By The American tour begins with its first stop at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles, scheduled for next February 21st, to present the upcoming 2023 Salone del Mobile.Milano (Milan Furniture Fair), which, after four years, is returning to its traditional calendar (April 18-23 at the Fiera Milano Rho-Pero). Its technical partner is the American Institute of Architects, Los Angeles Chapter (AIA LA), the most important American professional organization for architects and designers.
The United States, the top market in the world (with Europe) by destination of Italian design products, was chosen for several reasons: the recovery and growth of the reputation of Made in Italy in the U.S. (new sales record with 69 bln USD); the importance of sales in 2021 (3.4 bln USD) and even more in 2022 for genuine Italian products with 3.9 bln USD and +15%; the significant growth of distribution channels with Italian products (monobrand and specialized stores, architecture, design and engineering offices, residential and contract construction companies) for products that have always been innovative, stylish and sustainable.
The 61st edition of the Salone del Mobile will bring the “beautiful” and the “well-made” to the Milan stage, and an even more distinguished and international audience is expected to attend. This edition will be plentiful, with 1,962 exhibitors, including more than 550 young talents under 35 and 27 design schools at SaloneSatellite. There are three main new features: a single exhibition level, conceived to improve and enhance the enjoyment and experience of the visitor; the new Euroluce layout, which will no longer have a checkerboard exhibition map but an almost “urban-like” route, in a loop, smart, super user-friendly, which will allow for a better connection between pavilions; the cultural component, which will be integrated into the lighting biennial spaces using interdisciplinary and experiential content, which will range from architecture to art, and from technology to science, with exhibitions, talks with international guests, workshops and site-specific installations.
“The United States is not only a growing market and a market with high potential for those companies that will fill the Salone, but it is also a creative pool of some of the most influential in the world. This includes thousands of renowned architecture and design studios, to which many of the main real estate projects, contract and residential, in the world belong. It is this visitor, as well as the big buyers, contractors and international designers, that the Salone wants to intercept, attract and host. It is to this visitor that it is directing an offering of the highest quality, designed upon their specific needs, after listening to their demands, especially over the last year. Specifically in order to put the visitor at the center of the show, the upcoming edition will have routes optimized for a more fluid and organic visit, public rest spaces as well as spaces to be inspired by multidisciplinary cultural content. Finally, we re-examined Euroluce as an ideal city of light, which will put the interior and the lighting designer at the center of the project,” declares Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile.Milano
“The Salone del Mobile is a global event, the hub of a virtuous system which has its roots in Milan but is projected throughout the world, generating business relationships and opportunities that positively reflect on the entire system of national and international design. Innovation, vision, attention to environmental impact, cultural exchange, digital experiences, these will be the lexicon of the upcoming edition of the Salone del Mobile and of the Complemento, Workplace 3.0 and S. Project, of SaloneSatellite and Euroluce; in particular, the lighting biennial will be an event which will tap into the strength of the design imagination in order to create a workshop for experimentation and contamination to reflect on the world of lighting design from every angle. Being there will be indispensable to understand where the project is going,” states Marco Sabetta, General Manager of the Salone del Mobile.Milano.
“This is an historic moment for Made in Italy in the U.S.: we are BACK! from the pandemic with a 2022 sales record upon the 2021 record and we are building itineraries for Italian products that go from coast to coast and present products and their business platforms, considering that the Salone is the most important design fair in the world,” declared Antonino Laspina, Director of the ICE Agency in New York, coordinator of the USA network
“We must bring our trade shows’ reputation to the country, and for the first time we have organized this Road Show for the Salone: if not now, when? Given the sales record for design with more than 1 bln in growth in 3 years?” declared Carlo Angelo Bocchi, Director of the ICE Office in Miami.
On February 23, the road show will move to New York to meet East Coast design and media in two events created in collaboration with the New York Institute of Technology, the main university for the number of architects and designers in NYC and one of top ten in the U.S.
The Italian Trade Agency Miami office, the office responsible for the sector of design in the U.S., has coordinated the Salone’s mission in the United States.
