It will be – and it could not be otherwise – another Furniture expo the one that will take place from Tuesday 9 to Sunday 14 April in Milan is a record one, and to which La Scala will even dedicate a special evening with a mega concert dedicated to operators and the press (over 5 thousand journalists expected).
Introduced yesterday at the Triennale by the top management of FLA-FederlegnoArredo with a quick speech by the Minister for Cultural Heritage Franco Bonisoli (“we think we invest 10 million in the widespread museum of design”) and a much applauded speech by the mayor of Milan, Giuseppe Sala, the events linked to the Salone which will have a very strong Leonardo-like imprint, on the occasion of the celebrations of the 500 years of Leonardo who lived 20 years at the Sforza court.
How do you explain Paula's house, the Salone del Mobile together with Euroluce, the Furnishing Accessories Exhibition, the Work Place and the Satellite Exhibition, will as usual have a gigantic outline of thousands of events outside the Rho exhibition center, but above all it will reaffirm the centrality of Milan – declared The First City in the world for design by the prestigious Wallpaper – for the furniture supply chain.
In 2018, this maintained the pace of growth both in exports (+1,6 percent with records in Asia, Russia and the United States) and in production (+2 percent) and with a drop in Chinese imports since the domestic market, with almost 3 percent growth it is turning more and more towards the made in Italy product.
The furniture sector with its outline of accessories, kitchens, bathroom, lighting and office goes towards – as FLA president Manuele Orsini underlined – to a 2019 of great uncertainties also taking into account that exports account for 50 percent of turnover and that our largest furniture buyer is France. But both Sala and Claudio Luti, president of the Salone del Mobile, prove optimistic, confirming with great vigor that Milan, its strategic vision, its constant growth and the quality of the events that have increased tourism and turnover (10 per percent of the national total), will once again be able to create a platform of great attraction and great hospitality during the design week.
Not only the Scala, but also the Brera Academy will be involved with special events, such as Marco Balich, the magician of spectacular sporting inaugurations and more, the author of the masterpiece of the Tree of Life of Expo 2015, has promised to prepare the canal lock, dedicated to Leonardo, filled with water , an installation that will be memorable. And then too The Triennale is preparing to inaugurate the 22nd exhibition dedicated to the relationship between architecture and nature with as many as 25 countries that will bring their projects to cope with the ongoing climate change.
As for the salon numbers, there will be more than 2.350 exhibitors, of which 34 per cent from abroad on an area of over 205 m50. The Salone, increasingly the most important global event for design each year, also marks the centrality of the entire wood supply chain, the Italian one which boasts more than 84 companies. We are the first in exports in the luxury range (equal to 0,3 percent of the national total), the first for the value of design with respect to the national economy, with an incidence of 6 percent on the national turnover, exceeding largely the European and world average. And Milan, which saw yet another increase in tourism in January with a +XNUMX per cent, is already preparing for the appointment in April with an extraordinary program of events.
