Editor Chieri Higa kicks off coverage of Milan Design Week 2025 with highlights from sensory exhibitions and a surprising number of anniversary shows.
Photo: Courtesy of Nilufar Depot
'Silver Lining' at Nilufar Depot, co-curated with Fosbury Architecture.
My very first Milan Design Week digest begins with Nilufar Depot: an old silverware factory filled to the brim with a seamless blend of sparkling-new and gorgeous vintage furniture. The centrepiece of it all is a giant conversation-pit-like exhibition co-curated with Fosbury Architecture. Fully lined in baby-soft alpaca wool, Silver Lining combines gnarled 3D printed lighting with space-age chairs, giving the sensation of being pulled into a time warp. Other highlights include: crocheted furniture inspired by Greek mythology cast in bronze by Allegra Hicks, Joe Armitage's chandelier inspired by nocturnal adventures at the botanical garden and a few magnificent antique Murano lamps.
Cover and Above: Delfino Sisto Legnani, courtesy of Mutina
The set for Patricia Urquiola's tile design as interpreted by Brigitte Niedermair for Mutina.
As a ceramics aficionado and photography lover, I felt my heartstrings tugged particularly strongly by Mutina's presentation. In celebration of its 20th anniversary, Mutina commissioned Brigitte Niedermair to create photographic works inspired by the ceramic tiles made in partnership with renowned designers. Niedermair began with the idea of a home, creating abstracted sets for each tile and photographing them with a large-format camera. The result: a series of breathtaking editorial prints highlighting a commitment to craft. Some of the sets are replicated in the space at Casa Mutina and Spazio Cernaia, showcasing the scale and dimension of the rooms envisaged by the photographer.
Photo: Courtesy of MoscaPartners
Nobody Owns the Land: Earth, Forest, Mahk by Byoung Soo Cho at Palazzo Litta.
With a topical theme like 'migrations', MoscaPartners' exhibition was sure to hit on some salient points – with the title Nobody Owns the Land, Byoung Soo Cho commenting on belonging and sovereignty. 'The earth, nobody owns it, but everybody lives together. Though never born, gives birth to countless stories of life. These stories are inseparable form the earth, just as we are inseparably intertwined, living and embracing one another,' says Cho. People remove their shoes to step onto the brown gravel of the raised platform, creating a small, equalizing vulnerability. The quirky and craft-focused Tactile Baltics brought a smile to my face with a chainmail bookshelf and woven basket side table. Trace of Water by Honoka and Aqua Clara – a project creating light-diffusing materials from spent office water cooler tanks – felt different from the regular material-recycling project in that the designers harnessed the degradation, turning the damage into a feature of the final product.
Photo: Courtesy of Author
Catching a moment of cozy serenity at Marimekko x Laila Gohar.
For a brief reprieve from the constant stimulation, I stopped by Marimekko’s collaboration with Laila Gohar at Teatro Litta. Titled ‘All the things we do in bed’, the show celebrates the luxury of lounging, harkening back to traditions of communal sleeping. There was a long line out front, but visitors were pacified with spindly striped sweets and a small task: to fill out a postcard with intentions for their moment ‘in bed’. Inside, a single cavernous room with a very big daybed invites visitors to read, listen to a gentle soundscape or just close their eyes for a peaceful moment.
Photo: Courtesy of Layer
A speculative beehive designed by Layer in partnership with Andreu World.
Last on my long list of stops is 101010, Layer's 10th anniversary exhibition appropriately held at 10 Corso Como. Benjamin Hubert walked me through the part-retrospective, part future-facing show, which features standout projects from the studio's tenure. Notable is the series of speculative objects designed together with prominent clients spotlighting climate challenges affecting everyday life: 'It's not every day that Andreu World agrees to make a speculative beehive with you!' One table in the exhibit was dedicated to the studio's process; it is always inspiring (and humbling!) to see how many iterations a team has to go through before arriving at the elegant products that get presented to the public.
