in Rho. One of the undisputed protagonists of Design Week will be the Salone Internazionale del Complemento d’Arredo, that will run alongside the Salone del Mobile, divided into the Classic, Design and xLux categories, making the overall trade fair even richer and more attractive.
The Salone del Mobile in Milan, now in its 57th edition, embodies and highlights the strengths and the ties the event has with the city, with the goal of speeding up the internationalisation process that both have undertaken and to provide the design community with some key solutions for the future.
The Salone del Mobile is not just a trade fair; it is a system of interconnected relationships, creative ideas and innovation: more than three hundred thousand people including business owners, journalists, collectors, designers and architects comes to Milan in just one week; these are all people who unwittingly channel their intellectual strengths through their presence, making Milan the undisputed leader of the most important furniture event in the world, as well as being the site of new projects, thoughts and resources.
Design Week is an opportunity for both companies that want to exhibit their projects and for the visitors that wander around the stands. The companies that work and design are proud to invest in the event that will be at the centre of the world’s media attention; architects and designers concentrate their creativity with the aim of expressing it in the best possible way at the Salone.
The new features at the 2018 Design Week
While there are new feature every year, the one thing that we can expect from the Salone is the excitement and enthusiasm that can be felt during the various events at the trade fair.
Each of the almost 2000 companies present at the fair have worked for 12 months to reach its peak during the event. Behind the sparkle of the immaculate stands is the work of small, medium and large factories in Italy, but also from Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, US and many other countries too.
This very lack of homogeneity between small craftsman-based companies and large-scale industries creates the solid foundation for a successful trade fair, that welcome overseas exhibitors who are some of the world’s best manufacturers, who can show off the excellence of a sector and its creative, productive fabric. \The success of the companies present at the Salone, and consequently of the Salone itself, is based on the capacity to be continuously innovative.
Introducing new lines, shapes and different profiles, improving approaches to the market and to customer sales, investing in communication with competitors, questioning some key points of the brand without denying one’s own history. All this is an obligation for all the companies taking part in the Salone, now more than ever, as the competition is fierce, changes are so rapid and the market is dynamic and extremely demanding.
EuroCucina, another international reference point for the kitchen sector, is held at the same time as the Salone. A particular feature of the event is the high quality of its products and the wide range on show, which reveal the new features of modern kitchens and give hints about the future evolution of the same area. Kitchens become an increasingly open, flowing space that are therefore more organised, tidy and practical. EuroCucina will tend towards efficient, intelligent solutions: modular containers make even the workstations invisible, islands more multi-functional and cupboards and drawers most spacious and practical.
The 2018 kitchen must welcome and host, therefore materials, texture and nuances will be modulated to create relaxing, calm environments where everything is in perfect harmony. There is a return to natural stone and materials that imitate its appearance, together with wood and metal. FTK (Technology for the Kitchen) will be an integral part of EuroCucina. It is an event that studies and investigates the transformation and evolution of domestic appliances that are increasingly efficient, connected and dedicated to energy saving.
This event, dedicated to bathrooms and held every two years, now returns with several new items that combine ethics, technology and relaxation. The Salone Internazionale del Bagno is an increasingly popular event, also enhanced by a larger exhibition area compared to previous editions. This year will see the best of international production: furniture, accessories, shower cubicles and saunas, bathroom porcelain items, radiators, tiles and taps, bath tubs and hot tubs.
The innovation of the event is corroborated by the return of important companies to the trade fair, but also by the new attendees and the quality of the stand preparation that exhibit company concepts, philosophies and stories, stimulating the experience of the product. The new items on show at Salone Internazionale del Bagno are a reflection of the continuous evolution of this space, which is now also digital and green-oriented, without neglecting its sensory component.
Water saving, energy efficiency, the use of recyclable materials and anti-bacterial finishes that limit the use of cleaning products all represent a possible scenario as the technologies required to achieve them already exist. Bathroom furnishing companies therefore look to a better future and invest in innovations such as digital devices that can integrate and transform bathrooms depending on need by, for example, altering the room temperature, music, coloured lights or the height of bathroom fittings.
However, the modern bathroom does not give up on ergonomics, colour and accessories that create emotions and enhance the sensation of well-being that can be experienced; the bathroom will still be the room dedicated to yourself, where you can find a balance between body, mind and spirit.
the most important appointment in the design world for young talent under the age of 35: an edition for thinking about the future of the project, starting with its origins and looking at the delicate balance between craftsmanship and new technologies.
SaloneSatellite is the first real event especially dedicated to young people, becoming the meeting place for excellence between entrepreneurs-talent scouts and the most promising designers.
This year, the aim of SaloneSatellite will be to discover, follow, optimise and offer serious working possibilities for young designers.
This year the subject is “Africa / Latin America: Rising Design ”. SaloneSatellite looks at the Southern part of the World: Africa and Latin America are two fertile worlds of creativity and design.
The intention is to offer the solution to social and environmental emergencies and for future, informed living in a short space of time. A path among experiments, memory, slow design, nature and the strength of materials, anthropomorphism, creative recycling, contaminations and digital effects that will manage to amaze people while having them reflect.
Continuous innovation and an asphyxiating search for quality are the characteristic features of Salone del Mobile, that question the modes and criteria for raising standards and the bar that visitors were used to: it is no longer possible to say “that’s the way it has always been done”. There can only be the commitment to doing better and more.
The Salone del Mobile in Milan has always been characterised by first-rate quality, but for years now, this concept has leant more and more towards sustainability. What does that mean? The production process in which each factor, from design through to realisation, can be controlled is sustainable.
Make no mistake, we are not talking about sustainable as green design, i.e. the chair made of recycled cardboard or the bamboo coffee table: sustainable design is a new way of doing business that takes into account the life cycle of products that, although eternal by nature, because they are iconic, also need to be reusable.
It is a design that reflects the principle of circular economy and that pays increasing attention to the environment, that thinks of items by going beyond its mere functional aspect and supports sharing and reuse processes. Designing to day implies a sense of thinking about tomorrow, about sustainability not just in relation to the materials used but also the production processes chosen, maintaining certified, universally acknowledged quality standards and thinking up a design that will stand the test of time.
The Salone del Mobile is an excellent opportunity for spreading design culture and lots more too. During Design Week there is also room for large multinationals from sectors other than furnishing, such as information technology, technology or the food industry: all these companies come to Milan from 17 to 22 April thanks to the spirit of sharing that engulfs the period.
A true characteristic of Design Week is the intense network of communications that create unique connections in a unique space and time, that would never have been possible in another time and place.
Multinationals come to Milan to present their products during the Salone del Mobile because it is only here that they manage to meet the target they refer to, prospects that they wouldn’t manage to achieve otherwise.
The Salone del Mobile is the centre of the city of design. For a week, Milan’s geography is redesigned with new balances, turning areas that are normally abandoned or not popular into the shop windows and laboratories of experiments and creativity.
Milan’s winning card during design week is the continuous sharing of ideas, solutions, doubts, experiences and also clients; this tight network allows companies to become stronger and develops the skills and opportunities of every company taking part in the fair.
Personalities from all over the world come to Milan, where the Salone is an almost mandatory appointment for meeting up and for meeting, for doing research and earning the well-deserved acknowledgement for work carried out and for laying the foundations for future projects.An invitation to the Salone for Milan is aimed at everyone, in particular those who have contributed to the event’s success, the growth of its brands and the development of the city.
The time has come for the Salone del Mobile and for Milan to look to the future and using team work once again, where everyone has their own role: working to design not just physical architecture for the city, not just new furniture to exhibit at the Salone, but also new models for design and architecture, a new way of thinking and carrying out a project.
The Salone aims mainly at innovation, at looking beyond what has already been done, to achieve goals such as sustainable quality, intense collaboration, sharing ideas and optimising cultural heritage.
A design that exceeds materials and shapes, that looks at people, the needs of an evolving world and that is looking for innovation but also knows how to enjoy everyday life.