While design aficionados flock to Milan from around the globe for the world's largest furniture fair, Italy's kings of kitchen style are looking beyond its borders to beat a sluggish domestic market. As the six-day Salone del Mobile got under way in Italy's fashion capital on Tuesday, the country's kitchen design industry was celebrating a 3.2 percent growth in exports last year.

The event hosts more than 2,450 exhibitors, of whom nearly a quarter are foreign. Last year, it attracted around 300,000 visitors from 165 countries. The €779 million generated by the kitchen sector is behind only Germany and China. Consultancy firm Bain & Company estimates that the global design market grew four percent in 2017 to €35 billion, a figure that is destined to triple over the next ten years.