Relive Salone With a Look Back at Milan Design Week 2025

To create or to make is to forge progress – to reject that is just poor taste. And in spite of market turbulence caused by global uncertainty, Milan Design Week 2025 continuously proves that good design thrives in spaces of inclusion. This year’s Salone Del Mobile boasted 302,548 international attendees who came to witness showcases by 2,103 exhibitors from 37 countries, not to mention the extensive cultural programming with its tendrils extending well into the city itself.

The sprawling activation’s beguiling novelties represent so much more than just beautiful things. Every annual event brings a greater level of refinement to the trade and innovations that were years in the making. Brands invested in biophilia have seen their concepts blossom into sustainable solutions that will outlive superficial trends to “go green”. And modularity has moved away from its monolithic aesthetic to become synonymous with personalization.

We hope that this roundup and subsequent coverage in the weeks ahead will provide a peek into something beyond your regularly scheduled programming. Continue ready to revisit some objects, observations, and oglings from our latest visit to Milan.

Kinetic Furniture Has More Fun

All home furnishings serve some sort of purpose – even art, whose function I would argue is to be beautiful. But I’m always delighted to see objects that can multitask or add an additional layer of utility, aesthetic or otherwise.

The Volte Face Mirror by Toni Grilo for Riluc is exemplary of the Franco-Portuguese designer’s fascination with technical processes and material properties as much as it is the innovative brand’s proclivity for finely engineered objects. Volte is the third installment in a trifecta of mirrors that explore illusionary dynamics, stimulate tactile senses, and now actively engage users to alter the visual function by repositioning a hinged central facet.

Grégoire De Lafforest’s Armchair Crecy for decorative arts studio Mercoeur marries furniture making with cabinetry and casework. Three sides of the seat are lined with a folding screen that conceals storage within the frame and can open to make micro space for objects like lighting or a side table. Users have the ability to animate it as they please to accommodate refreshed interiors and evolving tastes – making the armchair an anchorpoint wherever it resides.

Biophilia that Beguiles

Humans are not as far removed from nature as some might insist – truly only by clothing and shelter, our second and third skins. Sunlight still perks us up like plant life. Greenery makes us feel grounded. And the sight of ladybugs and butterflies continue to spark joy. So why not tap into that design DNA?

Italian lighting powerhouse Lodes delivered two biophilic concepts as part of the broader launch for their Lodes OUTDOOR collection. Reed, designed in house by Lodes, and Kinno, designed by Patrick Norguet, borrow silhouettes from easily recognizable flora and fungi, respectively. Their isomorphism is tempered by highly refined construction that sloughs off any suggestion of novelty for final products in the vein of landscape architecture.

Music festival and cultural phenomenon Tomorrowland has extended its reach into design with their newly formed Great Library Design Studio led by Belgian architect Dieter Vander Velpen – who spearheaded the launch of their home furnishings brand Morpho. Their Volita Dining Chair is just one in a series of lifestyle objects that learns from Art Nouveau’s sinewy curves that often reference plant and insect biology.

Material Uses We’d Like to See More

It wasn’t just blue, it wasn’t just turquoise, it wasn’t lapis, it was actually cerulean… Anyone who watched The Devil Wears Prada knows that the trickle down effect – unlike economics – is true of fashion. While it isn’t beyond our wildest imagination to see innovative material use in the luxury space, it would be lovely to see these refinements fully embraced by the masses.

Aged brass, green marble, and sumptuous upholstery. Orior – a family-run, ultra-luxe furniture maker out of Ireland – adds another heirloom-quality piece to their portfolio while expanding upon the material application synonymous with the brand. The solid wood Beatha Cabinet boasts hair-on-hide doors in a deep chocolate brown that manages to catch the light in unsuspecting ways for an additional sense of glamour.

Rottet Studio, in partnership with Turri, who celebrates their centennial this year, debuted several rooms worth of artisan-crafted home furnishings. The James Executive Desk, situated in the office vignette, features a slew of embellishments that add to the design experience without complicating the form. Its leather detailing moves from the curved front panels to the drawer interiors as well as the undermount leather-wrapped saddle pocket and hidden leather-wrapped storage compartment within the elongated writing surface.

Legacy Brands Bet on Boldness

Iconic companies become cultural institutions by building credibility as reliable trade partners for the global design community through consistent messaging and a clear identity. But everyone deserves a chance to cut loose. And with intention, daring to deviate from their norm can imbue a brand with staying power and resilience.

Family-run fabric house Dedar presented Weaving Anni Albers, in collaboration with the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, recontextualizing five iconic Albers prints with modern manufacturing. Under Way 1963, described as a meandering thread on composite weave, is captivating with its 2.5-dimensionality and a curious directionality. As a tapestry, it beckons onlookers to come along for a stroll paying homage to the original artist while looking forward to the future of textile artistry as a fine art.

Artisan bed maker Treca – whose name is a derivative for the term ‘coil’ in French – has been crafting mattresses and bedroom furnishings with classic silhouettes since the early 1900s. But as of late, the brand has embraced contemporary sensibilities and folded elements of high fashion, including textiles shared with and leathership learned from some iconic houses, into the design and construction of a few of their latest customizable pieces. The most modern is the Headboard Poésie Prestige, outfitted in leather with options for electrification.

Wall Systems + Closets Get Glam

Semi-permanent walls, custom casework, and sprawling closet systems are the next frontier for exploration when it comes to interior architecture. Designers now have near-limitless options to specify when tailoring a project for personalization. What’s more, modularity has become far less monolithic and a lot more empathic of the individual.

Trendy surface treatments may come and go, but feature walls are here to stay. Lago, maker of ultra-modern modular design solutions, has developed a variety of systems that satisfy one’s taste for contemporary interiors with scalable storage versatility. The N.O.W. series – available in Kitchen, Wall Unit, and Wardrobe – creates a sleek, continuous finish across a handleless surface comprising delightfully irregular patterns that, depending on the model, may vary smoked-bronze, white, and transparent glass panels for an elegant alternation between storage and show space. Those looking for something warmer with the added benefit of acoustic comfort may consider the Et Voilà Wardrobe, which uses a large, retractable textile to conceal a closet feature.

Poltrona Frau presented DressCove, their new wardrobe and walk-in closet system designed by architect Dante Bonuccelli. The details are an exquisite mixture of aluminum, wood, Pelle Frau, and task lighting that make moments of undress a celebrated part of twilight. The upright wall structures are made extra light without doors, and the freestanding solution may be configured to store and display myriad accessories – and of course, lined with leather.

Take a look back on even more Salone and Milan Design Week coverage here.