Road to Salone 2024: the promotional tour for the 62nd edition

On Tuesday 21st November, the Salone del Mobile.Milano international tour kicked off in Paris on the first leg of its journey through the main European and international cities, where it will be hosted in standout spaces given over to hospitality, unique because of their heritage or highly contemporary vibe. Again this year, the aim is to attract a wider audience of journalists and professionals, with a packed schedule of exceptional architect and designer guests - influential figures in the design industry who are now called upon not just to design furnishings, but also to come up with ideas and visions of the world that can be shared.     

The common thread to the events featured in Road to Salone 2024 is the theme of home living: the conversations with internationally renowned guests will explore the ways in which this concept is subject to constant evolution. The idea of home living, which also extends to the extra-domestic sphere, is no longer tied to possession, but is increasingly attuned to emotions and human relations. The key themes will include the importance of the power of vision and innovation in the large events and industrial design world, the need for an increasingly human-centric and inclusive culture, focused on communities and individuals, the need for multidisciplinary dialogue between different cultural and geographical areas and, last but not least, sustainability, a field in which the Salone del Mobile has already notched up a major milestone, ISO 20121 certification for sustainable events management, achieved at the latest edition.  

The tour was launched at the French capital’s Cheval Blanc Paris, a historic building overlooking the Seine, revisited in a contemporary key by Peter Marino, five minutes from the Louvre, and boasting a view over the Ile de la Cité and a terrace/garden with an urban vegetable patch. France was also the top Italian furnishing export destination country in 2022 and this year too it claimed pride of place on the podium, while the French professionals visiting the trade fair in 2023 made up the third largest contingent. 

In Paris, the morning opened with an introduction by Gianfranco Marinelli, President of Federlegno Arredo Eventi and Marco Sabetta, General Manager of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, who shared the very first information on the upcoming edition, slated for 16th to 21st April 2024 – from the reworked layout and exhibition paths to the new digital services and content, and including the biennial events  EuroCucina with FTK – Technology For the Kitchen and the International Bathroom exhibition and the celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of SaloneSatellite. Also present was Marva Griffin Wilshire, founder and curator of the event dedicated to designers under 35 and Salone del Mobile.Milano International Relations Ambassador.  

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The special guest at this event was the French designer Patrick Jouin, who highlighted the elective affinities between the practice of designers and the Salone’s vision of the future of design and large events - a vision in which two colours are intertwined in the name of the twin revolution: green for sustainability and blue for digital innovation.  Recalling his visit to the Salone, Jouin said: “In 1998, I loaded two lamps, a chair, a rug and a roll of linoleum into the car to go and exhibit at SaloneSatellite under my own name for the first time. I met people with whom I now share this event every year, where anyone can try their luck. I was young and inexperienced – I worked with Philippe Starck – I observed what was to become my own world. The top international designers and international manufacturers met to share their passion, bringing business and culture together in a sector immensely rich in savoir faire”.