The 60th edition of the Salone del Mobile has been postponed to the middle of 2022 in a move driven by Italy’s surging COVID-19 cases.

The world’s best known furniture fair also known as Milan Design Week was originally slated for April, but has been pushed forward to 7-12 June 2022.

Upon making the announcement yesterday, the president of Salone del Mobile Milano Maria Porro said the decision would “enable exhibitors, visitors, journalists and the entire international furnishing and design community to make the very most of an event” in total safety.

“As well as celebrating a major anniversary, the event will focus on the theme of sustainability, acting as a showcase for the progress made in this regard by creatives, designers and companies,” she added

“Moving the event to June will ensure a strong presence of foreign exhibitors and professionals, which has always been one of the Salone’s strong points, and it will also give the participating companies time to plan their presence at the fair as thoroughly as possible given that, as we know, the progression from concept to final installation takes months of preparation.”

This is not the first time Milan’s Salone del Mobile has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 edition was postponed then cancelled as Italy grappled with one of the highest infection rates in the world.

The 2021 edition was also rescheduled, before a paired back version went ahead in September of that year.

After showing a positive reduction in cases over the summer of 2021 and one of the highest vaccination rates in Europe, Italy has been inundated with Omicron cases in recent weeks.

The Omicron strain accounted for 81 percent of the country’s cases as of January 3rd with the number of average daily infections around 180,000.

Globally, other design events that have been cancelled or postponed as a result of the ongoing health crisis include Germany’s IMM Cologne, France’s Maison&Objet and the Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair in Sweden.