The Surface Guide to Milan Design Week 2025

Milan Design Week 2025 is underway, anchored by the 2,100 exhibitors within the 63rd edition of Salone del Mobile at Rho Fiera (running from April 8 to 13). In addition to a milestone year at the fairgrounds, design institutions across the city—including Nilufar Via della Spiga and Nilufar Depot, dimorestudio, and Rossana Orlandi—are hosting compelling presentations. Independent collectible design fair Alcova returns to Villa Borsani and Villa Bagatti Valsecchi, as well as new interventions at the former SNIA factory and the Pasino glasshouses. Fuorisalone’s immersive activations across the city this year include fashionable returns from Hermès, Loewe, Saint Laurent, Buccellati, Loro Piana with Dimoremilano, a dazzling entry from Google, and a sculptural debut from The Balvenie and Samuel Ross that’s set in the Old Foundry of Isola.

In Design Dispatch, we’ve already shined a spotlight on Orior’s Beatha drinks cabinet at the Bocci Apartment and the Great Sofa by Philippe Malouin and Hem at Capsule Plaza, but both events will present much more. Rockwell Group’s Casa Cork will address cork as a sustainable material, while Beni Rugs will debut an installation entitled Intersection, designed by Studio KO and Colin King in a former textile shop in Milan’s 5Vie area. Between a Flos partnership at Euroluce, and a collaborative theatrical production at Teatro Lirico Giorgio Gaber, of Staging Modernity, Cassina’s 60th anniversary ode to Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand Collection, FormaFantasma cemented its magnitude for 2025.

Dialogues abound, interior architect and designer Lauren Rottet’s panel discussion at the refreshed Turri flagship on April 10. L’apparemento by Artemest returns. Collaborations will foment, including Patricia Urquiola’s pieces for Heimtextil, on display at the Palazzo Bovara. And brands from Range Rover to Moleskine, Ray-Ban to Muji, Pierre Frey, and Lee Broom will provide inspiration. Milan’s own Sofia Zevi is set to present a group show in the center of Brera.

Once again, Salone del Mobile itself requires careful planning and deeper reflection. In addition to highlights from the likes of Arper, Ingo Maurer, Foscarini, and Humanscale, the monolithic assembly features several spectacular site-specific installations. These include a rumination on waiting, entitled La Dolce Attesa, from Oscar-winning filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino (Pavilions 22–24, Rho Fiera) and the Villa Héritage by lauded French designer Pierre-Yves Rochon (Pavilions 13–15, Rho Fiera), the latter a multiple room, multi-sensory expression of elegance and lavish restraint.

If Salone del Mobile represents the heart of Milan Design Week, Fuorisalone acts as the lungs, breathing life through design into every corner of the city. From English artist Es Devlin’s luminous rotating ode to books at Pinacoteca di Brera, Library of Light, to artist, director, and performer Robert Wilson’s experimental tribute to Michelangelo, Mother, at Museo della Pietà Rondanini – Castello Sforzesco, this year’s must-see experiences aim to enlighten. Centered around a bed in the foyer of Teatro Litta, Finnish design brand Marimekko’s installation, curated by Laila Gohar and aptly entitled All the things we do in bed, explores the bedroom’s purpose alongside the art of printmaking. Within Giardino Pippa Bacca, a lush public garden, the designers of studio 5∙5 have erected a “manifesto house” for Muji’s aesthetic. And, within the project room of 10 Corso Como, London-based design studio LAYER’s “101010” exhibition highlights prototypes developed with MDF Italia, Andreu World, RÆBURN, Muuto, Orrefors, Kvadrat, and Bitossi.

Once again, Alcova—and its collision of architecturally significant spaces and pioneering collectible design—encompasses more splendors than imaginable. In the glasshouses, this includes self-taught artist and designer David Aliperti’s presentation from New York City-based queer-and-femme-led art space SoMad. Within the walls of famed Villa Borsani, Noritake and Faye Toogood share their limited-edition collaboration, the evocative Rose Collection, part of the Japanese porcelain tableware company’s 120th anniversary; outside, Michael Anastassiades impresses with “monstrous” planters. In Villa Bagatti Valsecchi, Lara Bohinc launches her new Anima seating collection and Ready to Hang makes their European debut with Between Seeing, a suspended installation of fabrics, mirrors, and flora, dedicated to reflection and presence, done in partnership with Le Labo and Claire Marie Astruc. Further, Studio Lugo will present their new Anachron—and, in the villa’s engulfing basement space, the Shakti Design Residency with present the Vista Collection by Kickie Chudikova and Klove Studio.

Though a global swathe of designers, brands, and institutions unfurl the extraordinary during Milan Design Week, it has become increasingly important to honor those based in the region. This ranges from Turin, Italy-founded coffee purveyor Lavazza’s “Source of Pleasure” pop-up with Brazilian architect Juliana Lima Vasconcellos at Palazzo del Senato to the fine jewelry maison Buccellati Milan and their partnership with Balich Wonder Studio on a sensorial exploration of silver. Of course, there’s also the meandering design enclave of Rossana Orlandi, about which we’ve already shared our thoughts on Draga & Aurel’s “Pensieri Riflessi (Reflected Thoughts)” installation in the RoCollectible exhibition, featuring the Como-based studio’s Space Age-inspired Phebe pendant lamps. This, in addition to Aline Asmar d’Amman’s sculptural furniture pieces, and Studio Yellowdot’s new Hatch lighting—made from repurposed eggshells and stainless steel—offer surprise and delight.

For everyone in Milan this week, we cannot emphasize the importance of supporting Milanese cultural centers like the Prada Foundation and Triennale. And as for engaging with the international design community, we also recommend you consider coupling the Out of Office Run Club 5K (starting from Dazi Milano on April 9 at 10 a.m.) with your dinner at Trattoria del Ciumbia or your drinks at Bar Basso and Notte Flora, the one-night-only pop-up bar by In Common With and Sophie Lou Jacobsen.