To Renner Italia’s colour experts, the Salone del Mobile 2025 dictated a clear concept: design is once again a project of meaning before form. Milan has confirmed its international vocation, but has done so with a sober, warm, authentic language. This year’s winner was the silent beauty of things made to last. Visual and experiential comfort. Homes, that is, emptied of the superfluous. The Japandi style rages and evolves towards an even cosier version. Minimalism yes, but softened by natural materials, neutral palettes and spaces designed to slow down the daily rhythm. Elegance is measured in the ability to create visual silence and widespread well-being.
Materials: ash and travertine superstar
Let’s start with the materials: wood takes centre stage. The absolute star is open-pore ash, declined above all in natural versions, with hints of deep black or burnt red. Next to ash is American walnut. Surfaces are increasingly materialistic: if we look beyond the hegemonic wood, we find travertine and marble defining tables and accessories. Travertine, in particular, is the trend of the year.
A porous texture with veins, in a total matt version it covers the shelves of cupboards, the almost monolithic bases of tables, and the details of other furnishing accessories. Also present in shades of beige, hazelnut, cream, white or grey for a refined classic style.
Glass, for its part, is reinvented through bright colours, while metal abandons shiny finishes to embrace scratched and matt textures.
Glossario
The palette: warm neutrals and material touches
The colours speak the language of comfort and functionality. Sand, ecru, cream and rope tones dominate.
Color Map of Salone del Mobile 2025
Nuances that do not care about fashions and design relaxing and refined environments. There are also touches of warm colours. Mocha mousse (the Pantone of the year), deep browns, deep burgundies, terracotta and brick add natural, never invasive accents.
Soft shapes and three legs
Softness is everywhere at this edition of the Salone meneghino. Furniture volumes are rounded off, edges disappear. Seats, sofas and tables present fluid and continuous geometries, restoring a feeling of cosiness and visual comfort. One detail that caught the eye: the three-legged seats. An aesthetic and functional choice, recalling the essentiality of archaic forms, but reinterpreted in a contemporary key.
Outdoor and indoor: a single material language
There is a common thread running through the last four editions of the exhibition. The outdoor increasingly protagonist. From the post-pandemic experience emerges a new centrality of outdoor spaces, which are now designed with the same care as indoors. Materials, fabrics and finishes overlap: the differences between indoors and outdoors are thinning to the point of almost disappearing. The theme of weaving, especially in the outdoor world, becomes a distinctive sign of craftsmanship and connection with nature.
The numbers: Milan is confirmed as the capital of interior design
The 2025 edition recorded numbers that confirm Milan’s centrality as the global capital of interior design:
- 361,417 visitors from 188 countries A growth of
- +17% compared to 2024
- 1,950 exhibitors, 30% of whom from abroad
- Strong international participation and high exhibition quality
The images in this article are generated by AI.
