Destination Saudi Arabia: Red in progress. Salone del Mobile.Milano meets Riyadh, a preview of the 2026 Salone debuts in the Kingdom

Red in progress. Salone del Mobile.Milano meets Riyadh – Installation renderings © Studio Giò Forma Salone del Mobile.Milano

From 26th to 28th November 2025, the Salone will light up the King Abdullah Financial District in Riyadh in red. In a strategic partnership with the Architecture and Design Commission at the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Culture, the event will feature an installation curated by the Giò Forma architecture studio, a packed cultural programme and a B2B platform, a meeting point for the Salone and the Saudi design ecosystem – a taster of the first ever edition of the event to be held in the Kingdom in 2026.

At the Cultural Investment Conference, held at the King Fahd Cultural Centre, Dr. Sumayah Al-Solaiman, CEO of the Architecture & Design Commission, and Maria Porro, President of the Salone del Mobile.Milano, announced the first edition of the event in Saudi Arabia. The three-day programme will take place at the King Abdullah Financial District in the heart of Riyadh from 26th – 28th November 2025. During this period, the financial hub will be transformed into a business-first meeting point for the Salone del Mobile.Milano and the Saudi design ecosystem. It marks the first activation of the strategic partnership signed in AlUla in January 2025 between the Architecture and Design Commission and Federlegno Arredo Eventi S.p.A., the official organiser of Salone del Mobile.Milano. The agreement sets out a multi-year framework aimed at forging professional connections, spotlighting local talent, driving sustainable innovation in training and standards, and translating ideas into built spaces, interiors and cities — paving the way for the first full edition of Salone del Mobile.Milano in Riyadh in 2026.

The strategic partnership between the Salone del Mobile.Milano and the Architecture and Design Commission at the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Culture is designed to strengthen the creative and manufacturing supply chains of both countries and to accelerate professional connections. It also aims to highlight local talent, promote sustainability and innovation standards aligned with Saudi Vision 2030, and create the right conditions for ideas and projects to take shape, from construction sites to interiors and cities.

Red in Progress. Salone del Mobile.Milano meets Riyadh will reshape the KAFD public spaces under the red banner of the Salone del Mobile.Milano. The initiative will feature furniture, lighting, surfaces and accessories from more than 35 Italian companies, selected for their quality, innovation and sustainability. An international cultural programme, curated by Annalisa Rosso – Editorial Director & Cultural Events Advisor for the Salone del Mobile.Milano – will bring together voices from Italy and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, the Business Lounge will host meetings and presentations with key Saudi decision-makers. The event will serve as a preview of a much larger and more structured trade fair in 2026, combining shared cultural content with professional platforms.

Riyadh has become the centre of gravity for the design of new hotels, malls, offices and residences that are reshaping the country. Driven by Saudi Vision 2030, a cycle of concrete development is underway. The Ministry of Tourism is aiming for 150 million visits by 2030, supported by the addition of 362,000 new rooms. Rentable retail space is expected to grow to 9.9 million m², while high-end office rents have risen by 8.7% year-on-year (source: JLL Research). These are all signs of strong demand, translating into square metres to be fitted out as well as higher standards for fit-outs themselves. The Saudi market for furniture, fixtures and equipment was estimated at around USD 7 billion in 2024 and is forecast to reach USD 9 billion by 2030 (sources: TechSci Research, Mordor Intelligence). Development in the residential and hospitality sectors is driving most of this growth.

Maria Porro, President of Salone del Mobile.Milano, commented: “After last year’s touchdowns in New York, Shanghai and Hong Kong, and this year at Expo Osaka 2025 with the Permanent Collection of SaloneSatellite, the Salone del Mobile.Milano now arrives in Riyadh with an event that forms part of a global roadshow designed to bring content, relationships and business to the places where projects are decided. We are in Saudi Arabia, a natural hub for design and a market which, has shown encouraging momentum, and which today presents untapped growth potential in absolute terms. That is precisely why we are here: to contribute to translating this potential into tangible projects, lasting relationships and value for the entire supply chain, thanks to a strategic partnership with the Architecture and Design Commission at the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Culture and with the support of MAECI and ITA – Italian Trade Agency. Over three days, we are offering an exhibition path, a schedule of targeted meetings and a public programme to engage with contractors, developers and architects. Not just a showcase, but a platform that brings together design culture and execution: expertise, standards and supply chain to support quality and delivery timelines for interiors in the Kingdom’s major projects. Red in progress. Salone del Mobile.Milano meets Riyadh is the first step towards 2026, when the city will host a fully-fledged Salone del Mobile, broader in scope, richer in content and at the service of Saudi Arabia’s design ecosystem”.

Dr. Sumayah Al-Solaiman, CEO of the Architecture and Design Commission at the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Culture, emphasized that the launch of “Red in progress. Salone del Mobile.Milano meets Riyadh” will strengthen Saudi Arabia’s position on the global design and furniture stage. She explained that the event will serve as a bridge between Saudi and international designers, opening up new avenues for collaboration and exchange, and consolidating the Kingdom as a destination for creativity and innovation. She further noted that the initiative will expand knowledge-sharing with leading institutions, foster collaboration between Saudi and international stakeholders, and attract investments, actively contributing to the growth of the creative industries in line with Saudi Vision 2030.

Red in progress. Salone del Mobile.Milano meets Riyadh is being promoted in collaboration with and supported by the institutional partners that work alongside the Salone in its international activities — MAECI — Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and ITA — Italian Trade Agency.

Matteo Zoppas, President of ITA — Italian Trade Agency comments “ITA is working alongside the Salone del Mobile in Milan to support the internationalisation of Italian wood-furniture and design companies and bolster exports of Made in Italy products to strategic markets – such as Saudi Arabia – consistent with the export action plan promoted by Italy’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani. Along with fashion and food, the wood supply chain (furnishing) is one of the ‘fs’ characteristic of Italian beauty and craftsmanship, which – geopolitical tensions notwithstanding – generated €9.67 billion in exports during the first half of 2025, almost in line with the results for the same period in 2024 (-1%). Thanks to the ITA office, the teaser event in Riyadh will see a rich programme of B2B sessions involving more than 35 Italian companies and selected Saudi professionals. ITA is also coordinating integrated online and offline communication activities in support of the project, including a market study on the furniture sector in Saudi Arabia, mapping competitors and local partners with a view to maximising commercial opportunities for Italian companies. Through this approach, ITA is promoting Made in Italy and the exchange of know-how by building lasting partnerships between Italy and Saudi Arabia.”

The spectacular heart of Red in progress. Salone del Mobile.Milano meets Riyadh will be a large installation by the international architecture studio Giò Forma, which will introduce Riyadh to the world of the Salone del Mobile.Milano: a landscape of modular scaffolding, covered with a semi-transparent red fabric, transforming the raw language of the construction site into a cultural stage. Red will not only be a colour but also the common thread of the experience, a visual trace connecting places and people, a symbol of energy and the future. Within the structures of the installation, the products of more than 35 furniture companies will light up a performance in which know-how, bold design, harmony and circularity will come together and chart new perspectives. It will be both a preview and a manifesto: a communication tool that will herald the arrival of a global event, inviting Riyadh to experience design as a shared cultural construction.

Giò Forma studio had this to say: “In Saudi Arabia, everything speaks of construction and the future. The Salone del Mobile.Milano and Riyadh are coming together to give shape to this energy. Red in progress. Salone del Mobile.Milano meets Riyadh is a spatial device that sublimates the construction site into a cultural platform, connecting the know-how of the Italian design industry with the Saudi urban transformation players. It is a preview that prototypes avant-garde spaces and envisions future lifestyles.”

The cultural programme will consist of Masterclasses and Round Tables, organised in collaboration with the Architecture and Design Commission at the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Culture led by leading figures in architecture and design from both countries, featuring a range of topics, case studies and analyses of ongoing urban transformations. It will also highlight innovation, sustainability, and the evolution of design identity, drawing on the heritage of the great design masters, supporting young talents in their growth journey, and promoting strategic connections between creativity and the business world. The space dedicated to the public programme has been designed as an informal, human-centric forum, with tiered seating, rugs and cushions to bring speakers and audience closer together and encourage direct dialogue: an environment capable of transforming storytelling into operational discussion and professional networking.

The B2B component will take shape in the Business Lounge designed by Lissoni & Partners studio, which will unfold into lounge and meeting areas designed for discreet yet functional hospitality: close sitting rooms defined by curved walls like graphic strokes, pillars clad in backlit pleated fabric that become landmarks, carpets, furnishings and touches of greenery creating a welcoming retreat. A fullheight illuminated wall will narrate the story and values of the Salone del Mobile.Milano. The layout of the furnishings has been conceived to convey a space given over to scheduled meetings, presentations and networking between Italian companies and key Saudi players. Rounding off the programme, site visits to some of the major mega-projects under development in Riyadh and throughout the Kingdom are envisaged. The aim is to foster professional relationships, test the needs and priorities of clients and generate concrete opportunities for companies within the supply chain.

Alongside the professional programme, there will be an area dedicated to Lifestyle in collaboration with KAFD retailers and Italian and Saudi food & beverage brands: the Financial Plaza will host convivial opportunities illustrating the rituals of Italian living, conceived as spaces for interaction between participants. Not just a simple interlude, but a theatre of service and hospitality thought out with the same care as the design aimed at fostering conversation.

Finally, there will be two institutional areas: the Architecture and Design Commission area will host key projects currently under way across the Kingdom, including the Designed in Saudi initiative, which empowers local designers and positions the Kingdom as a global design destination.

Where & When
Red in progress. Salone del Mobile.Milano meets Riyadh
King Abdullah Financial District, Riyadh
26th — 28th November 2025
Admission upon registration

Strategic Partner
Architecture and Design Commission of the Saudi Ministry of Culture

With the support of
MAECI – Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
ITA – Italian Trade Agency

Exihbiting companies
Alchymia
Argenteria Schiavon
Arper
Artemide
Bonaldo
Calligaris
Cassina
Citco
Desiree
DGA
Edra
Fantoni
Florim
Foscarini
Gessi
Giorgetti
Guzzini & Fontana Projects
Henry Glass
La Palma
Lema
Listone Giordano
Living Divani
Loloey
Minotti
Molteni&C
Nardi
Natuzzi Italia
Officina della Scala
Pinetti
Poliform
Poltrona Frau
Porro
Rugiano
Technogym
Venini
Villari
Visionnaire

Biographies

Maria Porro
President Salone del Mobile.Milano
Maria Porro, born in Como in 1983, has been President of Assarredo since being unanimously elected in September 2020, and is the first woman to take on this role. She joined the Board of Directors of Assarredo in 2017 and the General Council of FederlegnoArredo in 2019. She is Director of Marketing and Communication at Porro S.p.A., an old-established Italian design brand, set up by her greatgrandfather Giulio in 1925. She joined the company permanently in 2014, with responsibility for bolstering the company’s international trade network and strengthening its communication strategies, before taking on her current role, with sustainable development very much to the forefront. She graduated cum laude in Set Design from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, and worked in theatre, art and large events as a designer, coordinator and curator. She has always maintained strong ties to the family firm and the design world, collaborating with her father Lorenzo Porro and with the Lissoni Associati studio in particular, in the field of stylistic research and new product development, and personally overseeing the company’s presentations at the Salone del Mobile. Starting from July 2021 she has become President of Salone del Mobile.Milano.

Dr. Sumayah Al-Solaiman
CEO of the Architecture and Design Commission, Ministry of Culture in Saudi Arabia
Dr. Sumayah Al-Solaiman is the CEO of the Architecture and Design Commission at the Ministry of Culture. Before that she was the Dean of the College of Design at Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University as well as a member of the Municipal Council of the Dammam Metropolitan Area (2016-2020). In 2018, She was the co-curator for the Saudi National Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. She was an Ibn Khaldun Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT (November 2013-January 2015). She recently published a book of articles in Arabic (‘ala khad alkawn). Dr. Al-Solaiman has a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of Newcastle, United Kingdom, a Master’s in Architecture from King Faisal University, and has executive certificates in management, leadership, strategy and innovation from MIT. She has officially represented Saudi Arabia and presented her research at international conferences. She was also the editor-in-chief of ‘Forum: International Journal of Postgraduate Studies in Architecture, Planning and Landscape’.

Giò Forma
Design, art, and architecture studio
A multidisciplinary studio founded in Milan in 1998 by Cristiana Picco, Florian Boje, and Claudio Santucci, Giò Forma is an international creative Milan-based firm that integrates architecture, interior design, bespoke furniture, theatrical sets, large stages and events, right up to art and museum installations. The studio is known for an approach that combines experiential engineering and narrative power, transforming each project into an immersive story. With a strong presence in Saudi Arabia, Giò Forma was responsible for iconic projects such as the Maraya Concert Hall – the largest mirrored structure in the world – the Chedi Hotel in AlUla and the first Islamic Arts Biennial in Jeddah, consolidating its global reputation. In Riyadh, for Salone del Mobile, the studio implements a curatorial masterplan that includes product-specific exhibition areas, spaces for a cultural programme of masterclasses and round tables, and lifestyle zones, in a project that brings together architecture, immersive design and contemporary narration.

Lissoni & Partners
Architecture, interiors, product & graphic design
With offices in Milan and New York, Lissoni & Partners possesses a close to forty-year history in developing international projects in the fields of architecture, landscape, interior, product and graphic design, as well as handling the art direction for a range of prestigious companies. Led by Piero Lissoni, the studio adopts a tailored approach to each intervention, bringing together a broad range of expertise and establishing a stylistic code and a visual identity that are clearly and instantly recognizable. Inspired by a sense of rigor and simplicity, the work of the studio is distinguished by a close regard to detail, coherence and elegance, as well as by scrupulous attention to proportion and harmony. Organised around different fields of intervention, the practice comprises Lissoni Casal Ribeiro for masterplans, landscape design and architecture, Lissoni Associati for interior design and fit-outs, Lissoni Design for art direction and product design and Lissoni Graphx for graphic design, visual communication and brand identity, while Lissoni Architecture New York develops architecture and interior design projects for the American continent.