The Salone del Mobile. Milan has returned to the United States with a new edition of the international roadshow, a crucial part of the global projection strategy of the Manifestation that, from 21 to 26 April 2026, will bring to the stage at Fiera Milano Rho its 64th edition.
The American tour kicked off on February 24 from Los Angeles, continued on February 26 in Chicago and ended in New York: three cities representing the epicentres of North American design, architecture and real estate, and embodying the plurality of a market, the American one, which confirms itself among the most important for the Italian wood-furnish industry.
In 2025, in fact, the United States confirms their strategic role for the Italian wood-furnishing chain, positioning itself in the top ten for number of professional visitors at the Salone del Mobile. Milan. This data reflects a deep and structural link with the American design community, witnessing the attraction of the Manifestation and the ability of the Italian production system to dialogue with an advanced demand, attentive to quality, innovation and sustainability. At the same time, exports to the USA, in the period January-November 2025, stood at 1,9 billion euros, confirming the United States as the second country for value exported after France.
In the current international context, characterized by increasing geopolitical and commercial complexity, with these three stages the Salone del Mobile. Milan ratifies its role as a strategic platform to support the sector. The Manifestation helps to monitor the evolution of international markets and to accompany companies in strengthening export diversification strategies, promoting the exploration of new commercial geographies also through collaboration with the MAECI and the ICE Agency. In addition to the consolidation of relations with the US market, the Salone promotes a growing focus on emerging markets in the Middle East and Asia, with the aim of expanding growth opportunities and reducing dependence on individual reference markets.
The 64th edition of the Salone del Mobile. Milan presents itself to the United States with numbers that confirm its world leadership: over 1,900 exhibitors from 32 countries (36.6% from abroad), 227 brands between debuts and returns, more than 169,000 square meters of net exhibition area entirely sold out. At the center of the edition, the expected return of the Biennials: EuroCucina with FTK – Technology For the Kitchen (106 brands from 17 countries) and the Salone Internazionale del Bagno (163 brands from 14 countries), together with SaloneSatellite with 700 designers under 35 and 23 international schools and universities.
But the 2026 edition is also the one that marks an evolution in the content and architecture of the Manifestation. Debutta Salone Raritas (Padiglione 9), a new platform dedicated to collector’s design, limited editions, antiques and high manufacturing, with the care of Annalisa Rosso and the exhibition design of Formafantasma: an unpublished bridge between special production and project market.
Among the protagonists are Nilufar Gallery (Milan), Side Gallery (Barcelona), Hering Berlin, Mercado Moderno (Rio de Janeiro), Brun Fine Art (London–Milan) and Paradiso Terrestre (Bologna), along with collaborations such as Herzog & de Meuron with Marta Sala Éditions and Salviati with Draga & Aurel. The project also includes the participation of Mouromtsev Design Editions with Job Smeets (Dubai), Studio Stefan Scholten | Materia Collective (Netherlands), Xavier Lust (Belgium) and Parasite 2.0 with Bianco67 (Carrarara).
Through these appearances, Salone Raritas dialogues the world of collectible design with architecture, hospitality and contemporary contract projects, highlighting the increasingly important role of unique pieces and limited editions in defining the identity of spaces. The United States is one of the most mature markets for collectible design, where galleries, designers, real estate developers and cultural institutions contribute to integrating unique pieces and limited editions within architectural projects and public spaces.
The 2026 also marks the start of the journey towards the Contract Exhibition — whose masterplan is entrusted to Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten (OMA) — which in 2027 will officially open with a new look on the guidelines dedicated to hospitality, retail, marine and real estate: sectors of strong expansion globally and of particular interest to the North American market.
The project was created to dialogue with the global market of large integrated projects, a sector that today exceeds the 1,000 billion dollars of international value. In this scenario, the United States is one of the most advanced laboratories of this model, where architecture, real estate development and design industry operate deeply interconnected.
Maria Porro, president of Salone del Mobile. Milan, states: “In a phase of global uncertainty, the Salone del Mobile. Milan consolidates its role as a strategic platform for business and market, ensuring continuity, reliability and a long-term vision for the entire design system. The United States is a fundamental interlocutor: always present in the top ten for number of professional visitors at the Salone, confirm the solidity of the bond with the American design community. The roadshow in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York strengthens consolidated relationships and accompanies the story of an edition that evolves in content and formats, in an open comparison with a key market that, in the first ten months of 2025, is confirmed according to Country of destination of the Italian wood-furnish chain, with 1,9 billion euros of export. With Salone Raritas and the path towards Salone Contract we expand the perimeter of the Salone project, opening new paths and strengthening the role of Made in Italy as a reliable partner at international level”.
Marco Verna, director of ICE Miami: “The synergy between ICE and Salone del Mobile is more than just a promotional collaboration: it is a strategic tool for economic diplomacy. In an international context marked by new trade tensions, redefinition of value chains and growing global competition, the American market remains a fundamental ground for the affirmation of Italian design. Initiatives such as these roadshows allow to strengthen the presence of Made in Italy in the United States, enhancing identity, quality and innovative capacity, and the collaboration between ICE and Salone del Mobile becomes an integrated promotion model, able to support the competitiveness of Italian companies and to consolidate the role of design as ambassador of Made in Italy in the world”.
The roadshow in the United States is part of the wider internationalization strategy of the Salone del Mobile. Milan, which in the course of 2025 and 2026 has already touched United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain, and which looks with increasing attention to emerging markets such as India and Saudi Arabia, as well as the consolidation of the partnership with Art Basel — launched in Miami and destined to continue in Hong Kong — which represents an unpublished alliance between two leading platforms of contemporary creativity.
In each of the three American stages, the Salone del Mobile. Milan, in collaboration with ICE – Agency for the promotion abroad and the internationalization of Italian companies — and with the main American associations of architects, designers and builders — will give life to moments of meeting dedicated to the story of the novelties, content and the strategic vision of the 64th edition: an opportunity to share the value of a Manifestation that is not only the most important international exhibition of furniture and design, but a platform that produces value, impact.
The article Il Salone del Mobile. Milan relaunches the USA with a roadshow-to-coast proviene da IlNewyorkese.
