Large projects, over 68 billion market protagonist at the Show

According to a study by Csil, contract furniture in Europe represents a market of over 13.5 billion euro of production, with consumption of around 11 billion euro. Contract production remains largely concentrated in Europe, while less than 20% of output is destined for projects outside Europe, mainly in North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. The United Kingdom, Italia, Germany, Poland and Sweden, which together account for over 60% of total European production, confirm the continent's role as a production and design hub with global projection.

We are witnessing a shift in customers' interest 'from the objects themselves to the design of an environment as a whole. The focus of companies is therefore shifting from the production of individual pieces to the design of systems, from the moment of sale to a long-term commitment to all players who will use a given ecosystem,' explained David Gianotten, architect and managing partner of OMA.

Doing contract, therefore, means for a company to work with a completely different approach compared to the way the retail market is approached. Ad hoc" divisions need to be created internally, with dedicated teams of people able to address different interlocutors than the traditional "consumer" customers (developers, architects, interior designers, etc.) and to respond to the specific needs of this distribution channel, both technical (certifications, standards, etc.) and service-related (customised solutions, design flexibility, etc.). This is precisely what many Italian furniture brands are doing, which in recent years have increasingly invested to increase the contract channel's share of total sales. Many companies, for example, have expanded their product and service range (either by creating it in-house or by acquiring other already specialised companies) in order to be able to offer the market complete solutions. At the same time, the way in which shops and showrooms are conceived has also changed. In addition to maintaining their traditional retail function, they have progressively evolved into spaces for design, meeting and discussion with market specifiers.

The Salone Contract was created precisely with the aim of accompanying, advising and supporting companies in this transformation - and not only smaller companies or those who have not yet tackled the large project sector, but also those already established in this field.

Also because, as Porro reminds us, "the word contract encompasses a world": in the furniture industry it indicates activities that are also very different from each other, from the supply of products or elements in large quantities for large projects and public spaces (offices, hotels, residences, theatres, airports, hospitals, conference centres, etc.) to customised and turnkey systems for small to medium-sized prestigious projects, such as villas or luxury yachts. Italian companies are especially competitive in this second area, which requires special and complex expertise in design and production, but also in order management.