It is just February, and yet Milan’s busiest week of the year is not that far away. We are talking about Design Week, which this year will take place between 15 and 21 April 2024. Indeed, the discussions on Design Week officially started in December 2023, when the selections of projects and initiatives to be included in the 2024 programme began. Therefore, an organization that occupied five months a year to make those seven days of April culturally and economically profitable, always more than the previous year, consolidating the title of Milan as the global capital of design. It is just February, and Design Week approaches, accompanied by the frenzy of preparations for the new collections to launch, showrooms and stands to set up, events to be organized.

Yet, if you look beyond the blanket of certainties – investments, the influx of people from all over the world, key-decision makers from the realms of architecture and design – a question starts unfolding itself: will we see the usual success this year, or will there be signs of weakness? Doubt is legitimate and motivated by tangible factors. The soaring prices of air flights, the exponential and speculative increase of housing and the global crisis of the fair model.  It is a model that, in the case of Milan, once led the Design Week, and today is struggling with the loss of major brands and a reduced number of occupied pavilions. If before, in a nutshell, the fair was the fulcrum from which the contour of the Design Week – the so-called Fuorisalone – wound, today the fair – some say – seems to live by the light reflected by that contour. Despite these unquestionable considerations, do we really have to fear a weak design week?

To cast a more optimistic beam of light on these legitimate assumptions, we need to go deeper into some aspects. Milan boasts an enduring charm, especially on sophisticated individuals and beauty lovers. Historic buildings, streets holding an all-Italian fascination, completed by rooftops designed by local and international architecture stars. According to Google, in 2023 Milan was ranked as the sixth most searched city in the world. In short, without Milan the Design Week would not exist. Also, suppositions aside and data in hand, for now the structure has held up well. With over two thousand exhibitors a year, the fair only gathers over four hundred thousand visitors. And nevertheless we must consider that these numbers enjoy the amplification of over a thousand events responding to the name of Fuorisalone. The Design Week is the result of the equation Salone + Fuorisalone. An equation that involves every district of the city and every industrial and creative sector. During this week an influx of five hundred thousand people is estimated. There are twenty-three thousand local businesses involved, including hotels, B&Bs, shops, clubs, restaurants and tourism companies, for a turnover of over three hundred and fifty million euros.     

The city hosts over one thousand two hundred private events in Design Week alone. Each brand has a private space to celebrate, be it a flagship store, an installation or a glamorous party. The art of presenting oneself with taste, a quintessential Italian trait, turns the city center into an open-air exhibition. Despite the stereotype of Italians struggling with organization, the desire to excel creates a spectacle of soloists harmoniously distributed throughout the streets of central Milan. In between show and poetry, Design Week is also business. Attracting an audience of half a million viewers, it is a prime opportunity for networking. By fostering connections with customers, partners and suppliers, networking is an essential aspect of business, as underlined by successful marketing gurus. It is in fact a well-known fact that collaborations and new contracts have their origin in this week.

However, the success of Design Week does not in itself guarantee the success of your trip or event. The key is to be prepared. For their part, visitors must conduct research, analyze the offer of the week and understand what events are right for them to secure an entry ticket. On the other hand, organizers cannot count on opening the doors and simply entrust what follows to an agency. Filling in the spaces this week is simple, filling them with contacts that ensure a business return is not at all. Attracting and guiding the right people requires excellence, proactive communication and anticipatory action. Otherwise yours will certainly be a weak design week.