April saw the 52nd edition of arguably Italy’s foremost international exhibition attract more than 2,500 Italian and foreign exhibitors. I Saloni is the world’s leading event for furnishing, lighting and office furniture, and this year it was as big as ever.
The event comprises the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, the International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition, youth-oriented event SaloneSatellite and the biennial lighting event Euroluce and office furnishing event SaloneUfficio, which this year combined with the annual components to thrust leading exhibitors from Italian and abroad into the global spotlight from 9 to 14 April.
The two annual elements, Salone Internazionale del Mobile and the International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition, house 1,440 exhibitors and are split to denote three distrinct style types, assigning a single hall to the ‘modern’ section on functional grounds. Next door are the ‘design’ and ‘classic’ sections.
So let us consider the basics. There were 324,093 visitors overall, with just shy of 286,000 of these from within the sector. The net is spread wide, with many amateur or otherwise interested parties accounting for a significant proportion of visitors, such is the pull of the event. The net is also thrown wide in geographic terms. Few events can lay claim to drawing attendees, both buying and selling, from 160 different countries, accounting for 68 per cent of total presences (up on 63% at the 2011 edition, when the biennial Euroluce and SaloneUfficio were last held).
This year a significant proportion of visitors came from countries within Russia and the surrounding territories, and a considerable number of delegations of Chinese constructors and American architects.
The event was built around the key theme ‘Interiors of tomorrow’, aptly demonstrated by an installation by French architect Jean Nouvel titled: ‘Project: Office for living’ staged at office segment SaloneUfficio. This attempted to bridge the comfort gap between the office and home. Unless you work at Google, there are few work environments that we’d relate to when we see Nouvel’s quintet of work scenarios demonstating a work environment’s ‘creativity, inspiration and enjoyment’.
But if any event would make you forget the banality of most office environments, it’s I Saloni’s SaloneUfficio. And the Italians know it. This year the event had unparalleled support from the public sector, which truly seems to understand the significance of the event. This year for the first time in organiser Cosmit’s history, the City of Milan’s Department of Culture, Fashion and Design agreed to keep all the museums open from 7 to 14 April. It meant visitors to the Saloni, tourists and the people of Milan had free entry to Milan’s famous museums, including the Museo del Novecento (Museum of 20th Century Art) and Museo di Storia Naturale (Natural History Museum).
In addition, Milan’s public transport company Milan Fairgrounds ATM created an all-inclusive ticket valid for public transport on Milan’s urban network, and specially commissioned Saloni trains ferried visitors to/from Turin-Rho hotels near the Porta Nuova railway station in Turin.
Officials too witnessed first-hand the creativity and effort made by the exhibitors to secure their positions on the sector’s greatest international stage. Milan mayor Giuliano Pisapia, Giorgio Squinzi, the head of Italy’s biggest business lobby, Confindustria; Minister for Economic Development Corrado Passera and the president of the Lombard Region, Roberto Maroni all showed, a testament to the significant role the event plays in powering Italy’s beleaguered economy. Other visitors to the Saloni included Antonio Tajani, Vice President of the European Commission and Lorenzo Ornaghi, Italy’s Minister of Culture.
“There was an extremely positive atmosphere during the Fair, testament to the fact that even during these tough times, innovation, design and communication are solid investment levers,” said Cosmit president Claudio Luti.
“We need to start capitalising on the success of this last week without further ado,” added Luti, hinting at the aura that follows such a major event. “By going out into the regions and consolidating partnerships with those with their fingers on the distribution pulse, in order to bolster our presence on the global markets and prevent any of the effort we have put in thus far going to waste.”
This was first published in Issue 2/2013 of EW. Any comments? Email exhibitionworld@mashmedia.net
