Musings from Milan - Salone Del Mobile 2024

Retreat Design has just returned from the world’s biggest furniture and design fair in Milan, Italy. Taking place this year from April 16th - April 21st we were thrilled to attend the biennial EuroCucina exhibition which is one of the most important kitchen events internationally along with the International Bathroom Exhibition.

There are two parts to the design fair; there’s Salone del Mobile and then there’s Milan Design Week. Salone is the one-week-only furniture fair that is held at an enormous fairground facility in Rho, on the outskirts of Milan. Here you will find furniture, bathrooms, kitchens, wardrobes, fixtures and fittings and everything in between. There is also ‘Fuorisalone’ which comprises of special showroom events and installations across central Milan where brands can showcase their flagship stores and design innovations at various inner city locations.

Our first stop in Piazza San Babila was Arrital’s new showroom - a magnificent three level showcase of high end kitchen displays and cabinetry innovations. We were blown away by the sensory experience of this showroom with an array of new kitchen technology on display as well as plenty of tactile finishes such as wood, stone and stainless steel.

Continuing on in the Brera district of Milan, we also visited Arredo3, another key supplier of ours to view their kitchen installations which featured ribbed finishes, curved glass panels and a splashback with pop-out built in rangehood.

We spent several days pounding the pavement at the Salone del Mobile in Rho along with the 361,417 other attendees which was a record turn out in terms of attendance. Design trends were tactile and texture rich with the emphasis on ‘interesting’ finishes and organic shapes. In terms of cabinetry design, ribbed doors, vertical stripes, textured wood and earthy colours were massive. Influences from nature were strong with materials such as wood, brass, aluminium and concrete taking centre stage.

Dark blues and light blues along with terracotta colours featured heavily with benchtops mostly made of porcelain. There were lots of in-built sinks made of porcelain and large block benchtops with face front panels to empahsise the thickness.

In the bathroom, round and semi-circle mirrors were definitely in favour as well as design restraint being shown in the classy ‘Japandi-style’ interiors. Fixtures with unique colour combinations of beige, brown and maroon were also hugely popular.

We hope you enjoyed our daily updates on the socials and we can’t wait to bring some of these design trends and innovations in to the homes of our clients in Western Australia.

Click here to view our Milan Reels with more imagery from Italy - the ultimate design destination.