A large Furniture expo, completely sold out in the spaces with over 2.700 exhibitors, 30% of which are foreign, opens tomorrow, Tuesday 7 June, at Fiera Milano (Rho), to then close with two days of opening to the public on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12. After two-year block, after the special but reduced edition of September and after the postponement of the traditional date (from April to June), the 60th Salone del Mobile with Eurocucina, Euroluce, Salone del Bagno, the Salone Satellite (proposals and concepts of young talents) is enriched by an area curated by a world-renowned archistar, Mario Cucinella: Design with Nature: the installation, housed in pavilion 15, is made up of 1.400 mXNUMX which will narrate a virtuous ecosystem which would ideally represent the future of living.
Salone del Mobile 2022: eco-sustainability and the environment at the centre
Among the major trends of this edition there are, ahead of all the others, those of the environment, from the circular economy to the sustainability of the entire manufacturing chain of living, from sustainable design to the total recycling/recovery of materials and substances. It is now impossible to disregard these requirements, expressly requested by distributors and consumers from all over the world. And also in the gigantic carousel of a thousand events of fuorisalone will be eco-sustainability to be combined in many ways and variations so as to ideally continue the virtuous path that the Supersalone in September had inaugurated.
Salone del Mobile 2022: re-editions of historical design
On the other hand, two other trends also seem to emerge from the previews: historical reenactments with re-editions of important “pieces”., celebrated, super-awarded Italian design, with the celebration of designers who have left a strong and inimitable mark, such as the great Joe Colombo, who died too soon, architect, designer, artist of an amazing genius, poetic and hyper-technological together. Then there is the Triennale the unmissable exhibition Memphis Again, on a movement that inaugurated the years of the playful and ironic post-modern, founded by Alessandro Mendini and Ettore Sottsass.
Salone del mobile and biophilia: living in nature
The third trend is part of the global trend of post-Covid living, the biophilia (living with and in nature) and will offer visitors and operators mobile devices, objects and equipment for the outdoors. Most Italian companies have created suites of great elegance, with eco-sustainable, recyclable, natural but also resistant materials for open spaces, even for small balconies. Because one of the post-Covid global trends is precisely this: live outdoors as much as possible, perhaps under a remote-controlled pergola, protected from the sun, wind and rain, and in any case surrounded by greenery. Biophilia is now the pattern of any project for residential, industrial and commercial buildings. Thus the outdoor furnishings are combined with vegetable gardens, woods, vertical gardens, with food mini-greenhouses, all well designed, maintained with green, hi-tech technologies, and inspired by Stefano Boeri (son of the great Cini Boeri), the Italian architect who designed an interpretation of global resonance with the famous Bosco Verticale in Milan. The Fuorisalone reserves extraordinary green settings, oases, gardens and proposals that compete with those from the Salone.
Salone del Mobile 2022: the serious consequences of exports to Russia
It remains to add that there is a dissonant element that few want to evoke but that companies in the wood supply chain know very well and pointlessly denounce: the war between Russia and Ukraine it is and will be a disaster for many small and medium-sized companies in the sector. Only hurried commentators on the economy and inattentive politicians fail to recognize that Italian exports (and not just furniture) to Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine have been severely hit. So let's recall a few numbers relating only to the wood industry: over 49 billion in turnover in 2021 and 18 billion in exports. These are two firsts among Italian manufacturers and both are at risk, because not only were the markets of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine important and growing, but a substantial share of that 80% of wood that we import from abroad.
"Russia is an important supplier for our supply chain – underlined in March Claudio Feltrin, president of FederlegnoArredo, on the occasion of the presentation of the 2021 final balances of the supply chain – and his role is essential to control prices: if he blocks timber sales, as he had already started to do since January, he will push prices up even more. Countries like China, for example, are willing to pay any price to import wood and all this will cascade onto the final consumer and undermine the competitiveness of our companies, which could find themselves managing a short circuit in which they are unable to fulfill orders due to the lack of raw materials and at the same time they are suffocated by the expensive energy that is already pouring into the price lists of finished products”.
The districts that for several months have recorded the greatest losses on exports to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine are precisely the most dynamic ones and are located in Emilia Romagna, Brianza, Veneto and Marche.
Read the program of the Salone del Mobile.
