MILAN — European furniture and design firms have played a fierce game of defense while navigating the tricky playing field of geopolitics, trade and even a global pandemic. Quick to re-strategize, the industry has used its lobbying prowess to pioneer trade routes and carve new markets.
The Iran conflict, which ignited on Saturday and hit key luxury hubs like Riyadh and Dubai, adds another blow and will certainly be top of mind for leaders as they prepare for the biggest event of the year: the Salone del Mobile.Milano trade show.
In an interview, FederlegnoArredo president Claudio Feltrin said the furniture sector has been battling blow after blow, starting with a consumer slowdown in China and the Russia-Ukraine war, which toppled the industry’s hopes for a Russia expansion. Efforts to grow in the Gulf region were just starting to pay off, he reflected.
“It was one of those famous alternative markets that our companies had cultivated for years and they started to yield the fruit of those efforts and now there is this stop and go. It’s clear if the conflict ends in two or three weeks, we can continue to do business,” Feltrin explained.
FederlegnoArredo, Italy’s wood supply chain, said the declining appetite for foreign luxury goods in China, in addition to tariff pressures, has been among the furniture sector’s top challenges since the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The macroeconomic situation remained sluggish over the course of 2025 and into 2026, a period marked by geopolitical conflict, high interest rates, inflation, rising shipping costs and a housing slowdown. As a result, top firms banked on the resilience of the high-end consumer by investing in growing markets like Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Salone del Mobile.Milano is planning a satellite fair in Riyadh for 2026. The sector’s biggest names — Molteni&C, Minotti, Cassina and Poltrona Frau among them — have invested in expanding their retail space in the Gulf to tap into the high-net-worth migration to the region over the past decade.
Designs for the Salone del Mobile.Milano event planned for Riyadh.
STUDIO GIÒ FORMA/SALONE DEL MOBILE.MILANO
On Thursday, FederlegnoArredo shared a report measuring the value of exports to the region between January and November 2025. The United Arab Emirates ranked the seventh largest single market in the world for Italian furniture exports for a total of 431.7 million euros. That figure had risen 3.2 percent year-over-year. Saudi Arabia ranked number 18. Italy’s export of wood-furniture products to the Gulf nation totaled 205 million euros during the period, down 19.3 percent during the same period of 2024.
Last year, according to FederlegnoArredo, which represents the interests of the majority of Italian luxury furniture firms, the supply chain posted revenues of 52.2 billion euros, which rose 1.3 percent versus 2024.
Minotti’s Riyadh showroom.
Shoayb Khattab
As consumers throughout the Gulf shelter at home and-or leave, leaders here await clarity on the duration of the conflict. In the meantime, there are a few industry and macroeconomic factors that will determine the industry’s economic performance for 2026 and beyond.
Contract Business
Salone del Mobile.Milano recently revealed the debut of Salone Contract in 2027, in an attempt to create a new avenue of business for the luxury design firms that showcase at the fair. It’s also a way to build Salone del Mobile.Milano into a hub for that facet of business.
According to the 2025-26 branded real estate report by Savills, branded residences are being constructed at an unprecedented rate. Some of those hot spots happen to be Dubai and Abu Dhabi, though Miami is among the highest ranked globally. South Florida in general is a global leader, with 42 completed schemes recorded in 2024, while other top clusters of branded residence schemes include New York City, Los Cabos, São Paulo and the Caribbean. In 2025, the number of branded residences rose to 910 from just 323 in 2015. That number is expected to surge to 1,747 by 2032.
Oniro Group teamed up with New York City-based jewelry and watchmaker Jacob & Co. for the Beachfront Living by Ohana situated conveniently between Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Courtesy of Oniro Group
In 2025, Italian design furniture firm B&B Italia became one of the first to announce its own branded private residence project. Set to open in Miami later this year, Casa Bella by B&B Italia is a way for the Northern Italian firm to tap into the demand for high-end homes with five-star hotel amenities and services — with completion set for later this year.
This year, Visionnaire, the Italian design and bespoke interior architecture firm, and The Longevity Suite, a biohacking and antiaging city clinic network, announced a partnership they say will pioneer a new way of living. It’s one of the first residential collaborations of this type, uniting the worlds of wellness and design.
EU Trade Deals With Mercosur and India
Luxury industry concerns hit a peak this year after U.S. President Donald Trump announced his trade policy that involved a 15 percent tariff on all exports. Since then, leaders here have been banking on a reprieve that hinges on the swift approval of a crucial European Union deal with Mercosur, the South American bloc that includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. This deal, for which talks commenced in 1999, could potentially create the world’s biggest free-trade area. Provisional application of the deal is in force.
The EU has also concluded European Union-India free trade agreement negotiations in January, solidifying an eradication of duties on up to 99 percent of Indian goods being imported into Europe.
The development gives India a boost in an area where other countries like Bangladesh, Turkey and Pakistan have thus far had an advantage. The textile ministry noted that this would reduce tariffs by up to 12 percent for textiles and apparel.
“We have great expectations. There is a lot of optimism,” Feltrin said, cautioning that it remains to be seen how much the furniture industry will benefit. With regard to the Mercosur deal, the tariffs for European imports to the region would will be reduced slowly and by 2 percent each year for 10 years.
India, he said, has great potential, but European firms still need to work on communicating the essence of their products to Indian luxury goods consumers. In addition, the Indian government is requiring that every single piece of furniture must bear proof of origin certification before it lands on Indian soil, which is both timely and costly. According to the trade deal, the EU and India have agreed on a documentation or proof of origin in the form of a statement of origin as a separate document that exporters will need to upload on a portal allowing the importing party’s customs authorities to verify the authenticity of the statements of origin.
“India has a lot of great potential; there are a lot of people that have the spending power to purchase Italian goods, but there is a big cultural gap, so in the medium term we really need to work on the Indian market,” Feltrin said.
Claudio Feltrin, president, FederlegnoArredo
Courtesy of Federlegno Arredo
Eye on Salone del Mobile.Milano
For now, he said, the industry expects new drivers to emerge at Salone del Mobile.Milano, which drew more than 300,000 visitors to the Italian creative capital in 2025.
The 64th edition of the fair will open its doors at Fiera Milano Rho trade grounds on April 21 and run until April 26 and will include two biennials — kitchen expo Euro Cucina and the International Bathroom Exhibition — as well as breakout designer debuts at the annual Salone Satellite curation and a new collectible design curation.
