Salone del Mobile, the dream home goes on stage in Milan

Italy ranks 3rd (or 4th, according to Csil data), among the main exporting countries in the world in the furniture and furnishing sector and according to Istat and FederlegnoArredo data, Italian production is worth around 27 billion euros (including the lighting sector) with all domestic sales and export production indices on the rise. The comparison is not with countries of equal size but with continental giants such as China, India and Germany.

The one that opens tomorrow, Tuesday 9 April, the Salone del Mobile in Milan, with the biennial Euroluce, another leading sector of Made in Italy, in fact represents one of the pillars of the Italian economy also because it moves a huge induced: components, woodworking machines (the first world producers of these are Italian), objects and for the kitchen, even appliances.

Indeed the home system far surpasses the fashion system since the gigantic sector of cladding and flooring with its enormous industrial developments must be added to the mega wood district. But what closely connects exports and the Salone del Mobile and which only happens in Italy is a fact: the growing qualitative, technological and functional level of our furniture, appliances and accessories.

Over 60 percent of sales on world markets of the Italian home-system belongs to the medium-high and high range with sectors that sell 90 percent of production on world markets… And the Salone del Mobile – with the Fuori-Salone – is the showcase that imposes trends, deciding the choices of interior decorators, contract managers, general contractors, retailers and the press from all over the world.

At the Salone del Mobile – the only case in the world for the trade fair sector – between 5 and 6 journalists are present, the majority of which are foreigners. The Salone del Mobile Manifesto, launched last year, in this edition will be closely linked to the 500th anniversary of Leonardo's death with a very strong emphasis on ingenuity, as a symbol of the continuous work of innovations and patents of the 21 small and medium-sized companies in the sector (98 percent Italian) to constantly create the renewal and invention of shapes, materials and finishes that have no equal in the world.

The trends that the Salone launches every year are in fact not only aesthetic but also and above all technological, so much so that many companies present re-editions of models from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s not only to celebrate important anniversaries but because they are of a contemporaneity that has never failed.

FIAM (n.1 in the world for curved glass furniture), B&B, Arflex, Flos, Tecno, Alessi, Driade (magical return), Poltrona Frau, Kartell, Artemide, Boffi, Luceplan, Alias, Moroso, Molteni, Azucena and others, have been on the international scene and in museums on every continent for several decades.

There is no high-level showroom of multinationals or renowned chains that can open and be successful if it does not have - and is exhibited - a complete Italian set-up, as happened with the gigantic Starbucks in Milan, the most beautiful of the chain, where everything was produced by Cassina based on a project by Patricia Urquiola…

Thus foreign magazines such as DesignAntology (Asian edition) signal to visit the pharaonic stands of historic companies and their Milanese showrooms, underlining a sensational return of brands such as B&B and Flos in a 4 thousand square meter stand following the operation conducted by Flos and a private equity which created the unique brand Design Holding. Great expectation abroad for hi-tech innovations and design by Euroluce with the historic brand Martinelli Luce which reissues the famous lamp by Gae Aulenti, Pipistrello, made 50 years ago, ultra hi-tech, very current, spectacular. A must together with Up by Gaetano Pesce for B&B, the famous series of upholstered furniture that has appeared in many films…

Cartel, mythical brand of incessant creativity, for the 50th anniversary of the Componibili, small plastic furniture (a Kartell invention from the 60s) presents them in a Campbell Soup jar version, in the Andy Warhol style. Cappellini – of supreme snobbery – keeps faith with its history with the S-Chair created by Tom Dixon in the late 80s. Naturally, the re-editions are on display together with the many new products, many, never like this year.

Finally, almost all the big names celebrate the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Bauhaus and, among all, Porro presents an interpretation of the famous Utrecht armchair by Gerrit Rieteld from 1935. Confirming that industrial design built with technology and invention is always up-to-date.

Lastly, it is impossible to ignore a trend born in Italy: furniture, or rather the entire series of furnishings for the maximum luxury home, designed by stylists. And here an Italian name among all for the uniqueness of the processes: Luxury Living Group which manufactures for: Bugatti, Bentley, Fendi, Trussardi… Hermès, Baccarat, Louis Vuitton, Atelier Biagetti arrive on their own and with exceptional proposals… If time and energy are left over, the Fuori Salone which invades the entire city, reserves other sensational extraordinary events .