The Salone del Mobile.Milano in Miami, between design and art
Miami, panoramic view of the city
To give an account of the 2025 highlights, an evening in the exclusive setting of the Soho House at Miami Beach. At the Italian Cultural Institute in Coral Gables, a conversation between Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, and Vincenzo De Bellis, Director of Fairs and Exhibition Platforms of Art Basel
Again this year, the Salone del Mobile.Milano is back in Florida for Art Week: from 2 to 8 December, Miami will be at the centre of the world’s attention for buyers and collectors from the worlds of art and design. With over 20 events – including Art Basel and Art Miami – the organizers are forecasting that all attendance records are sure to be broken.
After New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Munich, “Salone, Milano and beyond” continues its international tour presenting the main innovations at the next edition of the show, which in 2024 saw the United States, the sixth country of origin in the Top Ten of operators from abroad (out of a total of 370,824 attendees). A result achieved thanks to the constant support from ITA – Italian Trade Agency.
First appointment in Miami: 4 December. To tell the story of the 2025 highlights, Salone del Mobile.Milano – together with ITA - Italian Trade Agency, the Consulate General, the Italian Cultural Institute and the main American associations of architects, designers and builders – organized an evening in the exclusive setting of Soho House at Miami Beach. In the presence of over 200 architectural firms from Miami, Florida and the United States, it presented the first edition of The Euroluce International Lighting Forum, scheduled in Milan during Salone 2025, on 10 and 11 April. A two-day event of conversations and round tables, with leading speakers such as DRIFT, A.J. Weissbard and Marjan van Aubel to investigate light as an essential design material in public and private spaces.
On 5 December, at the brand new headquarters of the Italian Cultural Institute in Coral Gables, the Salone del Mobile.Milano and Art Basel are the protagonists of a conversation between Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, and Vincenzo De Bellis, Director of Fairs and Exhibition Platforms of Art Basel. The theme of discussion: how the boundaries between art and design are increasingly blurred, in synergy between research, languages and visions. A key theme for the Salone – which in 62 editions – has conceived and produced over 90 major exhibition projects, entrusted to curators, architects, and theatre directors with an international scope.
Carlo Angelo Bocchi, Italian Trade Commissioner Miami; Michele Mistò, Consul General of Italy in Miami; Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile.Milano; Marva Griffin, the founder and curator of SaloneSatellite; Marco Sabetta, General Manager Salone del Mobile.Milano; Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator of Architecture and Design at MoMa of New York and President SaloneSatellite Award - Ph. GP Communications North America Inc.
Antonio Aricò, Designer; Fahad Al Obaidly, Director Design Doha; Annalisa Rosso, Editorial Director & Cultural Events Advisor Salone del Mobile.Milano; Francesco Mainardi, Creative Director and Design Strategist - Ph. GP Communications North America Inc.
Marva Griffin, Founder and Curator SaloneSatellite; Special guests, Soho Beach House Miami - Ph. GP Communications North America Inc.
Soho Beach House Miami - Ph. Davide Colombino
Diego Sefercheoglou, Architect; Diego Madotta, Partner Black Salmon Capital; Sebastian Perez, CEO Ceramica Sebastian Perez; Antonio Marinoni, Sales Director of Porro - Ph. GP Communications North America Inc.
Special guests, Soho Beach House Miami - Ph. GP Communications North America Inc.
Special guests, Soho Beach House Miami - Ph. GP Communications North America Inc.
Special guests, Soho Beach House Miami - Ph. GP Communications North America Inc.
Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Coral Gables – Ph. Davide Colombino
Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile.Milano; Vincenzo De Bellis, Director of Fairs and Exhibition Platforms of Art Basel; Stefano Cerrato, Director Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Coral Gables – Ph. Davide Colombino
Michele Mistò, Consul General of Italy in Miami; Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile.Milano; Vincenzo De Bellis, Director of Fairs and Exhibition Platforms of Art Basel; Stefano Cerrato, Director Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Coral Gables – Ph. Davide Colombino
Matteo Zoppas, President, ITA - Italian Trade Agency – Ph. Davide Colombino
Matteo Zoppas, President, Italian Trade Agency, said: “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. Italian Trade 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, said: “2024 will again be a new record year for sales of products Made in Italy in the United States (we should surpass the USD73 billion of 2023). Italian design contributes to this great milestone with approximately USD4 billion (furniture and construction). 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 leading 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 were more than 30 skyscraper construction sites with an estimated more than USD3 billion in direct investments in 2024 alone). Furthermore, the most important Italian companies that exhibit at the Salone have built and are continuing to expand important distribution channels ranging 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 commented: “We are pleased to return to Miami as the first American stop in the new Road Show, in which the Salone del Mobile.Milano will reach numerous other destinations to talk about the upcoming edition of this event, which 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. Art and design are increasingly engaging in a dialogue, in a synergic relationship, 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 products Made in Italy, 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 construction companies. The U.S. is a place of experimentation, a reference market for the contract and large projects sector, in the fields of both residential and hospitality furnishings, which Italian design companies continue to work for with great interest.”
The next stages of the journey, again coordinated by the ITA - Italian Trade Agency with the technical partnership of the magazine Interior Design, will be New York (21 January, double event for press and trade) and Los Angeles (20 February), to bring the United States the information and culture of the Salone, inspiring creative and professional relationships that are increasingly strong and closely entwined over time.
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