The Salone Contract is born. Focus on a 68 billion euro market

There is a lot of work to be done, starting with the definition - contract - which in the furniture world indicates activities that are also very different from each other: from the bulk supply of products for large projects and public spaces (offices, hotels, residences, theatres, airports, hospitals, conference centres, etc.) to customised, turnkey projects for small to medium-sized luxury projects, such as villas or luxury yachts.

Italian companies stand out above all in this second area, which requires special and complex expertise in design and production, but also in the management of orders. It is precisely this world that the new initiative announced by the Milan Furniture Fair is aimed at, which from 2027 will have a Contract Fair, a new section dedicated to a strategic segment, which has in fact sustained the growth of the Italian furniture industry over the last three years, while at the same time retail sales were at a standstill. But already this year's edition, from 21 to 26 April in the Fiera Milano spaces in Rho, will host a sort of spin-off project, entrusted in both cases to Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten of Oma, one of the most established international architecture firms in this field.

"We started from the observation of market dynamics and began working on this theme, discussing it with the companies, with the aim of developing an area dedicated to contracting within the Show," explains president Maria Porro, specifying that this is not an event or an installation, but a real line of development for the event, which confirms its role as a compass for companies, capable of transforming and adapting to the times and the new challenges posed by the market, without losing its identity and its nature as a cultural and economic infrastructure at the service of the production system.

"Italian brands are very competitive in this field, because we have always invested in research and experimentation,' Porro observes. 'Alongside the industrial dimension of production, many companies have developed the ability to design and produce customised solutions in a short time, offer them to customers at the right price, and complete them with a series of after-sales services with high added value. Precisely what the market is increasingly demanding, especially in tourism (hotels, airports, restaurants), but also in the healthcare, education and marine sectors.

A few numbers to confirm this: according to estimates by Global Market Insight Inc, the contract market is currently worth around €68 billion globally and is expected to exceed €110 billion in the next decade. in Europe, contract furniture production is worth around €13.5 billion, while consumption has reached around €11 billion (source: Csil)