After events in New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Munich, the Salone del Mobile.Milano begins the International Road Showin the United States, starting in Miami. The goal – to introduce what will be new at the upcoming trade fair, an international reference point for the design world, in Milan, April 8-13, 2025.
For years, in December (from Dec 2-8), Miami has been the global center of attention for buyers and collectors from the world of art and design. With more than 20 shows – including Art Basel and Art Miami – according to organizers’ predictions, this will beat all turnout records.
It’s also a special week for Salone del Mobile.Milano, which – for the second year in a row – returns to Florida to kick off the International Tour, preceding the 63rd edition of the trade show, which in 2024 saw the United States as the sixth country of origin in the Top Ten industry operators from abroad (of a total of 370,824 in attendance). A result achieved thanks to the continuous support of the ITA – Italian Trade Agency.
First stop in Miami: December 4. To talk about the 2025 highlights, Salone del Mobile.Milano – along with the ITA – Italian Trade Agency, the Consulate General, the Italian Cultural Institute and the main American associations of architects, designers and builders – has organized an evening in the exclusive setting of Soho House in Miami Beach, in the presence of more than 200 architecture studios in Miami, Florida and the United States, who were introduced to the first edition of The Euroluce International Lighting Forum, expected in Milan, on the occasion of the Salone 2025, on April 10 and 11. Two days of discussions and roundtables, with top-level speakers such as DRIFT, A.J. Weissbard and Marjan van Aubel to investigate light as an indispensable design material, in public and private spaces.
On December 5, at the brand-new location of the Italian Cultural Institute in Coral Gables, Salone del Mobile.Milano and Art Basel were the leading figures of a conversation between Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, and Vincenzo De Bellis, Director of Fairs and Exhibition Platforms for Art Basel. The subject of the meeting: how the boundaries between art and design are increasingly blurred, in a mutual contamination of research, language, vision. A key subject for the Salone, which over its 62 editions has conceived and produced more than 90 large exhibition projects, entrusted to curators, architects and directors at an international level.
The meetings in Miami represented a unique opportunity for the Salone to promote all the content of the 63rd edition of the show and of its corresponding initiatives.
Matteo Zoppas, President, Italian Trade Agency “A unique framework to promote Made in Italy furniture and design to an influential public. Art Basel and the talk with the Salone del Mobile will be an opportunity to bring Made in Italy products closer to art, discussing its creativity and originality in an even more elevated tone. The Salone del Mobile is a globally-recognized event, a true center of attraction at home and abroad in its internationalization initiatives. The importance of intercepting sector professionals not only in Italy, but also abroad, is a rewarding strategy today. ICE Agency is working diligently to promote the Salone starting from three focus markets: U.S., China and India. This presentation event in Miami is the eighth of its kind in the United States. The goal of the 2025 edition is to foster even greater participation of target operators in the show. Approximately 190 key journalists from the main markets will be invited as well as more than 160 foreign buyers selected from among the most important offices of architecture, interior design, real estate and developers.”
Carlo Angelo Bocchi, Italian Trade Commissioner Miami “2024 will again be a new record year for sales of Made in Italy products in the United States (we should surpass the 73 billion USD of 2023). Italian design contributes to this great milestone for approximately 4 billion USD (furniture and building). The choice to have the American Road Show of the Salone del Mobile.Milano start in Miami for the second time is not only because the U.S. is the first extra-E.U. market (consistent with the passion for Italy existing in American architecture studios, designers, building companies and engineering firms), but because Florida and Miami (along with New York) are the center of American investments in residential, hospitality and corporate enterprises (there are more than 30 skyscraper construction sites with an estimated more than 3 billion USD in direct investments and only for 2024). Furthermore, the most important Italian companies that exhibit at the Salone built and continue to expand important distribution channels that range from flagship stores to shops specializing in Italian products, all in New York, and now also all in Miami.”
Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile.Milano comments, “We are pleased to return to Miami as the first American stop in the new Road Show, wherein the Salone del Mobile.Milano will reach numerous other destinations in order to talk about the upcoming edition of this event that can enhance the quality and heritage of Italian design companies and of all our exhibitors. Miami is establishing itself as the capital of contemporary art. There is an increased dialogue between art and design, in a relationship of mutual contamination, which offers new keys to understanding our sector. We are also happy to return to the U.S., a market with a great interest in Made in Italy products, where the reputation of doing something “the Italian way” and of design products is excellent. This is also thanks to the fundamental role of the distribution channels, not only single-brand and specialized stores, but also architecture, design and engineering firms, and building companies. The U.S. is a place of experimentation, a reference market for the sector of contracts and large projects, in both the residential and hospitality sectors, to which Italian design companies continue to turn with great interest.”
After Miami, again coordinated by the ITA – Italian Trade Agency with the technical partnership of the magazine Interior Design, the American Road Show continues and will be in New York (January 21, after event for press and trade) and Los Angeles (February 20) to bring to the U.S. the information and culture of the Salone, an inspiring force of creative and professional relationships, which have become increasingly intertwined and strengthened over time. The Salone del Mobile.Milano is a multiform and continuously progressing reality: experimentation and contamination workshop, meeting place and generator of new opportunities to reflect on the world of design and planning, as well as a spokesperson for Made in Italy design products and great guardian and promoter of design culture.