Salone del Mobile: Italian kitchen design brands look abroad to boost sales
Nation’s 100 kitchen design companies at Salone del Mobile – world’s largest furniture fair in Milan – are celebrating 3.2 per cent growth in exports in 2017
While design aficionados flock to Milan from around the globe for the world’s largest furniture fair, Italy’s kings of kitchen style are looking beyond its borders to beat a sluggish domestic market.
As the six-day “Salone del Mobile” got under way in Italy’s fashion capital on Tuesday, the country’s kitchen design industry was celebrating a 3.2 per cent growth in exports last year.
The event hosts more than 2,450 exhibitors, of whom nearly a quarter are foreign.
Last year, it attracted around 300,000 visitors from 165 countries.
The €779 million (US$961 billion) generated by the kitchen sector is behind only Germany and China.
Consultancy firm Bain & Company estimated that the global design market grew 4 per cent in 2017 to €35 billion, a figure that is destined to triple over the next 10 years.
Milan’s Centre for Industrial Studies (CSIL) said global kitchen exports were expected to reach US$6.7 billion in 2021 – an increase of about 20 per cent from 2016.
And, with the country slowly emerging from the global financial crisis, companies are capitalising on Italy’s reputation for style abroad to give themselves a place at the table.