Salone del Mobile 2025 already 'sold out. Bob Wilson opens the 63rd edition

The next edition of the Show (from 8 to 13 April 2025) is already "sold out": this was announced by the fair's president, Maria Porro, adding that there are already long waiting lists, especially for the biennial Euroluce, which for the second time will present itself with a renewed layout and some important new features, including the International Lighting Forum scheduled for 10 and 11 April, which is part of the event's evolutionary path, with the aim of creating a contemporary cultural and educational platform to complement the commercial offer.

The ability of the Show not only to be a fundamental showcase for the industrial sector that represents its soul, but also to convey the culture of the project and to dictate stylistic trends at a global level has been the key to its success, and it is on this dual soul, both commercial and cultural, that the organisers of the fair have decisively focused, especially after the pandemic. The 2025 edition will mark a further step in this direction: in addition to the Lighting Forum, four major 'site-specific' projects have been announced, entrusted to as many great interpreters of the contemporary, which will confirm and strengthen the inescapable link between the Salone and the city of Milan.

The first project bears the signature of Robert Wilson and is entitled 'The Mother': a homage to Michelangelo's Pietà Rondanini, housed at the Castello Sforzesco, which the American artist will interpret through the use of light, in a dramaturgical dialogue with 'Stabat Mater', a composition by Estonian musician Arvo Pärt. The installation, promoted in collaboration with the Municipality of Milan, is a tribute to the city and will be a bridge with Milan Art Week, which precedes Design Week, and with the Miart fair, as recalled by the Councillor for Culture of the Municipality of Milan, Tommaso Sacchi. And again Bob Wilson will be the curator of 'The Night Before', the show staged at La Scala for the opening night of the 63rd edition, with the Theatre Orchestra conducted by Michele Spotti.

"We have always thought of the Salone as a fundamental tool for offering growth and development opportunities for our sector, creating intercultural dialogues, bringing disciplines closer together, illuminating Milan," said Maria Porro. "Imagination has always driven change and that is why, once again this year, the Salone has decided to reinvest the results of a record-breaking 2024 edition on a first-rate cultural programme." Porro also announced the publication of "Universo Satellite", a tribute to the 25th anniversary of the SaloneSatellite, the Show's under-35 hub: "an immense documentary work, the starting point for imagining a future in which intergenerational dialogue between young talents and companies becomes the key to achieving ever-higher challenges in terms of creativity and innovation. The same challenges taken up by the exhibitors of Salone 2025, which allow us to confirm already now that, despite the complexity of the global context, April's edition will be a sold-out one, thanks to the Salone's commitment to the constant search for and selection of new companies in Italy and around the world and new opportunities for relations with established and emerging markets. A commitment that in 2024 saw the percentage of foreign operators visiting the event increase to 65.3%".

Claudio Feltrin, president of FederlegnoArredo, also emphasised the decisive role of the Milan Furniture Show in sustaining the growth of the supply chain, even more so in a stagnant economic context: "The year 2024 is drawing to a close that, at the beginning of the year, we had not imagined as complex as this," said Feltrin. "Companies are counting on a small turnaround in the final part of the year, which could be the prelude to a slow recovery in 2025. A recovery that cannot disregard exports, and this is why the Milan Furniture Fair will once again be an opportunity to strengthen and expand the presence of our companies on international markets".