The Salone del Mobile.Milano and Italian companies in Miami
Report from the first US leg of the road trip to discover the novelties of the 2024 edition, scheduled from 16 to 21 April
A further stopover on the Salone del Mobile.Milano tour in Miami, after Paris, London, Berlin and Copenhagen, and looking ahead to Dallas (23 January), New York (25 January), Las Vegas (20 February) and Chicago (22 February). During Miami Art Week 2024, in the second week of December, at a particularly lively and well-attended press conference, hosted in the brand new Miami Institute of Italian Culture in Coral Gables, President Maria Porro anticipated the 62nd edition of the Salone and the EuroCucina Biennials, with FTK Technology For the Kitchen and the International Bathroom Exhibition, in collaboration with Lombardini22 engaged in designing the new trade fair layout based on neuroscience, and the new communication campaign created by Publicis Groupe in collaboration with Paolo Ciuccarelli. Among those present were the General Manager of the Salone Marco Sabetta, the Consul General of Italy Michele Mistò, and Carlo Angelo Bocchi, Italian Trade Commissioner Miami, who spoke of the “record sales in the USA of some 70 billion dollars for 2003 of products made in Italy”, the director of the IIC Stefano Cerrato, and Marva Griffin Wilshire who recounted the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of SaloneSatellite. The day continued with a party at the Soho Beach House where the Salone del Mobile.Milano, together with the New York magazine PIN-UP founded by Felix Burrichter with the support of the Italian Trade Agency, welcomed more than 300 people to music by Skype Williams and Dese Escobar, in addition to the highly appreciated dinner laid on by Cecconi’s Miami. The many guests included Patricia Urquiola, Piero Lissoni, Vincenzo de Bellis, Objects of Common Interest, Adam Charlap Hyman and Andre Herrero, Rene Gonzalez, Nifemi Marcus-Bello, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Beatrice Galilee, Lorcan O'Neill and many others.
In the same week, at the Miami Design District, Italian businesses pulled off some of the most popular openings. Minotti Miami kicked off with a Design Talk moderated by Thelma Lazo-Flores, Dean of Interior Design at Istituto Marangoni in Miami, featuring Alessandro Minotti and Susanna Minotti, the third generation in the family business, together with designer Enrico Fratesi of the GamFratesi studio. It was then the turn of Molteni, with an evening entitled “Meditations on Mural Art”: an exhibition focused on three works and a live drawing performance by Roberto Ruspoli, an artist well known for his oversized murals. Kartell organized a cocktail party and a talk at the Istituto Marangoni Miami that saw the founder and CEO of the Institute, Thelma Lazo Flores, in conversation with the CEO of Kartell USA John J. Jenkin about great Italian design. Edra organized a breakfast at Luminaire, in Coral Gables, in the presence of the company's head of international development and new generation Niccolò Mazzei, together with John Hart and Antony Moray, CEO and Design VP of Luminaire. A big party was held to celebrate the opening of the new B&B Italia Design Studio Miami flagship store, a project of about 2,000 square meters designed by Lissoni & Partners. Boffi|DePadova Miami hosted the striking exhibition “Invisible City”, curated by Maria Vittoria Baravelli, with some fascinating images taken by the photographer Veronica Gaido of cities such as New York, Tokyo, Milan and Miami itself. Cassina celebrated the opening of its new store in the Miami Design District with a temporary installation dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the iMaestri collection and a special focus on Gio Ponti’s Superleggera chair, at the center of an artisanal performance during the opening night.
The American stages of the Road to Salone 2024 are organized with the support of the Agenzia ICE, in collaboration with the local offices of the AIA (American Institute of Architects).