The special edition Supersalone of the Milan International Furniture Fair (Salone del Mobile) was held from September 5th to 10th. Supersalone has caused a lot of controversy since it was conceived, especially the new form that was open to the public during the entire event period (rather than only on weekends), plus the products sold at discounted prices, all reminiscent of commercial trade. Exhibition.
Claudio Feltrin, chairman of FederlegnoArredo (Italian Federation of Wood and Furniture Industries), defined this exhibition as an "accepted challenge". On the walls of the various pavilions of the Rho Fiera Exhibition Center, there will be a “vertical” exhibition showing the projects carried out by these companies in the past 18 months. There will also be a dedicated space in the pavilion to showcase the history of home design, as well as lectures and conferences. The project will attract the participation of 40 professionals such as architects, entrepreneurs, artists, and politicians, as well as a film review in collaboration with the Milano Design Film Festival, and four "Gourmet Foods" created by Identità Golose. Plaza" and a large-scale ADI/Compasso d'Oro (Golden Compass Award) exhibition.
"The Lost Graduation Show" curated by Anniina Koivu will bring together 423 brands (about 16% of which are from abroad), 50 independent designers, and 170 projects from 48 design schools in 22 countries around the world. Those are the works of graduates from 2019 to 2020. According to the official press release, this is a way to support a new generation of passionate designers.
There are a total of 1,900 projects on display in this exhibition, and the organizers also hope that it can represent the restart of Milan and the furniture industry. According to FederlegnoArredo's statistics on 29,000 companies in furniture and lighting systems, after recording 21 billion euros in sales in 2020 (down 8.9% from 2019), sales in the first half of 2021 increased compared to the same period in 2020 51.7%; Thanks to tax incentives, the Italian market even increased by 67.3%. But most importantly, even compared with 2019 (before the epidemic), overall revenue has increased by 14.3% (the Italian market increased by 21.4%).
France (988.5 million euros, an increase of 53.7% compared to January to May 2020; an increase of 15.3% compared to January to May 2019), the United States (573.5 million euros, an increase of 73.7% and 35.2%, respectively), Germany ( 555.5 million euros, an increase of 32.8% and 8.6% respectively), the UK and Switzerland are the top five commercial markets, and at the same time, the top 25 destination markets have shown positive trends, proving that the export business is in good condition. Therefore, in this context, the industry has high hopes for international visitors. At the same time, the travel restrictions imposed by the epidemic have brought uncertainty. However, the Italian Foreign Trade Commission (Agenzia Ice) guaranteed the arrival of 250 operators from all over the world (including Asia and the Americas).
Visitors still need to show a Green Pass, "EU Digital Certificate" or a test certificate that is valid within 48 hours and has a negative result. To this end, the organizer of the exhibition will set up four testing centers to be able to carry out quick screening tests on-site at a cost of 22 euros. In addition, masks must be worn throughout the entire tour.
At the same time, the organizer is already thinking about what innovation this special edition exhibition will bring to the next exhibition. First of all, the way of contacting the public throughout the event and the way of directly selling exhibited works are very different from the past. In the vision of Maria Porro, the new chairman of the Milan International Furniture Fair, Supersalone seems destined to be inherited in certain aspects of the exhibition, such as recycling materials, digitization, and the focus on sustainability.
The event will also be extended to other locations in the city of Milan, first of which is the Triennale di Milano Milan Triennale under the chairmanship of Stefano Boeri, and the Italian Design Museum under its umbrella has also been recently refurbished.
