As you read this, hundreds of shipping containers filled with never-before-seen furniture and lighting are all making their way to the same destination: Milano. More specifically, the city’s giant Rho Fiera Milano exhibition centre, where brands from around the world will soon preview their 2025 collections across 20 sprawling pavilions. Each year, Salone del Mobile ushers in a fresh chapter of design history, showcasing products that demonstrate exciting innovations in manufacturing and sustainability alongside bold new creative perspectives. This year’s 63rd edition takes place from April 8 to 13, bringing together some 2,000 exhibitors from 37 countries.

This year’s edition of Salone includes the fair’s biannual Euroluce exhibition, meaning four special halls will be dedicated entirely to lighting. Of course, plenty of sofas and dining chairs will also be on offer throughout the rest of the show, and SaloneSatellite — an exhibition of work by under-35 designers that has proven itself to be a major launch pad for future talents — will be back for its 26th edition. Also on the schedule is a jam-packed calendar of Salone talks and roundtable discussions, with industry titans like Bjarke Ingels and Gensler’s Valeria Segovia taking the stage alongside forward-thinking lighting designers Marjan van Aubel and Studio DRIFT.

Meanwhile, two special site-specific installations will showcase the singular creative visions of filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino and interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon. A third installation, conceived by American theatre director and artist Robert Wilson, awaits offsite in Milan’s Rondanini Pieta Museum. After all, designers may discover new ideas in the halls of Salone, but the fair’s impact has always extended far beyond the fairgrounds.

Oh, and if you’re a Canadian who will be headed to Salone: we’re planning a 10am breakfast reception, and we’d love to have you attend — please RSVP! In the meantime, here are nine initial attractions that we’re looking forward to admiring at the 2025 edition of Salone del Mobile.

LIGHTING

1

Contour by A-N-D

Back at the brand’s “10 Years Later” exhibition held in Toronto this past January, Vancouver lighting brand A-N-D teased three upcoming collections set to make their debut at Euroluce. One of these is Contour, which includes a pendant, table and floor lamp all featuring fluid, bell-shaped shades available in a variety of finishes.

_{Find A-N-D in Hall 10, at Stand C10.}

2

Allumette by Foscarini

Inspired by Gino Sarfatti’s 2097/30 chandelier and the way that the 1958 classic places its wiring front and centre, Italian designer Francesca Lanzavecchia devised this similarly dynamic composition. Hers leans into asymmetry and contrasts thick, straight lines with thin curved ones to charmingly graphic effect.

_{Find FOSCARINI in Hall 4, at Stand C03-C05.}

3

Bolda by Lambert & Fils

For his collaboration with Montreal’s Lambert & Fils, South Korean designer Kwangho Lee draws from both his own heritage and the brand’s core DNA by accenting sheets of polished aluminum — a signature Lambert & Fils material — with copper enamelling. Produced by melting coloured glass powder onto metal, the technique is a fixture of traditional Korean chilbo decorative art. Circular perforations and a concealed tube light complete the design.

_{Find LAMBERT & FILS in Hall 6, at Stand C41}.

FURNITURE

6

Rye by Zanat

For his first foray into bentwood furniture, Yves Béhar took inspiration from curves observed in nature. The gentle bend of rye grass swaying in the wind gives his new bar stool its name, while the design’s split round legs are modelled after bifurcated tree trunks. “Nature and structure come together in a continuous motion, as one can’t see where the structure starts and stops,” says Béhar.

_{Find ZANAT in Hall 22, at Stand A11.}

4

Boomerang Desk by Gebrüder Thonet Vienna

Style is like a boomerang — everything old eventually comes back in again. This year, there’s no better evidence of that than the Boomerang desk by the late Italian modernist Enzo Mari. First introduced in 2001, the design joins a curved glass surface with an arched wood frame propped up by four rounded beechwood legs. The piece’s joyful spirit teaches an important lesson in how to balance work and play.

_{Find GEBRÜDER THONET VIENNA in Hall 22, at Stand A20.}

5

Mymi by Dedon

GamFratesi is known for bringing an artisanal spirit to the world of modern design (see also: the studio’s use of woven cane in its Beosound A5 speaker), and their outdoor dining collection for Dedon continues that same mission. Placing the manufacturer’s fibres front and centre, the designers accent a sinuous dining chair design with a dynamic woven pattern evocative of craft techniques.

_{Find Dedon in Hall 11, at Stand B19/B23.}

FEATURE INSTALLATIONS

7

La Dolce Attesa by Paolo Sorrentino

Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino is no stranger to arresting visuals, having directed the beloved arthouse masterpiece The Great Beauty as well as last year’s sensuous Parthenope. Needless to say, enlisting the director to lead a special Salone del Mobile project was a surefire way to build some serious anticipation — and Sorrentino is diving into that feeling headfirst. Named “Sweet Waiting,” his site-specific installation (designed with help from set designer Margherita Palli) will explore the “invisible bridge between present and future.”

_{Find LA DOLCE ATTESA at the entrance to Halls 22-24.}

8

Villa Héritage by Pierre-Yves Rochon

While Salone specializes in contemporary furniture, historic architecture and design are everywhere you look in an old European city like Milan — and often, the dynamic between past and present can make for an exciting mix. Just ask French interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon, who specializes in luxury hotels (including Milan’s own Four Seasons) that often juxtapose old and new. His Salone installation will tap into that same relationship, acting as “a bridge that connects memory and innovation.”
_{Find VILLA HÉRITAGE at the entrance to Halls 13-15.}

9

Mother. by Robert Wilson

Salone’s final 2025 feature installation takes place offsite, in Milan’s Rondanini Pieta Museum, and remains on view long after the rest of the fair has packed up, through May 18. Drawing from his trademark flair for theatricality, stage director Robert Wilson will pay tribute to Michelangelo’s marble sculpture of the Virgin Mary, which remained unfinished at the time of the artist’s death. Here, the work will become the centrepiece of a new 30-minute sequence of music, images, and (in the spirit of Euroluce) lights, which will be joined by live performances of the medieval prayer “Stabat Mater.”

_{Find MOTHER at Rondanini Pieta Museum, Piazza Castello, 20121.}