A post by Giuseppe Avesaine, Italian Design Identity Curator, went viral on social media. He states that Salone del Mobile, the largest and most popular design fair of the year in Milan, is no longer held at the Salone.
© LinkedIn
''Let's be honest. During Salone del Mobile week, Salone is no longer at the fairgrounds. Many long-established Italian design brands have gradually abandoned the exhibition halls to focus instead on their own showrooms in central Milan.
Is it understandable? Maybe. Is it convenient? Absolutely.
Is it healthy for the system? Not really.
Exhibition costs at the fair have become unsustainable.
Hotel prices in Milan during Salone week are simply out of control.
The problem hasn't been solved, it has just been shifted.
Emerging brands, with fewer options, are forced to chase visibility through temporary showrooms scattered across the city's "design districts."
And the ones paying the highest price are international operators.
Architects, interior designers, developers, buyers from abroad spend the entire week crossing Milan in taxis, stuck in traffic, with impossible schedules
and very little time left for calm, meaningful conversations.
More events. More parties. More noise.
But less dialogue. Less understanding. Less project.
The fair used to work because it was centralized, readable, and efficient.
Today, Salone week feels like an urban obstacle course that rewards scale and budget and penalises those who most need to be discovered.
The real question is not where brands exhibit, but how much this chaos is eroding the quality of relationships. And without real relationships, even the best design fades into background noise.''
Source and respond: Giuseppe Avesani LinkedIn
