Saloni di Milano: a café of Italian culture in Madrid

On the eve of the Salone del Mobile, Cosmit President Carlo Guglielmi and the President of FederlegnoArredo Roberto Snaidero will inaugurate, on 30 March, the first literary café under the banner “ i Saloni Milano” at the Italian Cultural Institute in Madrid, Calle Mayor 86, across from the Palacio Real.

With 170 square meters dedicated to the promotion of Italian excellence in design, art, music and film, the “i Saloni Milano” café, curated by Cosmit, is the first café devoted to Milan and its extraordinary cultural wealth.

The project, launched at the behest of the Municipality of Milan and the Italian Cultural Institute in Madrid, and curated by Cosmit, was born of the need to not only restore the space to its original beauty, but to create a gathering place that would also serve as an example of Italian design while bringing together history and modernity.

“It is with great pride that we inaugurate this project in Madrid, which we have developed with passion and care”, says Carlo Guglielmi, President of Cosmit. “It is an important acknowledgement of the competence that Cosmit has cultivated and consolidated through organizing the Salone del Mobile for more than 50 years. Our mission as ambassadors of design culture and promoters of the industrial excellence of Italian manufacturers becomes all the more important when we can concretely promote, in an innovative way and in equal measure, the production system represented by the Salone, the cultural and economic wealth of the city that hosts it, and the history and culture of our country. And it is more important still because we are doing this outside of Italy, and that the first location is Madrid, a culturally vibrant city that knows how to appreciate art and design.”

The architectural project, entrusted to Piero Russi, consist in minimal yet substantive interventions, such as the restoration of the historic wood-beamed ceiling and the installation of a new wood floor, as well as the introduction of enlarged photos of important Milanese landmarks on the walls, such as the Teatro alla Scala, the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, the Duomo and the Fiera Milano.

The contemporary spirit of the space is animated by the furnishings and lighting fixtures selected from the finest Italian manufacturers, all exhibitors at the Salone del Mobile: Alessi, Crusinallo; Alias, Grumello del Monte; Arper, Monastier di Treviso; Artemide, Pregnana Milanese; Bonaldo, Villanova; Caimi Brevetti, Nova Milanese; Danese, Milan; Desalto, Cantù; Domodinamica, Osteria Grande; Driade, Milan; Edra, Perignano; Enrico Pellizzoni, Mariano Comense; Fasem International, Vicopisano; Flos, Bovezzo; FontanaArte, Corsico; Fornasarig Sedie Friuli, Manzano; Foscarini, Marcon; Gervasoni, Pavia di Udine; Gruppo Sintesi, Spilimbergo; Heron Parigi, Florence; Kartell, Noviglio; Kristalia, Brugnera; Lamm, San Secondo Parmense; Lapalma. Cadoneghe; Magis, Torre di Mosto; Matteograssi, Giussano; MDF ITALIA, Milan; Molteni & C., Giussano; Moroso, Cavalicco di Tavagnacco; Parri Design, La Scala San Miniato; Pedrali, Mornico al Serio; Pierantonio Bonacina, Giussano; Plank Collezioni, Ora; Potocco, Manzano; Rexite, Cusago; Serralunga, Biella; Slide, Buccinasco; Tonon & C., Manzano; Ycami, Novedrate; YDF, Carimate; Zanotta, Nova Milanese.

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