APCOM

To export both products and culture: this is the ambitious aim of the Salone del Mobile, according to Rosario Messina, president of Cosmit (Comitato Organizzatore del Salone del Mobile Italiano), the Milanese trade show organisation that runs the event. "There's no boundary separating design, art and culture. Michelangelo and Raffaello were designers as well. The connection between designers and artists is very strong. That's why we chose to finance projects such as Greenaway's 'The Last Supper' at Palazzo Reale and now we are able to export both products and culture".

We asked Mr Messina how the Saloni gained their current acclaimed identity and fulfilled their missions. "This is the result of the 47 Saloni organised every year from 1961 on. At that time, small companies, even the craft sector's ones, exhibited their products and managed to sell them to foreign buyers. Then, in the late Sixties, came the design revolution and gradually the furniture sector changed its characteristics. We followed all the trends and¿ here we are".

Was there a turning point in the Saloni's history? "Ten years ago, in order to beat the competitors, we understood that we could no longer be just an exhibition fair. We added our creative capability and our heritage and we turned a trade-show happening into something based on its collateral events too. Greenaway's work is the apex of this process".

Why are the Saloni so successful? "Here we admire the best of the world production and in particular the Italian one, which is the number one, as for design. Italians have unique entrepreneurial skills, as they always manage to adapt to the market's requests but, at the same time, they keep the culture of detail and creativity alive. Besides, we promote the works of young designers, so we put in contact the future offer and the current demand".