By the way, Salone is made up of two big divisions. One of them is the huge trade-show area called ‘Fiera’, the area for the main exhibition and the other is the total of several hundred exhibitions held all over Milan. It’s completely impossible to see all of them within the limited time of 6 days from April 18 to 23. Therefore quite naturally, we have to select really worth-to-see ones among these uncountable numbers of exhibitions, which is as if we had to choose to see only several TV programs from more than thousands of broadcasting companies within a limited time.

Those who participate in Salone seem to be divided into three different types depending on their objectives.

The first type of them is those who demonstrate their products to get chances for business negotiations. The participants of this first type are almost limited only to Salone’s main exhibition area, Fiera.

The second type of them is those who try to get people’s attention by expressing their ideas or assertions. The great number of exhibitions seen everywhere in Milan are the galleries of this type of participants. The participants of this type are ‘designers and companies that try to send their special messages to mass-media’ with their products presented. A great variety and number of media get together for reporting on Salone. Designers and companies exhibit their products with the recognition of the power of media. Thus, the significance of the trade-show seems to have come to be more widely varied than it used to be.

Of course, there are companies that demonstrate their products for getting business deals there simply because they couldn’t secure their spaces in the main exhibition area. It can be an indication of the difficulty to get an exhibition space at Fiera without some political backups

I’d like to touch upon the third type of participants who exhibit their works at many small show-galleries among large ones occupied by the second type of participants mentioned above. They are the young people desperately trying to find the chances to be recognized by the world. They are exhibiting their works hoping to get attention from some companies that will make their works actual commercial products. The powerful vitality shown by such young people always make me feel relieved.