Every spring, Milan changes its rhythm for a few days – and this time even more noticeably than usual. Design Week 2026 demonstrates how the boundaries between disciplines are rapidly blurring: fashion houses work with space, designers with gastronomy, and craft resonates on the level of contemporary art. Fuorisalone is finally transforming into a cultural map of the city, where every location – from historic palaces to flagship boutiques – becomes a stage for new senses. We have collected ten projects that most accurately convey the mood of the moment this year – from conversations about heritage and memory to play, experimentation and the search for new sensuality in design.
Gucci: a memory of roots
Demna Gvasalia dedicated his Design Week debut as Gucci's creative director to the brand's cultural heritage. With his characteristic irony, he created the Memoria tapestry series, which reinterprets the House's historical ties to Florence in a Renaissance aesthetic, and casts characters like Guccio Gucci, Tom Ford, and Demna himself as the heroes of Renaissance paintings.
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It is no coincidence that the courtyard of the 15th-century church of San Simpliciano was chosen as the setting for the exhibition. It is adorned with a pop-up flower garden, where the selection of plants refers to the brand's iconic motif – Flora. Once the installation is complete, they will be used to create bouquets for customers of the boutique on Via Montenapoleone.
Jil Sander: bibliography
Jil Sander's showroom, with its panoramic view of the Castello Sforzesco fortress, became a corner of Fuorisalone where you can slow down and dedicate time to finding ideas for inner development. In collaboration with the Spanish independent interior magazine Apartamento, the brand created the Reference Library installation, dedicated to sixty favorite books of artists, writers, designers, architects and thinkers.
The book, according to the curators, is our last bastion of self-defense against the chaos of the modern digital world and at the same time a medium through which we can learn about the world and ourselves. The intimate atmosphere, where each folio is illuminated like a masterpiece of art and invites interaction, was created by the Milanese design bureau studioutte.
Cucchi x Marni: invitation to an aperitif
Two icons of Milanese style – the fashion house Marni and the café Pasticceria Cucchi – have decided to join forces in a project that explores and celebrates the classic rituals of the city's social life: from morning coffee to the evening aperitif at six. Cucchi is an undisputed landmark in Milan's social circles: it is here that the local elite has gathered for a cup of coffee or a glass of aperitif since 1936.
Marni, under new creative director Meryl Rogge, has brought a modern design and signature bright, deep colors to the old café, which now adorn the tableware and interior. It's one of the few Milan Design Week pop-ups that can be enjoyed without rushing—it runs until July 15.
Dior x Noé Duchaufour-Lawrance: the secrets of light
Award-winning designer Noé Duchaufour-Laurence set himself an ambitious goal in his collaboration with Dior — to create an interior design object that would embody Dior's New Look.
Inspired by the iconic Corolle skirt, first introduced by Christian Dior in 1947, the result is a lamp of the same name, made of Murano glass and leather or cannabé bamboo, the shape and texture of which evoke a fabric in motion. The fabulous installation of hundreds of bamboo flowers was created by Thai artists and artisans Korakot Aromdee and Wasana Saim, who recreated the atmosphere of the gardens of the Villa Les Rhumbs in Granville, where Dior spent his childhood.
So-Le Studio: sculpture in the interior
Maria Sole Ferragamo, founder of accessories brand So-Le Studio, decided to go beyond jewelry for the first time and create an interior object specifically for Design Week. Her education as an architect speaks to this, which forces her to approach each object from the perspective of a balance of form and content.
The Lucemuta lamp was created in collaboration with Bottega Ghianda, Milanese woodworking experts, and is conceived as a macro-decoration for the space: made of upcycled leather, a signature material of So-Le Studio, and mounted on a wooden base, it resembles both a totem sculpture and a fencing mask. The object can be viewed at the brand's boutique in the heart of Portrait Milano, the refined hotel of the Ferragamo family, one of the most stylish in the city.
Loro Piana: an ode to the plaid
Despite the title — Studies, Chapter I: On the Plaid — the objects of the Loro Piana exhibition can hardly be called simply plaids. The fruit of the painstaking work of the most skilled craftsmen, they rather appear as full-fledged works of art. Presented in a gallery format divided into thematic sections, the twenty-four canvases demonstrate a wide range of decorative techniques on cashmere and vicuña — from embroidery and appliqué to printed patterns and other artisanal techniques of haute couture.
The decor of each is dedicated to the House's codes: from Alpine landscapes executed in silkscreen technique, to beaded thistle flowers – the brand's symbol – and paisley patterns. Plaid is one of the first items produced by the brand since 1924, and it was its curators who chose it as the starting point for their research – as a central and at the same time one of the most versatile elements of the interior.
Laila Gohar x Arket: back to childhood
Laila Gohar always brings an element of play to Milan Design Week: if last time it was a pajama party dedicated to her collaboration with Marimekko, this time the designer set up nothing more and nothing less than a real carousel to present her first clothing collection for another Scandinavian brand – Arket.
Inspired by her childhood and her favorite hobby – cooking, Laila's carousel is decorated with giant vegetables, and the model itself is an accurate reconstruction of a carousel from the first half of the 18th century, of which only a few have survived in the world. The backdrop for the presentation was Milan's Giardino delle Arti – another symbol of the 1700s.
Salone Raritas: to a private collection
For the first time in the history of Salone del Mobile.Milano, the exhibition in Rho featured a space dedicated to unique and collectible objects — from designer and rare vintage and antique items to examples of high craftsmanship and art objects that can be integrated into the interior.
Curated by Annalisa Rosso, the project brings together international galleries specializing in rare objects and collaborations with designers and artists, including Nina Yashar's Milanese Nilufar Gallery and Brazil's Mercado Moderno. The latter is presenting this year Rodrigo Garcia's Sundials series, a series of totemic sundials dedicated to the study of time. For the designer, they embody universalism and a cosmogenic vision of time, light and space in different civilizations.
Issey Miyake: twelve chairs
Japanese brand Issey Miyake explores the potential of paper, one of the most characteristic materials of the national culture. For Design Week, they created a series of furniture and sculptures in collaboration with Madrid-based Ensamble Studio – ephemeral objects in pastel shades, where the House's famous pleats are interpreted as a structural element of chairs, benches and sculptures.
The idea for the project came to Miyake Design Studio’s creative director, Satoshi Kondo, when he noticed the rolls of paper used to protect items in factories and also fed into pleating machines. He had long wanted to give these by-products of the pleating industry a second life – one that was more delicate than simple recycling. The poetic result can be seen in the brand’s flagship boutique in Milan.
Ikea: food for the mind
At IKEA Design Week, the brand explores the interplay of democratic design and the sensory world of gastronomy. To do this, the brand transformed its Milanese space, Spazio Maiocchi, into a saluhall — a traditional Swedish market with hot dogs, cheeses, and a teaser of the bistro's unexpected new product — the meatball lollipop, created in collaboration with Chupa Chups, which will be officially presented in May.
To make the space interactive, the Swedes invited prominent representatives of the modern gastro scene, including Ben Lippett and Tina Choi, who, in tandem with leading interior designers, create a creative bridge between the perception of space and food as the quintessence of modern hedonism.
Text: Olena Dyachenko