The Salone del Mobile.Milano will bring its format to Saudi Arabia. From 26 to 28 November 2025, the King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) in Riyadh will host “Red in Progress. Salone del Mobile.Milano meets Riyadh”, organized in strategic partnership with the Architecture & Design Commission of the Saudi Ministry of Culture.
The initiative will feature an installation by the architecture studio Giò Forma, a cultural program, and a B2B platform designed to foster dialogue between Italian design companies and Saudi project developers. The event will serve as a preview of the first official edition of the Salone in the Kingdom, scheduled for 2026.
A partnership between Italy and Saudi Arabia
The announcement was made during the Cultural Investment Conference at the King Fahd Cultural Center by Dr. Sumayah AlSolaiman, CEO of the Architecture & Design Commission, and Maria Porro, president of the Salone del Mobile.Milano.
The partnership aligns with Saudi Vision 2030 and follows the memorandum of understanding signed in AlUla last January. Its goal is to promote the joint development of the creative and manufacturing industries in both countries, encourage sustainability, and create new business opportunities.
The project will temporarily transform the KAFD into an open-air exhibition space featuring furniture, lighting, and accessories from more than 35 Italian companies, selected for innovation and quality. The cultural program, curated by Annalisa Rosso, will bring together leading voices from Italian and Saudi design, while the business lounge will host meetings with key stakeholders and investors.
A growing market
The choice of Riyadh reflects the city’s rapid transformation under Vision 2030, which aims for 150 million visitors by 2030, 362,000 new hotel rooms, and an expansion of retail gross leasable area to 9.9 million square meters.
According to TechSci Research and Mordor Intelligence, the Saudi furniture and equipment market is worth €6.11 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach €8.06 billion by 2030, driven mainly by residential and hospitality demand.
For Italy, the outlook is favorable: in 2024, Italian wood-furniture exports to Saudi Arabia totaled €288.3 million, up 16.9% from 2023 (source: FederlegnoArredo). Italy is the second-largest MENA supplier of furniture and accounts for around 36% of the premium segment (source: UN Comtrade Data).
Maria Porro: “A platform for tangible projects”
“After international stops in New York, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and participation in Expo Osaka 2025, the Salone del Mobile.Milano is arriving in Riyadh as part of a global roadshow to build relationships and share content in strategic design markets,” said Maria Porro, president of the Salone del Mobile.Milano.
“Saudi Arabia is a rapidly growing market with still untapped potential. With ‘Red in Progress’, we want to create a platform for collaboration, not just a showcase. The goal is to turn potential into real projects, fostering long-term partnerships and value for the entire supply chain, thanks to our collaboration with the Architecture & Design Commission and the support of MAECI and ICE.”
The project marks the first step toward Salone del Mobile.Milano Riyadh 2026, which will feature a broader and more articulated format, combining culture, business, and innovation at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s evolving design ecosystem.
