Salone Raritas: The Fair Within the Fair
For decades, Salone del Mobile has been the world’s largest furniture fair — emphasis on large. Over 1,900 exhibitors spread across 169,000 square metres at Fiera Milano Rho, the vast majority showing industrially produced furniture and lighting at commercial scale. The collectible design world — galleries, limited editions, one-off pieces — has always existed elsewhere: at Design Miami, PAD Paris, or in the Fuorisalone presentations scattered across the city. The 64th edition has changed the geography. Salone Raritas, a new platform within the fair itself, brings approximately 25 exhibitors of collectible, limited-edition, and historically significant design into Hall 9 at Rho. It is a small addition in square metres. It may be the most significant shift in the fair’s identity in years, and it arrives precisely as the rest of the city — Bottega Veneta on Via San Maurilio, Loro Piana on Via Solferino, Hermès at La Pelota — has been quietly redrawing the same line from the other side. ...