Milan Design Week

The Milan Furniture Fair (Italian: Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano) is a furniture fair held annually in Milan. It is the largest trade fair of its kind in the world. The exhibition showcases the latest in furniture and design from countries around the world. It is considered a leading venue for the display of new products by designers of furniture, lighting and other home furnishings. The show, also known as "Salone", "Milano Salone" and "Milan Design Week," is held every year, usually in April, in the FieraMilano complex in the Milan metropolitan area town of Rho.

The Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano was launched in 1961, with the original focus being Italian furniture. The original sponsors were furniture manufacturers from the Federelegno-Arredo trade association. The trade show grew in size over the years, allowing many of the 13,000 companies which comprised the global furniture industry to showcase their wares in a single event.

The current show occupies an area of nearly 230,000 square metres (2,500,000 sq ft), and includes 2,500 companies, along with 700 young designers at the Salone Satellite, a secondary exhibit. The show's annual visitation numbers 270,000, with attendees from over 150 countries worldwide. The show is now organized and operated by Cosmit S.p.A., a trade show corporation and a member of the ICSID (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design) and ADI (Association for Industrial Design). Interior design around the world gathers at Milan in April every year at Milan Design Week commonly known as Salone Internazionale del Mobile covered online at designers such as designerzcentral.

In 2011, there were 2,720 exhibitors at the official fair, compared to 2,499 in 2010. New lighting technologies at the show included the Flos 2620 LED chandelier with 2,620 LEDs in what appeared to be random rings of light arranged to create the illusion of movement. The standpoint piece for Arco, a 106-year-old Dutch company, was the wooden furniture produced by the Israeli designer Shay Alkalay. Of the student shows, the Dutch design school Design Academy Eindhoven took first place, followed by Israel's Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. Also, some early examples of the combination of sustainability and design were showcased, which eventually resulted in a British entrepreneurial initiative a few years later, pioneer of the upcoming sustainable design revolution.

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