Milan's Famous Furniture Fair Has Been Postponed Until 2021
Milan’s legendary Salone del Mobile furniture fair—one of the global design industry’s top annual events—has been canceled, organizers said Friday. The fair, which was to have marked its 59th edition this April, had originally been postponed until June due to the coronavirus pandemic. But today the Salone’s board made the tough decision to cancel until next year. “Although we were determined to keep to the June date...the unprecedented circumstances and medium-term uncertainties now mean that this year’s Salone can no longer go ahead,” the board announced in a statement.
The next edition of the influential fair, which attracts design buyers, media, and fans from around the globe to see the latest furniture and designs from Italy and elsewhere, will be held April 13 through 18, 2021, when the Salone will celebrate its 60th anniversary.
The cancellation joins another announcement Friday that this year’s London Design Fair, which was to have been held in September, will also be postponed until 2021. Several other upcoming design shows had previously been called off, including Legends in Los Angeles, ICFF in New York, and Coverings in New Orleans.
This is the first year since the Salone fair launched in 1961 that it has been canceled. The northern Italian region near Milan was the first in Europe to be hard-hit by the Covid-19 virus, with more than 4,800 deaths to date.
At the annual Salone, more than 2,300 companies—including such influential Italian and other European furniture firms as Molteni & C, Minotti, Flexform, Poliform, Scavolini, Baxter, Visionaire, Roche Bobois, and Fendi Casa—exhibit their latest designs at the Rho Fiera Milano fairgrounds, showing them to some 370,000 visitors from 180-plus countries. The fair has grown exponentially in recent years, with satellite shows and design events held all over the city. During Milan Design Week every April, local designers such as Dimore Studio and Paola Lenti, furniture firms including Poltrona Frau, Janus et Cie, B&B Italia, and Armani/Casa, and luxury brands like Hermès and Loewe all get into the act with installations across town that have only grown more elaborate—and Instagram-friendly—by the year.
The 2021 edition will combine Salone’s biannual exhibitions, including the Euroluce lighting show and EuroCucina, focused on kitchens. “This single, great sectorwide fair will represent a fresh opportunity to pull together to revitalize our businesses,” organizers said.
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