The future of Salone del Mobile: new report quantifies impact of the world's biggest furniture fair

For the first time, Salone del Mobile has presented a report – titled ‘Milan Design (Eco) System’ – that aims to quantify the size, dynamics and impact of the annual international furniture fair, which plays a major role in Milan's reputation as the capital of design.

The choice of Charles Landry, the visionary urban planner who coined the term 'creative cities', to write its preface, nods to the project's intent and direction. Says Maria Porro, president of Salone del Mobile: ‘Creative cities can activate a collective intelligence and this description gives a good idea of what Salone is in relation to the city of Milan and what has made this the world’s benchmark for design. In a certain sense, it also charts the direction and the ambition to become the design capital for the world, and not only in the world.’

Quantifying Salone: ‘Milan Design (Eco) System’

According to Landry, the change of wording from in to for, conveys an ethical intention: to make Milan's showcasing of design helpful in solving major issues that truly matter, while also fostering a creative culture founded on a collaborative spirit across sectors.

The report consists of two parts, the first looking at Salone del Mobile and analysing its numbers. ‘We can define this part almost as an annual report, and our commitment is to share it with all the stakeholders every year from now on,’ Porro says.

The second part is more related to data on the city, monitoring the fair's economic impact, the flow of people attracted by it, and the numbers involved in realising the event. Porro calls it ‘a scientific measuring tool, which isn’t only quantitative but above all qualitative, that can give to the Milanese design community the tools to tackle future challenges’.

The data collection was performed in collaboration with Politecnico di Milano and the result is a complex project involving 260 stakeholders and 530 field observations. Here's a snapshot of the findings:

Salone del Mobile in numbers

• 900 companies and 83,000 workers were involved in the Salone del Mobile 2024’s set-up and dismantling
• 233,346 meals were provided to these teams
• 952,697kWh of electricity was consumed, from renewable sources
• 350 universities and design schools, and more than 14,000 young designers have taken part in SaloneSatellite, the hub for designers under 35, in the last 25 years
• 28.6 per cent – the increase in student attendance at SaloneSatellite 2024, thanks to discounted ticketing
• 782,657 – the number of arrivals and departures at Malpensa/Linate airports during Design Week 2024 (+12 on 2023)
• Friday 19 April – the day with the highest number of overnight stays in Milan during the 2024 fair
• €3,855 – the average weekly rate in Milan for a short-term rental during the 2024 event, which represents +214 per cent increase compared to a standard week
• €273.9 – estimated average daily spend per capita generated by Salone del Mobile 2024 (+10.1 per cent on 2023)

The report was curated by Susanna Legrenzi, press and communication strategy advisor of Salone del Mobile, together with Politecnico di Milano’s professors Stefano Maffei, Francesco Zurlo, Massimo Bianchini, and researchers Carla Sedini and Francesco Leoni.

It underscores the importance of design to Milan, highlighting Salone as an 'ecosystem'. Zurlo and Maffei write of a ‘Milan Design System made up of activities, resources, skills and materials connected with design that has played, over time, a prominent role in the position the city has attained in socioeconomic competition at a regional, national and international level.’

The goal is to address significant issues such as inclusivity and accessibility, environmental and social sustainability, cultural heritage, overtourism, governance versus self-organisation. Yet, they call it a preliminary work: ‘There is usually a stage of “pre-understanding” of a phenomenon in research, which is even more essential when addressing extremely complex phenomena like Milan's design ecosystem,’ says Zurlo. ‘The effect we anticipate is what the literature refers to as a snow-ball effect: we have found certain data holders and specific sources who, upon being asked, have begun to consider baselines and data associated with this occurrence, so drawing further attention to the subject and related data’.

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