Salone del Mobile.Milan 2025: Innovation, Design and Culture in Milan
From April 8-13, Salone del Mobile.Milano 2025 will welcome more than 2,100 exhibitors, including 168 new and 91 returning brands. A global event reflecting on sustainability, innovation and the future of design, enhanced by special projects, art installations and the return of Euroluce.
By Redazione | 07/04/2025 16:07
One of the most anticipated events in the world of design and project culture returns from April 8 to 13: the Salone del Mobile.Milano, now in its 63rd edition. An event that never stops growing and relaunching itself, once again confirming itself as an international platform of excellence for contemporary furniture and design. The numbers speak for themselves: more than 2,100 exhibitors spread over 169,000 square meters within the pavilions of the Fiera di Rho, with an expected influx of visitors from more than 150 countries. These include 168 absolute debuts and 91 returns, testifying to an industry that looks confidently to the future, amid experimentation, innovation and new visions of living. Salon 2025 is a true international laboratory of ideas. The focus on sustainability, design ethics, and the relationship between aesthetics and functionality is more central than ever. This year's edition reinforces the commitment to conscious design, which focuses on recyclable materials, sustainable production processes, and a transversal idea of well-being that touches the private sphere as well as public spaces, contracting, and the hotel industry. But the heart of the event is also the cultural program, which confirms itself as a reference point for architects, designers, curators, artists, creatives, philosophers and visual storytellers. A constellation of events, installations and exhibitions will take place between the city and the exhibition halls, involving leading figures from the international cultural and creative scene.
Ideally opening Design Week will be, on April 6, the installation Robert Wilson. Mother hosted inside the Pietà Rondanini Museum - Castello Sforzesco. Celebrated American artist and director Robert Wilson signs a visionary and intimate homage to the iconic Michelangelo sculpture, offering a reinterpretation that combines light, voice and theatrical gesture in a powerful meditation on motherhood and time. Providing an ideal counterpoint is the installation Library of Light by British artist and set designer Es Devlin, set up in the Cortile d'Onore of the Pinacoteca di Brera. It is a library composed of more than 2,000 volumes selected with Feltrinelli, all related to the theme of light. A work that blends architecture, thought and collective participation, inviting visitors to reflect on the transformative power of knowledge. At the fair, in pavilions 22 and 24, La dolce attesa takes shape, a special project conceived by Oscar-winning director Paolo Sorrentino, joined by set designer Margherita Palli and with original music by Max Casacci. A narrative suspended between dream and everyday life, a tale made of looks, details and atmospheres, which transforms the fair route into a cinematic experience. Another major project is Villa Héritage, curated by French designer Pierre-Yves Rochon (Halls 13 and 15): a contemporary reinterpretation of the concept of luxury through refined furnishings, works of art and tactile installations. A sensory journey inspired by Luchino Visconti's Venice, between nostalgia and avant-garde, where every detail becomes a narrative.
After the great success of the 2023 edition, Euroluce, the biennial dedicated to lighting, also returns, hosting 306 exhibitors, 45 percent of them international. A platform that explores the new frontiers of light, not only from a technical point of view, but also from a cultural, scientific and poetic one. For the first time, it debuts The Euroluce International Lighting Forum, two days of talks and master classes with guests such as solar designer Marjan van Aubel, botanist and neurobiologist Stefano Mancuso and anthropologist Tim Ingold, for an interdisciplinary reflection on light as language. Alongside the big names in established design, SaloneSatellite, a space dedicated to designers under 35, also returns. There are 700 young designers selected from 36 countries, in dialogue with 20 of the best international design schools. Theme 2025: NEW CRAFTSMANSHIP: A NEW WORLD//NEW CRAFTSMANSHIP: A NEW WORLD, an invitation to rethink the relationship between craftsmanship, innovation and digital culture. In the space Drafting Futures. Conversations about Next Perspectives, in Hall 14, a packed schedule of meetings and confrontations curated by Annalisa Rosso is scheduled, featuring figures of the caliber of Es Devlin, Valeria Segovia, Lesley Lokko, Sabine Marcelis, Ronan Bouroullec and Paolo Sorrentino himself, for a wide-ranging discussion on the new futures of design. On the sustainability front, the Salone also confirms its concrete commitment. Already ISO 20121 certified, it continues to promote virtuous practices through the Green Guidelines for exhibitors, with a view to shared responsibility. All materials and exhibition routes are designed to be repurposed, reused or recycled, with a focus on accessibility, ergonomics and user experience.
For the fifth consecutive year, the Salone del Mobile is once again partnering with the Fondazione Teatro alla Scala. The opening night of the 63rd edition, curated by Robert Wilson, will feature The Night Before: Chairs, Objects, Opera, a journey through operatic pieces Wilson has conducted in the past, performed by the Teatro alla Scala Orchestra under the baton of Michele Spotti, with soprano Marina Rebeka. Rounding out the show is a selection of objects and chairs from the director's historic stagings. Also in Piazza della Scala, from April 1 to 13, Design Kiosk, the Salone del Mobile landmark curated by Corraini Edizioni and DWA-Design Studio, returns. Cycles of conversations with protagonists such as Piero Lissoni, Federica Biasi and Aldo Cibic will be held here. On Via Dante, the photographic exhibition Vernissage, created by photographer Bill Durgin, explores the theme of the Salone 2025 communication campaign, Thought for Humans, highlighting the link between humans and design. A selection of shots invites reflection on the values of humanity, diversity and the positive impact of design. Throughout Milan, eight graphic interventions will be on view, including those on design icons such as the handrail of the M1/M2 Milan Metro, designed by Franco Albini and Franca Helg, and bus shelters by Norman Foster. In addition, more than 100 showrooms of brands participating in the Salone and Euroluce will open their doors to the public through Fuorisalone.it. Collaboration with the City of Milan, Fondazione Fiera Milano and universities will involve more than 100 students, who will provide information to guests. Participants will be easily recognizable thanks to work jackets made in collaboration with Ethicarei, a symbol of innovation, sustainability and ethics, values that inspire a new vision of design. Salone del Mobile.Milano 2025 thus presents itself as an open, dynamic ecosystem in which design, art, architecture and culture dialogue with industry, anticipating future needs, desires and scenarios. An event that makes Milan the world capital of design.
"Since 1961," says Maria Porro, President of Salone del Mobile.Milano, "Salone del Mobile has been an ecosystem that combines business, culture and networking, generating concrete value for industrial manufacturing in a dynamic dimension, reflecting the transformation of design, living, business culture and project. Each edition is the starting point for new challenges, made possible thanks to the trust of a supply chain that recognizes the Salone as a strategic partner for internationalization. From April 8, we will have an Exhibition with more than 2,100 exhibitors from 37 countries and a Euroluce that confirms itself as a global appointment of reference for lighting with 45 percent of exhibitors from abroad. The strength of the Show is its qualified audience from 150 countries, which determines its success with an impact that extends along the entire value chain. It is for this reason that-in a complex scenario like the current one-this year we have made a greater effort than before to attract operators from established and emerging markets, stimulating key competitive elements such as sustainability and a'cultural offerings that stimulate new reflections on the future," Maria Porro continues "Welcoming us to the fair will be the exceptional gaze of Paolo Sorrentino and the talent of Pierre-Yves Rochon, the talks and round tables of Drafting Futures and the first, long-awaited edition of The Euroluce International Lighting Forum. Salone will also be in town, with two exceptional projects: a tribute to knowledge, with Es Devlin. Library of Light at the Pinacoteca di Brera, a dialogue with light in Robert Wilson's installation at the Museo della Pietà Rondanini - Castello Sforzesco. It is together with all these voices, with the 700 young talents of SaloneSatellite, who every year add new meanings to the design verb, to its great design community, that Salone will ignite, once again, that spark that transforms Milan into the Design Capital of the World. This is our commitment, tangible and intangible. But also our message: an invitation to design a world where design is-as the 2025 Communication Campaign suggests-Thought for Humans. That is, to choose with responsibility, individually and collectively, what is the right trajectory for the future."
"Approaching, in a truly complex and uncertain international climate, is the most demanding and challenging week for the Made in Italy design industry and the supply chain that is its driving force," argues Claudio Feltrin, President of FederlegnoArredo. "Yet the history of our industry has shown us that in times of difficulty the ability to innovate and turn crises into opportunities emerges even more decisively. And this is the message that will come loud and clear from the pavilions of the Salone del Mobile.Milano where the top of Italian design will once again confirm its world leadership with products that are not just products, but visions for the future, thanks to solutions that combine style, sustainability, research and innovation. However, we cannot ignore the challenges that wood-furniture and design are facing: sector data remind us that exports, which have always been the engine of our growth, are experiencing a slowdown that impacts the main reference markets, starting with Germany and France, and the winds blowing from the U.S. with Trump's tariffs are not reassuring. Added to this is a domestic demand that is struggling to recover. Reasons why, the 63rd edition of the Salone del Mobile.Milano will be even more a powerful industrial policy tool and a pathfinder to emerging markets. The Salone del Mobile and the companies that have made it unique over the years will once again know how to meet expectations and point the way as befits a true leader. Also fundamental in this sense is the work that, as FederlegnoArredo, we carry out every day, thanks to the identification of industrial policies that enhance the sector and effective measures for internationalization."
"The Salone del Mobile is one of the events in which our city's ability and willingness to innovate, experiment and open up to the world is best reflected," says Giuseppe Sala, Mayor of Milan. "Thanks to the strategic showcase offered by the Salone, in Milan, design feeds creativity, study and research into an interesting ecosystem capable of attracting important flows of people - starting with creatives, designers, architects and professionals, but also tourists and enthusiasts - and of generating value for the city, the territory and the entire country. The high quality of the proposals presented during the week of the exhibition and the program of cultural initiatives and meetings in which it is articulated are the fundamental elements of the success of an event that Milan is proud to host, contributing to its growth, for 63 editions."
"The Salone del Mobile is a platform of creativity and ideas, at the service of development," says Attilio Fontana, President of the Lombardy Region. "I especially want to emphasize the extraordinary openness of this Event and its ability to evolve, without ever betraying its essence as an engine of cultural, economic and social growth. This year's program can only confirm these characteristics. Regione Lombardia will continue to support the event, convinced of the importance of enhancing initiatives that promote the growth and development of the territory."
"The Salone del Mobile is a globally recognized event, proving to be a real pole of attraction even abroad in its internationalization activities," says Matteo Zoppas, President of the ICE Agency. "The importance of intercepting operators not only in Italy but also abroad is a rewarding strategy today. Agenzia ICE is working hard on the promotion of the show starting with some focus markets: the U.S., China, India and Saudi Arabia. The goal of the 2025 edition is to increasingly encourage the participation of target operators at the Show. An incoming of 350 operators is planned: about 190 key journalists from the main markets and more than 160 foreign buyers selected from leading architecture, interior design, real estate and developer firms from 50 countries on all continents. The Wood-Furniture Supply Chain in 2024 experienced a phase of consolidation, with exports-which account for 38 percent of the sector's total turnover-standing at 19.4 billion euros (-2.3 percent compared to 2023), with some important exceptions such as the United States at +3.5 percent and an excellent performance, for example, of the UAE growing by more than 20 percent. Agenzia ICE continues to support the sector with global promotional initiatives to stimulate its growth."
