This year, Milan Design Week once again put the city at the center of the global design scene. With events, exhibitions, installations and discussions spread across the city between April 8-13, Milan was the meeting point of creative thinking, innovative ideas and aesthetic vision for a week.
The highlight of the week was Salone del Mobile 2025, one of the most prestigious events in the furniture industry, held at the Rho Fiera fairgrounds. However, Milan Design Week was not only limited to this major fair, but also to the numerous independent events, brand presentations and artist projects spread across the different neighborhoods of the city under the title Fuorisalone.
Milan Design Week: An Experience Bringing Past and Future Together
From historic courtyards to converted industrial buildings, the exhibitions offered visitors an experience that brought them together with both the past and the future. Design districts such as Brera, Tortona, Isola and Lambrate were among the highlights of the week, each with its own unique atmosphere and thematic emphasis.
Library of Light – Es Devlin
British stage designer Es Devlin drew attention with his installation Library of Light in the courtyard of the historic Pinacoteca di Brera. Devlin’s structure built on a rotating platform hosted over 3,000 books. Visitors had the opportunity to observe the books and the architectural structure from different perspectives while rotating around the platform. The books in the installation were selected from the works of authors such as Toni Morrison and Adrienne Rich, in line with the fair’s theme “Thought for People”.
The Suspended Hour – Nike and PAN
Nike and Berlin-based music label PAN launched the Air Max 180 with the installation The Suspended Hour at Capsule Plaza in Milan. Under the creative direction of PAN founder Bill Kouligas and designer Niklas Bildstein Zaar, the project created an atmosphere in which club culture was treated as a sacred space. The installation featured a large sculpture referencing the figure of Pan from Greek mythology.
Lachlan Turczan and Google – Making the Invisible Visible
After his debut project in 2023, artist Lachlan Turczan returned to Milan with Google. This year’s installation, Making the Invisible Visible, explored the theme of synesthesia through light, sound, and movement. Six illuminated surfaces in a dark space were created with lasers, parabolic mirrors, steam and algorithmic arrangements. The surfaces were designed to be sensitive to human contact and each surface produced a different sound when it moved.
Studio INI, Dezeen and ASUS – Design You Can Feel
Design You Can Feel, an installation by Studio INI for Dezeen and ASUS, featured kinetic wings that opened and closed as visitors walked. The special textured material used on the surface of the wings was created by ASUS’s Ceraluminum process. During this process, the aluminum honeycomb structure was immersed in an electrolysis bath to create oxidized ceramic layers on its surface.
Hermès – Crafted Realities
French fashion brand Hermès presented its traditional design week installation at La Pelota in Milan’s Brera district. Designed by art directors Charlotte Macaux Perelman and Alexis Fabry, the space featured suspension boxes surrounded by a completely white floor and walls. Colored lights emanating from beneath the boxes highlighted the brand’s multicolored home collection.
Kapwani Kiwanga and Kvadrat – Diade
Canadian artist Kapwani Kiwanga exhibited the fabrics she developed in collaboration with Danish textile brand Kvadrat at the showroom in Corso Monforte. The textiles designed by the artist had yarn textures that changed the perception of color when viewed from different angles. In the installation, interventions placed at different points in the space emphasized the viewer’s perspective on the fabric and the perceptions that change with the effect of light.
