The Salone del Mobile opens in a week but its numbers are already putting you in a good mood. And it is not just taking into account that, as President Maria Porro says, “after two already complicated years, at a time when we did not expect the second black swan”. The numbers that are comforting are both those of exhibitors and visitors who bought tickets, and those of the 2021 final balance of the wood-furniture sector. But let’s go in order.
It is the 60th Salone in its history and the first post-pandemic, a little anticipated – also to break the ice of two years of almost standstill – by the Supersalone last September. Let’s start with the numbers of the event: 200 thousand square meters of surface, 2,173 exhibitors of which 600 are young people from the Satellite show and a good 27% of companies from abroad. Plus a not yet definitive but very important number of visitors. «They are buying tickets from all over the world» says President Porro, «we had to institute a special procedure for the peak of requests from India». New markets, then, or returned to the great like the United States, which compensate for the absences of Russia and China. In any case, many connections will be ensured for China, including the live streaming of the inaugural show at La Scala. “The figures of 2019 or 2018 will not be repeated – President Porro puts her hands on – but we start again with very positive conditions, especially in terms of quality”.
And the good mood, it was said, also comes from the balance sheets of the wood-furniture sector, which for many items see double-digit increases compared to 2019: 49.3 billion in turnover (+ 14%); 18.4 billion in exports (+ 7.3%) and 31 billion in sales on the domestic market (+ 18.4%). “Numbers that tell the state of health of a sector made up mostly of small companies that have continued to invest” comments the president of FederlegnoArredo Claudio Feltrin, “but it is useless to deny that our entrepreneurs are already looking at the second half of the year, which began in a climate of uncertainty due to the Ukrainian conflict and the consequences of which may be revealed precisely in the autumn ».
The show runs from 7 to 12 June and, as always, the first days will be dedicated to professionals while the weekend is also open to the public. And everyone will be able to see and experience one of the most interesting spaces, the “Design with Nature” exhibition-installation curated by architect Mario Cucinella. We cannot anticipate much except what he himself told us about the high rate of sustainability & circularity of the place: “It will be an organic space with structures and tables in beech plywood integrated with panels that use hemp, or recovered material, instead of chipboard. from the fishing industry or from pressed newspapers; and then benches in hemp and imitation leather made from mango, therefore perfumed ». There, equally sustainable menus made by Identità golose will be tasted and – in an auditorium area – there will be talks with the protagonists of the sector. During the weekend, Chiara Alessi will be there to retrace the 60 years of the Salone, helped by Makkox’s drawings.
“It will be a show in great shape” smiles the general manager Marco Sabetta who, as for the Covid restrictions, says “they will be those foreseen in the Official Gazette”.