The prestigious Salone del Mobile.Milano has announced a radical expansion of its celebrated trade show format with the introduction of Salone Raritas, a new curatorial platform dedicated exclusively to limited edition design, unique pieces, antiques, and high-end creative manufacturing. Scheduled to debut in April 2026, this move signals a formal recognition of the growing financial and cultural power of collectible design, integrating it directly into the B2B market ecosystem of the world’s most important furniture fair. Conceived to bridge the historical gap between small galleries of excellence and large-scale residential and hospitality developers, Salone Raritas aims to cement rarity and narrative as the new strategic assets in defining contemporary interior identity.
The Curatorial Imperative: A Market Evolution
The creation of Salone Raritas is born from a strategic awareness of the evolving global design market. For years, the trade fair world, characterized by mass-produced furniture brands, existed distinctly separate from the collectible design world, dominated by small galleries and independent makers. The new platform acts as a decisive “direct interface” between these two spheres, acknowledging a fundamental shift in high-end commerce.
Market research indicates that international residential developments, luxury hospitality projects, and experiential retail concepts are increasingly incorporating limited edition and unique pieces. These items are now viewed as strategic assets—levers of identity, positioning, and narrative coherence. Salone President Maria Porro emphasized this point, stating that the project is a responsibility to “read the evolution of the international market and provide a response consistent with the identity of the Salone del Mobile.Milano.” Salone Raritas is therefore a commercial solution dressed in cultural ambition.
The selection process for the exhibitors will be rigorous, featuring a small cohort of just under 30 “galleries of excellence” from around the world. This exclusivity ensures that the platform maintains a high level of quality, rarity, and cultural value, contrasting sharply with the broad commercial scope of the main fair. The initiative directly responds to the needs of architects, developers, and investors who are actively searching for one-of-a-kind, signature pieces that can elevate a project beyond standard luxury.
A Luminous Landscape: Formafantasma’s Architectural Lantern
Crucial to the success and distinct identity of Salone Raritas is the exhibition design, conceived by the critically acclaimed Italian studio Formafantasma (Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin). Recognizing the challenge of introducing a sensitive, gallery-like experience within the confines of a massive trade fair, the designers devised a scenography that is both functional and critically engaging.
Formafantasma imagined the Salone Raritas area as a “large architectural lantern,” a visually porous and luminous landscape. This design moves away from the traditional, rigid “booth” format common to commercial fairs, replacing it with modular islands designed to present the art objects respectfully. The intention is to create a soft, permeable environment—a “legible and permeable architectural landscape”—that highlights the uniqueness of each piece without overwhelming it.
The spatial concept employs a predefined, unified color and material palette, which instills a collective narrative and rhythm across the exhibition floor. While galleries are given room for “calibrated customization,” the overall unity ensures that the space remains cohesive and memorable for the visitor. A central lounge area is also integrated, providing a dedicated space for crucial networking, private negotiations, and formal meetings—essential for connecting the cultural value of the objects with the scale of major contemporary commissions.
Bridging the Divide: Connecting Art and the B2B Market
The primary mission of Salone Raritas is to function as a curatorial bridge between highly skilled creative production and the contemporary business-to-business (B2B) design market. Curated by Annalisa Rosso, Editorial Director and Cultural Events Advisor of the Salone del Mobile, the platform is designed to generate new connections and market opportunities where they rarely existed before.
The traditional collectible design market often operates within niche art fairs or private gallery viewings, remaining relatively inaccessible to the vast ecosystem of commercial architects, interior designers, and major property developers who convene at Salone del Mobile. Raritas introduces this refined segment to the international design supply chain, effectively teaching the B2B audience to view “authorial design, research, and antiques” as integral components of their professional projects.
By integrating this typically separate field, Salone del Mobile positions itself at the forefront of the design discourse, reinforcing its role not merely as a commercial showcase, but as a “cultural infrastructure.” Rosso noted that the initiative “builds open channels of communication between realities that until very recently seemed far apart,” affirming the Salone’s mission as an activator of international connections and evolving visions. The project’s success will be measured by its ability to transition rarity from being an exception into a “shared design language.”
A New Chapter: Affirming Identity and Vision
Salone Raritas represents a significant, forward-looking chapter in the 64-year history of the Salone del Mobile. It is a tacit acknowledgment that the value indicators in the highest tiers of design have fundamentally changed. Today, the most powerful projects are those that possess an unmistakable identity and a coherent narrative, attributes most effectively conveyed by rare, unique, and masterfully crafted objects.
The platform is designed not just for sales, but for visibility. By exposing limited-edition works and high-end craftsmanship to the Salone’s colossal global audience—over 300,000 visitors, including major investors and developers—Raritas multiplies the visibility of a sector traditionally confined to niche circles. Maria Porro summarized the vision, stating, “At a time when the professional world is focusing on uniqueness, content and quality, Salone Raritas fully interprets the Salone’s role as an activator of international connections, visions and languages.” This fusion of the rare and the recognizable serves to both honor the fair’s rich history and lay bare its significant openness to new, high-value scenarios.
