I Saloni 2007: another great success

The second appearance o fthe Saloni at the Rho exhibition centre exceeded all possible expectations, replicating the huge success of the previous edition.

The curtain fell on another record-breaking edition of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile on Monday 23rd April 2007. The 46th edition also starred the biennial Euroluce (International Lighting Exhibition), the International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition and SaloneSatellite.

After the huge numbers of visitors last year, we might have been forgiven for wondering whether or not we could possibly pull off the same incredible success once again, particularly in terms of visitor numbers. Although this was Euroluce’s debut appearance at the New Milan Fairgrounds, the “new Fair” could not necessarily have still been expected to pull in the crowds again this year, but even the gloomiest predictions were proved wrong. There were 223,000 visitors to the new exhibition centre last year, but this year a block-busting 270,824 specialist operators attended the Saloni 2007. In percentage terms, this equates to +21.37% compared with the 2006 edition and +40.74% compared with 2005, in which Euroluce was also involved.
The stated internationality of the Saloni, a blazing beacon of reference for furnishing and lighting systems, and an acknowledged setter of trends, was validated again this year with an even greater complement of foreign visitors: 165,203 people from 144 different countries (+33.89% compared with the figures for 2006 and +64.01% compared with 2005). The numbers of Italian operators attending (+5.89% compared with the previous edition and +15.18% compared with 2005) confirm that the sector is in decided reprisal after the last few difficult years.

As regards the range of exhibitors at the Saloni 2007, 1,989 companies set up camp over 206,927.50 square metres of exhibition space.
More precisely, at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile this year, 1,097 Italian and 208 foreign companies were ranged over 150,453.50 square metres; at Euroluce, 401 Italian and 162 foreign companies occupied 50,323.50 square metres and, finally, at the International Furnishing Accessories Exhibition, 105 Italian and 16 foreign exhibitors took up 6,150.50 square metres of exhibition space.
Added to these were the 158 exhibit spaces of SaloneSatellite, showcasing 570 designers and 200 students from 24 design schools, making a total of 770 exhibitors, of whom 199 were Italian and 571 foreign, occupying 3,168 square metres, thus bringing the total number of exhibitors to 2,759.

There were also a conspicuous number of Sunday visitors, again well up on last year: 37,962 visitors attended this year, compared with last year’s 21,312. Press attendance was no less impressive, with 4,732 journalists from all five continents.

An unprecedented success, therefore, thanks in equal measure to the quality of goods on offer and to the layout of the exhibition space, which gave each of the companies ample opportunity to set up their own particular choreographed exhibits.

The Saloni’s collateral event, A Room with a View. Italian Art and Interiors 1900-2000. proved to be crowd-pulling and fascinating, with 11,642 visitors thus far. This major exhibition continues on the first floor of the Palazzo Reale in Milan until 1st July. There are nineteen “rooms”, redolent of the atmosphere and taste that animated and inspired the great Italian culture of art and design over the last century up to the present day: Divisionist and Futurist painters, the great Novecento masters and the Neo-Avantgarde movement of the Seventies, the Postmodern protagonists of the Eighties and the burgeoning talents now affirmed at international level. Works by architects, designers and artists are displayed alongside the paintings and other installations.