Furniture

The fourth edition of the Saloni WorldWide Moscow 2008 drew to a close on Saturday 11th October,
after having literally invaded the 5 Halls in Pavilion 2 of Crocus Expo, Russia’s foremost exhibition centre, for four days – as from 8th October.


In fact, 20,944 net square metres of exhibition space and 499 exhibitors, divided equally between the Classical and the Design/Modern Sectors made for an exceptional and all-encompassing Home Furnishing Sector showcase. There was an even greater selection of goods on offer in this edition, ranging from furniture to upholstereds, lighting appliances to kitchens, office furniture, accessories, bathroom furniture, textiles, furnishing solutions and finishing elements, as well as a collection from the Ceramics Sector, brought together by the sectorial trade association.



28,748 visitors attended, many of them from countries in Russia’s geopolitical basin, making for an 11.27% increase over the last edition. This figure also takes account of 4,482 people representing
a generic public and 21,079 actual economic operators (a +36,10% rise over last year's 15,488), quite apart from all the journalists, guests, exhibitors and agents.



Guest of honour, Adolfo Urso, the Undersecretary of State for Economic Development with responsibility for Foreign Trade, made an official visit. He took part in the Press Conference, taking as his theme
the Italian bid to take over the Russian export market, which is currently the most important market for our country, with sales of consumer goods, furniture (+12.3%), textiles-clothing (+10%), leather
and footwear (+28.4%) in particular, continuing to perform extremely well, despite a slow-down due to the crisis between Russia and Georgia that came to a head this summer.
As well as the Deputy Minister, other public figures such as the Italian Ambassador to Russia, the ICE President and several executives from the Ministry for Economic Development attended.




The unmissable SaloneSatellite WorldWide Moscow was held in synergy with the main event, showcasing the creativity of 31 young designers from Russia and those countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Republics.
Deputy Minister Adolfo Urso also presented prizes to the three most promising designers, who will be invited to the next edition of SaloneSatellite in Milan: the first prize was awarded jointly to Mantas Lataitis, a Lithuanian designer, for his “Babel” table-stool-bookcase and Natalja Kuznecova, Latvia,
for her “Friday” tray-table bar; second prize went to the Lithuanian Julius Bucelis for his “Pinocchio” stool, while third prize was awarded to the Redo Studio, Belorus, for “Qfoglio”, an armchair for adults
and children.

 

Alongside the purely commercial offering, the Saloni WorldWide Moscow held two collateral events dedicated to Italian furnishing.
“Mebelissima Italia: from Classic to Contemporary” – the first – a major Made in Italy promotional event, conceived and curated by Studio Cerri & Associati / Pierluigi Cerri and Alessandro Colombo, and organised thanks to the collaboration of the Ministry for Economic Development, ICE, Saloni WorldWide and Federlegno-Arredo was held from 22nd September to 11th October in the Gum Department Store in Moscow, with access from the Red Square entrance.
Elegance, colour, preciousness, lightness, uniqueness and innovation: these were the six categories under which forty or so pieces were displayed, all representative of the extraordinary powers of production
and creativity of classical and contemporary Made in Italy.




The second event, “Italian Design Stories”, a series of four seminars also organised by Fondazione Cosmit Eventi and Federlegno-Arredo, with help from ICE and the Ministry for Economic Development, took place at the Fair each morning, drawing an audience of architects, designers and students as well as seventy or so CSI operators invited by ICE from the cities of Almaty, Ekaterinburg, Erevan, Kiev, Krasnodar, Minsk, Novosibirsk and St Petersburg. Each story was presented by an Italian designer/architect: Light Stories by Cinzia Ferrara, Plastic Stories by Jacopo Foggini, Love Stories by Palomba Serafini, One Story, Two Stories by Giulio Iacchetti and Matteo Ragni.


“The Saloni WorldWide format”, said Cosmit’s President, Rosario Messina, “with its wide-ranging commercial offering, showcasing the top brand names in the Italian furnishing sector, together with the collateral events dedicated to the culture of the project, has proved yet again to be the most effective way of displaying not just cutting edge innovations but also, in a broader sense, the culture of Italian style throughout the world.”


Let’s make a date, then, for the Saloni WorldWide 2009 in Moscow!