The #MDW25 Issue
Ciao Milano! Top 10 spots I've saved to see at Milan Design Week (and you shouldn’t miss)!
This year, I had planned to be in the middle of it all. But, as life tends to remind us, especially when you're a parent, plans can shift. This time thanks to the flu and all that comes with it. Once I surrendered to the idea that I’d be enjoying the design madness from the comfort of my sofa—or, at best, my balcony with an Aperol Spritz in hand—I realized I had the perfect excuse to do something different: share my list of what I had saved to see.
So, one woman’s change of plans becomes your opportunity to explore the very best this year’s design capital has to offer—from standout exhibitions and installations to unique venues and creative brand collaborations. My highlights include the debut furniture line by artist Garance Vallée for Monde Singulier, the social media–dominating collaboration between Pharrell Williams’ Humanrace and design heavyweight USM, timeless pairings like Jil Sander x Thonet, and emerging voices such as Natalia Criado designing for Taller Marmo.
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This year, design platform Alcova returns with exhibitions across three different locations and one of them is Villa Borsani. Tucked away just outside Milan, the villa is a mid-century gem built in the 1940s by architect Osvaldo Borsani. It’s a beautiful mix of rationalist architecture softened by decorative details.
It’s here that Completedworks is debuting its first furniture collection. Known for sculptural jewelry and objects, the brand now turns to furniture with a focus on material illusion. Pieces crafted from solid bronze and clay are shaped to mimic soft, almost edible forms like icing, whipped foam, or cake. It’s a clever play on perception that challenges what we think we’re seeing, and what we expect design to feel like.
Also debuting at Villa Borsani is the Conservatory outdoor collection by Yaniev Chen for Lemon Furniture. The series pays homage to the iconic design language of Josef Hoffmann, known for his precise, geometric forms and grid patterns. Chen reinterprets these early modernist cues with a contemporary softness and the pieces feel both structured and serene in the villa’s beautiful natural setting.
The next stop is Zona Magenta, where Studio Tutto Bene teams up with Béton Brut for Apertura 01—an opening in every sense of the word. Like the aperture of a camera lens, it’s about framing, focusing, and shifting perspective. The exhibition features Tutto Bene’s Legato collection in dialogue with three sculptural works by Salvino Marsura, recently rediscovered by Béton Brut.
From the French studio Haddou & Dufourcq comes COSMO. A new furniture line created for Maison Pouenat, known for their iconic metal craftsmanship. Presented in the heart of the Brera Design District, the collection is an ode to what feels like a softer, more romantic take on brutalism, where heavy materials are shaped with a sense of elegance—a design language I’ve been seeing and loving lately.
At the second location of Alcova, Villa Bagatti in the Verano district, Kilzi showcases the Mush Lamp family. Transparency, as a central design feature, takes the spotlight here, with these nature-inspired, voluminous pieces evoking a sense of organic growth.
As usual, I’m obsessed with the work of french artist and designer Grance Vallée, who is unveiling an exclusive furniture collection for Monde Singulier. Her signature style blends architectural and geometric elements with influences from Art Nouveau, creating a stunning mix of warm and cold materials, complemented by the softness of buttery leather. J'adore!
The Art Nouveau influence continues with Taller Marmo, who unveiled The Celebration Kit—a special collaboration with Milan-based designer Natalia Criado. The cocktail set includes two margarita glasses with playful tassels (very much the moment!) and an ice bucket, all in Criado’s signature geometric shapes and adorned with ornamental stones.
Bread and Butter, Faye Toogood’s latest collaboration with Tacchini, is on show at the brand’s newly opened showroom. The centerpiece, Butter, is a sculptural, squashy modular sofa. Generously proportioned and wrapped in butter-soft upholstery, it drapes over oversized, building block–like forms that can be arranged and reconfigured to suit any space. My only wonder: why go from the obvious when it came to color?
At first, I wasn’t even that excited—maybe because it had been so hyped on social media. But honestly, it’s a really clever collaboration. If there’s one brand that truly gets culture, it’s definitely Pharrell’s Humanrace. In partnership with USM Modular Furniture, Humanrace brings its design philosophy into the bathroom. Both brands share a belief in the power of design to shape a well-lived life—and that a thoughtfully designed space can redefine how we live. “Design for well-being”, all in signature Humanrace green.
Loewe Teapots is a new commission for MDW, curated by Jonathan Anderson and displayed at Palazzo Citterio. The project brings together 25 artists, designers, and architects to reimagine the humble teapot as a sculptural object.
Jil Sander is internationally renowned for her clean aesthetic, and now she’s tapping into the world of furniture. Her collaboration with Thonet marks her first foray into furniture design. With the JS . THONET signature collection, she reimagines the brand’s iconic tubular steel pieces from the late 1920s, adding her own understated elegance and timeless sense of style.
Omg una sofa/postelja pa gobice lucke. Oh. 🥰🥰