Milan Design Week 2025 is fast approaching, and it’s time to start filling your agendas. Here are FRAME’s top picks and must-see tours and talks, from an adventurous safari to exploring some of society’s most pressing issues with expert panels.

SALONE SAFARI

Liganova

Liganova invites FRAME readers to join Salone Safari on 9 April: a 4-hour curated tour of Milan Design Week 2025. Starting the tour at 10 Corso Como, visitors will embark together in safari vans with Karin Leiberg, Zeitgeist trendspotter and director of brand activation at Liganova. The Safari will explore the most exciting exhibitions and unexpected highlights, get inspired by the stories behind them and meet the makers and creators. The tour concludes with an exclusive aperitivo at Rossana Orlandi’s enchanting & eclectic bistro Aime e Nadja – the perfect setting to kick off Design Week with networking and drinks.

When: 9 April, 12:00 to 17:00
Where: 10 Corso Como, Corso Como 10, Milan
Limited spaces available; sign up in advance here.

PRADA FRAMES – IN TRANSIT

Prada

Alice Rawsthorn contextualizes contemporary issues at the intersection of design, culture, and society for the Prada Frames 2025 symposium, featuring contributions from Giacomo Abbruzzese, AAU Anastas, Paola Antonelli, Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian, Kate Crawford, Tung-Hui Hu, Metahaven, Hito Steyerl, and Nicola Twilley, among others. The theme ‘In Transit’ investigates infrastructure through the lens of art, design, architecture, anthropology, philosophy and activism, exploring topics through a multiplicity of perspectives, acknowledging complexity. The venue is a nod to the theme, with talks taking place in the royal waiting area and in a restored 1950s train at Milan’s Central Station.

When: 6 – 8 April
Where: Padiglione Reale and the Arlecchino Train, Milan Central Station
Find more information and the full programme here.

DRAFTING FUTURES: CONVERSATIONS ABOUT NEXT PERSPECTIVES

Salone del Mobile

‘The relationship between people and space is the foundation of design.’ In this talk, Lesley Lokko, the founder of the African Futures Institute and curator of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, explores the rapid process of urbanization in Africa and the challenges that this entails in terms of education, sustainability and social innovation. Highlighting the African continent’s relatively young population and the creative and innovative potential that it represents, the talk calls for reflection on how it is possible to harness this energy to rethink architectural and urban planning practices in more sustainable and equitable ways. Lokko also proposes a change of perspective, moving away from paternalistic attitudes towards Africa and instead drawing inspiration from situations often considered marginal.

When: 11 April, 11:00
Where: Arena Drafting Futures by Formafantasma Fiera Milano, Rho – Pavilion 14
For more information, visit this link.

SPACE BETWEEN

Design Hotels x Universal Design Studio

Design Hotels returns to Milan Design Week with a collaboration with Universal Design Studio at Straf Hotel. Holding true to their belief that hotels have the power to shape culture, and applying insights from their recent Further Forecast – Community Capital report, Space Between uses a modular system to activate the hotel lobby through an evolving exhibition. Space Between explores how hotels and other third spaces can use design to build community and catalyse culture—opening dialogues, sparking unexpected exchanges, and nurturing movements.

When: 8 -9 April
Where: Straf Hotel, via San Raffaele 3, Milan
For more information, visit this link.

DOUBLE VISION

Blond x Harry’s

London-based industrial design brand Blond partners with New York-based grooming brand Harry’s to present a talk and exhibition investigating the role of AI in product design. The talk, moderated by Dezeen’s co-CEO Benedict Hobson, accompanies an exhibition tracking the design development of two facial steamers – one created by Blond using as much AI as possible, and one by Harry’s using traditional design processes.

The talk features designers and researchers from Blond and Harry’s.

When: 8 April, 17:00 – 18:00
Where: Via Palermo 8, Milan
For more information, visit this link.