Courtesy of quality, commitment, cohesion and a great desire to come together and get going again, the recently concluded 60th Salone del Mobile.Milano smashed all expectations in terms of turnout, revitalizing the city and a whole system internationally. With over 262,000 attendees, Salone del Mobile.Milano came to an end with a very positive result confirming the event’s great drawing power and immense worldwide outreach. Here is a detailed report on SURFACES REPORTER (SR).
Go figures
This year, the concern for the sustainable component on the level of both the organization and management of the event and in research and the proposal of value and concrete and feasible solutions – presented by Design with Nature, SaloneSatellite and many exhibitors – have made Salone an international stage for business ideas and technological solutions capable of protecting the environment, improving housing and ensuring the most efficient use of resources, in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
“We close this 60th edition of the Salone del Mobile.Milano with great satisfaction and profound emotion for having achieved and exceeded the goals we had set ourselves. The attendance of visitors is an outstanding result which we have worked so hard to attain. This edition was truly of the highest quality, international and in the service of the design community. The ICE’s collaboration was precious in its support in opening up new markets with digital offerings that this week as in previous months has enabled us both to get in touch with countries that knew little about us and rarely sent us visitors, while not abandoning those regrettably unable to be here in person,” comments Maria Porro, President, Salone del Mobile.Milano.
Its 60th edition has once again shown, three years after the previous one, that quality furniture has its most important global showcase in the Salone, and how far the event can attract talents, recount creativity and projects, and serve as an exceptional place for getting together, sharing and exchanging ideas that produce work and business. “The smart home, the renewal of materials, the entwining of tradition and innovation aiming at sustainability increasingly seen as a competitive lever are a practical demonstration of how much companies have continued to invest in these years, albeit so difficult, without ever ceasing to look to the future with optimism,” stresses Claudio Feltrin, President, FederlegnoArredo.
- Nearly 2,175 brands participated, of which 27 per cent came from abroad
- Of 2,175 brands, 600 were young designers
- Visitor turnout of 262,608 from 173 countries witnessed in six days
- 61 per cent of operators in the sector were from abroad
- Over 3,500 accredited journalists from around the world attended
Socially sound
To inform and involve, the plan to engage with Salone del Mobile’s international community covered all the touch points of the platform including website, newsletter, app, push and social networks (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube). The results achieved by the digital platform during the days of the event, supported by an activation plan begun in the weeks leading up to the Salone and supported by daily planning of scheduled content have proved highly positive.
- 13.5 million social accounts were reached with more than 50,000 contents generated by the community using the official hashtags (#salonedelmobile2022 and #salonedelmobile60th)
- Video views of 600,000
- 120,000 interactions with content
- 25 million impressions
- In the last week, the site recorded 4.8 million page views with an average of 100,000 daily users (69.2 per cent from Italy; 30.8 per cent from abroad)
- 42 per cent increase in new users registered on the platform
- The Salone del Mobile.Milano app had an average of 40,000 scans made with the matchmaking service for directly connecting companies and professionals visiting Rho
- The cycle of podcasts Design Voices – Salone del Mobile, which broadcast live daily during the days of the event, ranked third in the art category on Amazon Music
Supporting and collaborative factors
Recognition of the importance of the Salone del Mobile.Milano as the economic driving force of the country has also come from the presence of many government and institutional authorities. The concrete support provided by Agenzia ICE and Simest confirms the event’s international value, while the support of the Lombardy Region certifies its centrality to Salone’s chain of production. Also important is the close collaboration with Fiera Milano, which assisted in the development of the event.
Design with Nature enjoyed great public success and has also received critical acclaim from the many designers, architects and journalists who visited it. They appreciated its clear and direct account of how, in the near future, we will have to be able to combine knowledge, skills and technologies in a new generation of materials and design. The public programme won similar plaudits with illustrious voices (including architects, innovators and visionaries), with all the talks being sold out. This is a sign that the desire to come together and discuss the fundamental issues of design and its social and environmental value is more alive than ever.
There were also long lines at the Identita Golose Food Court, the right place to enjoy a gourmet break with the great names of Italian cuisine. There was an excellent attendance at Palazzo Reale, where the Salone staged La Scatola Magica, a deeply moving multi-sensory and narrative experience, presenting the quality, innovation and creativity, but above all the beauty of the Milanese event.
Highlighting the international role of the Salone del Mobile.Milano and the city, with their vocation for inclusion and hospitality, was the Hospitality Project, the result of collaboration with the Municipality of Milan, Fondazione Fiera and the city’s leading design schools – Nuova Accademia, IED Istituto Europeo di Design and Scuola del Design/Politecnico di Milano. The 100 young people located at key points in the city advised more than 5,400 visitors from around the world about mobility in the city, the fair, the events of the Salone in the city and the main events taking place in Milan. With the help of a survey conducted, the Salone authorities got to know that the visitors adopted green solutions to reach the fair, such as trains and the subway.
With its non-stop energy, Salone del Mobile.Milano is gearing up to return with a bang with its next edition in Milan from April 18 to April 23, 2023. Stay tuned for more details.
Photographs: AM Andrea Mariani, AR Alessandro Russotti, DR Diego Ravier, FR Francesco Rucci, LF Luca Fiammenghi, LM Ludovica Mangini and SLV Saverio Lombardi Vallauri; Courtesy: Salone del Mobile.Milano