Last week marked every design lover’s dream as Milan Design Week took over the city. Held every year in Milan, the city-wide celebration of design brings together architects, designers, brands, artists, and visitors from all over the world.
The event is split into two main parts: the first, Salone del Mobile (Furniture Fair), is the official trade fair held at the Fiera Milano exhibition centre, focusing on furniture and interiors, lighting, industrial and product design, new materials, and technologies. This is where the biggest brands launch their collections. The second section is called the Fuorisalone, allowing for more experimental and creative design, including installations, exhibitions, pop-ups, concept designs, and events hosted in galleries, showrooms, courtyards, and even private apartments. In this article, we’re going to be breaking down this year’s best offerings from brands:
Louis Vuitton’s Tribute to Pierre Legrain
Having shaped a bold visual language of geometry and material, Pierre Legrain was a multifaceted artist whose collaboration with Louis Vuitton transforms his work into a layered exhibition that bridges art history with contemporary design. Hosted at Palazzo Serbelloni, the exhibition ‘Objets Nomades’ saw the reissue of Legrain’s 1920s Art Deco furniture, including the iconic ‘Celeste’ dressing table.
Arket’s Fruitful Offering
To mark the brand’s collaboration with artist Laila Gohar, Arket reimagined a fairground ride at Milan’s Giardino delle Arti, part installation, part interactive. The merry-go-round is based on an antique carousel that dates back to the 1700s; however, oversized fruit and vegetables replace the original horses. For the opening, the London Vegetable Orchestra were invited to perform, as well as a vegetable-instrument-making workshop for guests.
Gucci Tackles 105-Year History
Gucci’s creative director, Demna, offers his first Salone installation, ‘Gucci Memoria’, offering a window into the brand’s evolution over 105 years. The exhibition showcases the house’s transformation from an Italian maison to a global powerhouse, set in the Chiostri di San Simpliciano, which immediately transports guests. Visitors are welcomed by a Gucci vending machine to then discover a flower garden in the next courtyard, alongside huge tapestries that depict various Gucci universe years under various creative directors.
Hermès Maps Out Milan
Built from an immersive field of beechwood volumes, the house presents its 2026 home collection through an immersive map. Designed by architect Charlotte Macaux Perelman, the map suggests a way of thinking about interiors through placement and alignment. The installation feels like a low-lying city with pieces from the home collection taking on structural roles.
Range Rover Returns for Second Year
Known for its quiet luxury aesthetic, Range Rover is back for their second year instalment with ‘Traces’, created in collaboration with Storey Studio. Through a sensory journey, the installation celebrates the brand’s personalisation service, where craftsmanship, creativity, and individuality meet. The instalment explores what it means to create something entirely your own and deepens Range Rover’s relationship with the international design community.
Bottega Veneta Weaves Its Way in
For Bottega Veneta’s first Salone under creative director Louise Trotter, the brand collaborated with the Korean artist Kwangho Lee for its installation, ‘Lightful’. The installation features a suspended woven structure paired with light sculptures woven from Bottega Veneta’s leather ‘fettucce’ strips. Created in black and green, selected by Trotter, each sculpture shows the limitless boundaries of Lee’s craft. Alongside this, the brand was also at Micamera bookstore to distribute posters and the Anna flower shop for custom flower wrapping.
Rimowa Collaborates With Lehni
Rimowa leaned into its heritage of mobility by turning its iconic suitcase into something that deserves a permanent place in the home. To execute this, the brand presented a collaboration with Swiss furniture maker Lehni, a move that positions Rimowa within the language of home interiors. The result was a selection of aluminium furniture pieces designed to store Rimowa’s signature grooved cases, elevating Rimowa from functional travel gear to collectable design.
Swarovski Lights Up the Room
Rather than approaching its design installation through just furniture or product, Swarovski anchored its presence in light. The brand constructed an illustrated book, ‘The Quest for Light’ co-authored by Markus Langes-Swarovski in collaboration with Hiro Kagimaki and his studio IC4Design. The book takes readers on a journey in search of the four great crystals of the world, Trust, Love, Courage, and Creation, to help fight darkness and shine light on the world.
Prada Reframe Form
Prada’s annual symposium, Prada Frames, returned for its fifth edition under the title ‘In Sight’, a three-day exhibition. Held within the historic Santa Maria delle Grazie, the church housing Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’, the event brought together a multidisciplinary mix of talks and performances.
Miu Miu Read the Room
If there’s one brand that knows its target audience its Miu Miu, as they opened their third Miu Miu Literacy Club titled ‘Politics of Desire.’ Taking over Milan’s Circolo Filologico Milanese, an institution dedicated to language, the event gave out free books all written by female authors, as well as presenting a series of talks on desire, consent, and AI. To explore these themes, the event focused in part on the writing of Annie Ernaux and Ama Ata Aidoo via conversations with contemporary writers.
