La Milan Design Week, scheduled from April 16th to 21st, will be the stage for designers, buyers, journalists and an international audience of living experts. The global trends presented during the event will influence design, construction, real estate and sales strategies. For this reason, it has become essential for the management of the Saloni and FederlegnoArredo, owner of the Saloni, to maintain and improve contacts with this international audience. One of the key initiatives to this end is the road show organized, starting from the end of 2023, to tell the programs and objectives of the 62nd edition in many international stages, anticipating them. But not only these because it was and is necessary, indeed, vital, to convey the new contents and new initiatives of the profound and total change in software and hardware, introduced starting from 2023 into the exhibition formula of the Show.
Italian Design Day, in 100 countries
Furthermore, on March 14, the eighth edition of theItalian Design Day – which coincided with some stages of the Salone del Mobile road show – organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the Compasso d'Oro Foundation, the Association for Industrial Design, the Triennale of Milan, the Salone del Mobile.Milano, FederlegnoArredo and the Ice Agency, to promote the Italian project and design system abroad. Over the course of past editions, the Italian Design Day saw the creation of around 1.370 events with the involvement of over 580 designers, architects, entrepreneurs and journalists who promoted Italian innovation, industry and "know-how". , engaging with the creative, academic and business communities of the host countries.
Strong attractiveness index
“As for the road show of this year's Show, it was organized - underlines a spokesperson for the Show - to share with everyone the global design community the first information on the 62nd edition, the evolution path undertaken but also to think together about the future of the project and promote the Event to architects, interior designers and journalists as an essential destination for those who deal with furniture and architecture. After Red Night in Shanghai, we went to Paris, London, Berlin, Copenhagen, Madrid, capitals of markets in which we wanted to both consolidate the strong attractiveness index achieved over the years and strengthen new relationship systems, in particular with Northern European countries. Then it was the turn of the United States with Miami, Dallas, New York and Chicago, truly interesting markets for the sector. Marva Griffin was also in Toronto and, thanks to the Italian Design Days, in South Africa (Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town). Thanks to the Italian Design Day, Maria Porro was in India, in Osaka in Japan and in Seoul in Korea: all precious opportunities to create connections, promote the exchange of ideas and inspirations, trying to reach out as much as possible to both professionals and the press to prepare them for the surprises of this edition”.
FIRST online he asked Mary Porro, president of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, what was the reception from the international stakeholders of Italian design, all personalities of the highest level, university, industrial, professional and information. For whom the dialogue-meeting with the greatest representatives of Made in Italy design was every time a highly anticipated event. “It went very well. Almost a surprise due to the enthusiasm and interest gathered everywhere, even in the most distant countries such as China", explained Porro.
Here, in fact, China, before Covid there had been an atmosphere of enthusiasm for our products.
“China is a great opportunity for our businesses; we found a lot of anticipation for the Show even though we have been missing for four years and the economy has not yet reached pre-Covid levels. We only went to the first tier cities, the most populous, meeting many journalists and designers. And despite the difficulties caused by very large distances we found an extraordinary excitement, a desire for Italy and a remarkable knowledge of our products. They are also interlocutors of a high cultural level as we found at the Shanghai Art exhibition".
How did they judge the new formula of the Salon and the strong joint between design and art?
“Very good because this osmosis between the different disciplines that has always existed and cultivated here is also very present in China, with particular curation of cultural heritage, arts and design even in private residences”.
Does China represent the cutting edge of this trend in Asia?
“No, not only that, there has been Korea and there has been Japan for some time, and now also in India we have seen the great favor that has welcomed the idea of combining the 360 degree project of the Salone del Mobile. It is a young country, on the rise, it has already surpassed China in population and here too we have found great preparation on Made in Italy".
It's a shame that our SMEs are opening showrooms in a burst, going in no particular order, individually...
“India and these gigantic areas in general require a different approach, that is, we need to create a system because these are very complex markets, where it is difficult to operate and resist as individual brands. The primary function of the Show is precisely this, to offer a platform to better prepare for the future development of these markets. In fact, at the Salone there is the best of new frontiers, trends and avant-gardes".
The great change that has been given to the exhibition model and the itineraries since last year with Euroluce proposes many cultural themes, much more than before, just to mention the three mega installations, that of the famous director of the unconscious David Lynch, the immersive “Under the Surface”, from the Salone del Bagno and the multi-sensory scenography of Eurocucina. Specifically, what do the operators think? Have you noticed any doubts? Some people from Brianza, some big names in Italian design have also complained because the spaces have become smaller.
“Not those we met who actually recognize the value of the initiatives which this year see such important interventions. And they particularly appreciated the Great Library. We must be very proud of what we are doing, of how our sector describes and interprets research, art and aptitude for use because all this has to do with life, the way of living and inhabiting".
You have returned to North America where relationships with cultural institutions and operators are now consolidated; what keeps our exports at ever-growing levels?
“Our peculiarity. That is, the fact that we are truly manufacturing companies, and for them this is the fundamental guarantee, for the raw materials, the way of processing them and only we guarantee high quality manufacturing. And then we are the ideal suppliers because our companies have always boasted excellent flexibility."
President Biden has allocated very high resources to some American cities to develop research and industries in the most advanced technologies. Have you visited any cities outside of the traditional stops like New York and San Francisco?
“Yes, for example in Texas where Dallas is one of the destinations of Biden's funds there is immense real estate development and we found the same in Las Vegas”.
Let's go back to Europe, will the heavy consumption crisis affect arrivals and demand?
“As always, we have received great enthusiasm, Europe remains the area with the greatest purchasing capacity and the one with the highest import and appreciation indexes for our products. With France at the forefront...".
Perhaps the most significant event of this edition is having moved Eurocucina to the first pavilions, integrating the FTK area, that of built-in appliances, with the furniture pavilions in a brand new route. It has been difficult?
"Eurokitchen in reality it has always been a different show both in terms of the type of visitors, operators and contents and it achieves great success every time which significantly raises the total number of visitors. In integrating the two areas we wanted to underline and enhance the centrality of cooking and food, also by creating special initiatives with great chefs".
