Waiting for EuroCucina 2024

The 2024 edition will be the first true EuroCucina. The expectation is for an edition, not a restart as was the 2022 edition - incomplete given the absence of the Far East - but a confirmation of much of the research conducted in recent years and not yet showcased. The year when the biennial EuroCucina event takes place is particularly important for Salone.Milano in terms of the number of visitors and international partners. EuroCucina is the most important trade fair, not just in Europe. It is represents the moment of evolution of innovation for Italian and international companies in our sector. It is therefore an opportunity for innovation as well as greater integration with the range of household appliances, especially in terms of optimization, customization of spaces and sustainability. All elements that will be answered in the next edition.

Given that while we are talking about it, there are six months left to the event, if we look at the trends, certainly the integration of smart solutions with household appliances, without compromising the aesthetics, always the standout feature. A concern for the quality of representation and the way people experience the kitchen remains central, with natural, reusable, recyclable colors and materials. A trend that will find significant answers in this edition as well. With respect to this issue, the FurnCIRCLE Project headed by FederlegnoArredo, in which companies in the kitchen sector also take part, will be an added value. The kitchen is the most open and interactive space in the home. A technical appliance, presented as a designer product that involves the setting where family, guests and friends interact most closely. The kitchen is a customized, hand-crafted and industrialized product. Producing it means sensitivity and flexibility, where every need gets an answer.

The kitchen is the most technically advanced room in the home, a major appliance made up of various smaller devices that interact through apps and allow remote home management. Thanks to artificial intelligence, services aimed at energy efficiency will be developed with the aim of optimizing life in this space and making it more sustainable.

2024 will be a novelty for us after the two extraordinary years (2021/22 post-Covid) of a boom in kitchens followed by a reverse bounce. At the moment, we’re not in a phase of growth but stabilization of the market. 2024 will be the year when EuroCucina will need to push harder on the international markets. We have to work to ensure that it is an edition that helps companies recover.

The Kitchens Group is compact, and there are many projects that we’re carrying out together, demonstrating maturity. Travelling alone, which is typical of Italian culture, is not good for you, while talking to each other and doing things together is a driving force for planning. Individually, you don't always have the strength and ability to define interesting products, which translate into quality presentations. In these cases, being part of the Kitchens Group brings added value as part of a winning and recognized system. EuroCucina is by definition the most important trade fair in the world for the sector. An added value to be defended, to help companies strengthen their leadership, represented by Italian and German kitchen companies. In the quality range, we are the two largest manufacturers worldwide and Milan is the most important trade fair for these players.

I will remain in office until 2026. My role began in an unusual period, but it is also true that difficulties favor dialogue and listening. Being together is certainly useful, especially when difficulties arise. I believe that now in particular we’re entering a difficult phase and it’s still important to be part of an association, even though each company has to differentiate itself in quality, products and technology to compete with the others. Competition stimulates us to do better, to grow. By staying together we can achieve some things and can defend ourselves from the competition that believes less in fair play, as the English would say, without mentioning production systems that are not exactly balanced, which are growing, but without any rules. The EUIPO (European Union Intellectual Property Office) based in Alicante and FederlegnoArredo work together on a training and support project for companies. Sometimes some small and medium-sized companies, focused on the market and the product, lack time and forget to defend their ideas. There is still a lot to do and FederlegnoArredo is at the forefront in this sector as well.