"The appointment with the Salone de/ Mobile.Milano will, as always, be the industry's most important business opportunity and a chance for the entire wood-furniture supply chain to show off the quality of its production, in which research, innovation, craftsmanship and sustainability come together. We represent a sector that in 2023 had a turnover of 52.6 billion euros, around 20 billion euros in exports and 32.7 billion on the domestic market, closing the year 8.1% down on 2022, albeit at higher levels than in 2019. In the face of a physiological decline in domestic demand, following two years of exceptional growth, also due to important consumption stimulus, our furniture macro-system has a turnover of 28 billion euros, 53% of which derives from exports worldwide, despite an uncertain economic context, with the main reference markets such as Germany and the United States struggling. Given such a complex and evolving situation, being able to count on an international showcase such as the Salone de/ Mobile.Milano is crucial factor for us, an event that will allow us not only to dictate trends to industry professionals, the press and visitors, but which will also enable exhibitors to gain a broad picture of markets all over the world.

FederlegnoArredo, which represents the beautiful, well made and sustainable supply chain, strengthened by the added value of our design, confirms its commitment to its member companies from the Rho Fiero Milan pavilions, in the firm belief that competitiveness goes hand in hand with a concrete commitment to the issues of environmental, economic and social sustainability, commented Claudio Feltrin, President of FederlegnoArredo.

April this year heralds the biennials EuroCucina, with its collateral event FTK, Technology For the Kitchen (Pavilions 2-4) and the International Bathroom Exhibition (Pavilions 6-10) which will be boasting new exhibition layouts, reworked by Lombardini22, a leading group on the Italian architectural and engineering scene. At the request of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, and for the first time in a trade fair context, the studio has harnessed neuroscience to improve the visitor experience, analysing visitors' neurological, emotional and perceptual reactions to the various paths, and the location and distribution of the exhibition and rest areas. After a number of experiments in a virtual environment, the loop-shaped circuit chosen for both biennials turned out to be more intuitive, simpler to navigate and easier to remember, while allowing the exhibition offering to remain meaningful along the entire route. Unlike past editions, there will be a symmetrical path backing onto the stands on the exterior perimeter walls, the main pathways have been widened to improve navigation, with cultural installations and quiet areas provided to counter the typical museum fatigue that can hit even at the Salone despite all the wonders on display. In particular, it will now only take a 640 metre walk to visit all the stands, unlike the previous 1.2 kilometres.

This also marks a special year for SaloneSatellite (Pavilions 5-7), which will mark its 25th edition with 600 talented young designers and 22 design schools. This year's theme will be Connecting Design Since 1998, showing how this event has "weaned" and nourished more than 1,400 budding designers and forged fruitful relationships between cultures and projects from all over the world for a quarter of a century. To celebrate this milestone, an exhibition at Triennale (from 16th to 28th April) - with an exhibition project by Beppe Finessi and set up by Ricardo Bello Dias - that rethinks the entire history of the Exhibition without simply resorting to a parade of objects: on the contrary, it will showcase the wonderful and complex relationship between the manufacturing world and these young talents, who have brought new ideas to design and the domestic universe from places all over the world. Going back to the neuroscientific approach, given that the brain is spurred to get out of its comfort zone by art, culture and aesthetics, which can become very powerful channels for opening the mind and triggering innovation, the Salone has developed a cultural programme of new forms of experimentation, comparison and in-depth analysis. This proposal will scattered (unlike City of Lights which took place entirely at Euroluce) because it is designed to overwhelm the visitor, with all its beauty, all along the visitor path.