60 years with the Salone: the brands that have been on board from the start

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Salone del Mobile, 1970

12 companies, ambassadors for Italian design creativity and craftsmanship, have taken part in every single edition of the Salone del Mobile.Milano. A shared growth path and a boundless contribution to the furnishing system

Once upon a time there was the Salone del Mobile, the one in 1961, the very 1st edition, in which 328 companies took part. Since then, those companies have never stopped participating in it, believing in it and evolving with it. In the name of quality, research, innovation and sustainability. Let’s see who they are.

GERVASONI

Based in Friuli, the company started life in 1882 as an artisan workshop specialising in wickerwork, and passed into the hands of the Gervasoni family in 1925, still at the helm today and now into its third generation. In 2015 it became part of IDB, Italian Design Brands, a company set up with a view to creating an Italian hub of high-quality design furnishing, capable of competing at international level. Woven into its DNA is a combination of manual skills and industrial technologies, married with a quest for the most diversely inspired materials.

GIORGETTI

With its roots firmly in the Brianza region, the company opened in Meda in 1898 and has adhered to its concept of Made and Manufactured in Italy ever since. The entire production process takes place exclusively in Italy, carried out by highly specialised staff, thus ensuring the continuity of its wood- working tradition which, combined with the new technologies, marries design, creativity and style in products that offer a high level of customisation. Elegance as the sum of pleasure and value.

FLEXFORM

When the Galimberti brothers opened a workshop in the heart of Brianza in 1959, never in their wildest dreams could they have imagined that they would go on to furnish the foyer of La Scala, along with many other prestigious interiors. Specialised in the production of sofas and furnishing boasting an extremely high level of craftsmanship, the identity and success of the company are founded on a system of shared values, such as design consistency, contemporaneity and durability. Now into its third generation, it embraces a “we attitude” - an awareness that the team is the real player.

MEDEA 1905

This old-established company – set up in 1905 – started out by reproducing late 19th century English furniture, gradually becoming specialised in the reproduction of historic pieces, both anonymous and signature, with a preference for French Liberty of all the different styles and artistic movements, of which it is a renowned editor. Alongside its lengthy furnishing history, it also has a contemporary side, continuing to uphold its high standards of cabinetry. The company’s great flexibility extends to mass production for residential and contract, as well as custom-made pieces, both classic and modern, for homes, commercial premises, hotels and yachts.

Slider2_Ottocento_2_medea — Ottocento, photo courtesy Medea 1905

MINOTTI

Set up in 1948 in Meda, by the ‘60s it had already taken on the industrial imprint and dimensions that later, in the ‘90s, with the second generation, would start its expansion towards the international markets – its 45th flagship store opened recently – while now, the third generation of the family business has taken on the challenges of the new millennium, and the digital and multicultural world. Consistent with its values of aesthetic simplicity, timeless elegance, continuity with artisan tradition and savoir faire, it is one of the excellences of contemporary Made in Italy and an interpreter of a modern classic lifestyle in both the residential and hospitality sectors, indoor and outdoor.

MISURAEMME

With a plant with a surface area of 35,000 m2, the company founded 120 years in Mariano Comense and now run by the third generation of the family, with a strong ethical commitment to safeguarding the environment, was the first in the sector to be certified in 2002 with the prestigious Aquaver® trademark, awarded by ANVER (Italian National Association of Industrial Coaters), which certifies the use of environmentally-friendly coating systems. Constantly researching new solutions and experimenting with materials, it blends tradition and avant-garde with furnishing produced exclusively in Italy.

MOLTENI & C.

Angelo Molteni – one of the members of the Salone del Mobile founding committee – opened his artisan workshop in 1934 in the furniture district of Brianza. In no time at all it became increasingly industrial and synonymous with high quality products. Always ahead of its time, it moved from classic to modern furniture production in 1968, distinguished by extremely refined details, and a decade later embarked on contract furnishing, becoming a leader in the production of large-scale “turnkey” solutions. Its designers include the Masters Luca Meda, Afra and Tobia Scarpa and Aldo Rossi.

masterdressing_molteni_salonemilano — Master Dressing, design by Vincent Van Duysen, photo courtesy Molteni&C

PIANCA

Cabinet-makers for 14 generations, the Treviso-based company has its roots in Venezuela, where Enrico Pianca, and a cousin, opened a factory producing wooden shoe lasts. On his return to Italy in 1956, he turned the family workshop into an industrial concern and, conscious of the importance of design, took part in the first Salone del Mobile. The company took off with the return of Giambattista too. Its traditional approach to the culture of wood, consolidated by its selection of the very best raw materials, is testament to the sustainable mindset of the company, which even more than twenty years ago had cut its use of cardboard, plastic and polystyrene packaging by 95%.

PORRO

Set up in 1925 in Brianza and now in its fourth generation, the company prides itself on its innate skills when it comes to selecting, processing and interpreting wood. With a wide range of woods, renewed each year, it marries traditional craftsmanship with advanced production and computerisation technology. Linked from the outset with some of the most authoritative figures in Italian design, its logo was designed by Bruno Munari, who turned the two “O”s in the name into screws seen from above, to symbolise a company dedicated to the transformation of wood as its most representative work tool.

POTOCCO

Domenico Potocco opened an artisan workshop in Manzano, near Udine, in 1919. It has become a leading industrial concern, specialising in the production of furnishings for the home and contract sectors, both indoor and outdoor. Now into its fifth generation, the company has always invested in its human and relational capital, valorising them as crucial assets for growth. A huge distribution network and the opening of Potocco USA and Potocco Asia-Pacific are testament to its international calling.

TURRI

Original, authentic and unique are the three adjectives that have summed up the Carugo-based company in Brianza since it opened in 1925. Its mission, however, is to “build beautiful things” leveraging the manual skills of expert craftspeople, who finish off every single piece of furnishing beautifully. Specialised in the production of “in style” furniture, it started producing high-end furnishing with contemporary lines and glamourous details in 2009, aimed at a cosmopolitan client base, always the last word in quality and prestige.

VISIONNAIRE

Famous for its extremely high level of sartorial ability, the meta-luxury brand was founded by the parent company IPE in Bologna, which launched its new and revolutionary collection of luxury design on the international market in 2004. With its distinctive style, Visionnaire finds its ideal partners in the fields of bespoke residential and contract, luxury hotellerie, yachting and aviation. With more than 30 single-brand showrooms and a network of department stores and multi-brand outlets all over the world, the company set out its commitment to safeguarding the natural heritage and human capital in the art book-manifesto Decàlogo in 2019, and became a Benefit Company in 2021, defining its business as a promoter of positive value for the community.