CITY Issue 55 - (Page 54) DESIGN SLY SALONE Held each spring in Milan, Salone Internazionale del Mobile is the reigning king of international design shows. With the 2008 edition on tap for April 16 – 21, Tim McKeough caught up with two of the furniture fair’s chief executives to ask what keeps Milan on top. Q&A: ROSARIO MESSINA s p esident of Cosmit, the o anization that uns Salone Inte nazionale del Mobile, Rosa io Messina is cha ed ith ma in su e the massive fai , hich sp a ls ove mo e than . million squa e feet of e hibition space, comes off ithout a hitch. In addition to Milan, Cosmit ta es the sho on the oad eve ea , b in in I Saloni Wo ld ide events, hich featu e a select oup of Italian companies, to Ne o and Mosco . What sets Milan apa t f om othe fu nitu e fai s? The e was a time when consume demand exceeded what was offe ed in the ma ketplace, and the consume simply needed one place, one fai , whe e he CITY 54 TY could buy some fu nitu e. It was ve y easy fo fai o ganize s, because the mo e exhibito s they could get, the bette . But yea s ago, things changed. Fu nitu e offe ings we e much g eate than what the public was demanding. So, the old fai model was no longe a winne . ou had to change it. The Salone del Mobile, besides o ganizing a fai , has inte vened in the whole fu nitu e system. We fi nd young designe s and put them in contact with p oduce s. This has c eated ve y st ong inte est f om the designe s, but also many othe s, like p oduce s, a chitects, and dist ibuto s. Many companies le the Cologne fai to come to Milan — that was a tu ning point. In addition, all the side events that a e pa t of the fai a e a d aw.
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.