Spotlight on Milan Design Week 2026
The prestigious fair’s latest edition showcases new innovations and fancy novelties
Add BT as a preferred source
MILAN WAS ALL ABUZZ ON Monday (Apr 20) as style aficionados descended upon the Italian fashion capital for the world’s biggest design fair.
New innovations in furniture design dominated the 64th Salone del Mobile.Milano on the fairgrounds of Fiera Milano Rho, as well as Fuorisalone throughout the city.
Besides the biennial EuroCucina for kitchen design and the International Bathroom Exhibition, Milan Design Week debuted Studio Raritas – a showcase dedicated to collectible design.
Here’s a peek at some of the week’s highlights, ranging from luxury brand novelties to arty rugs for both high impact and soft touch.
ClassiCon
ClassiCon’s collaborators include famous names such as Eileen Gray and Konstantin Grcic.
This year, Singapore-born, Porto-based designer Gabriel Tan joins the list with his Soft Stone sofa. The brand’s first modular sofa comprises 11 different asymmetrical cubic modules, inspired by the staggered stone terraces in Parque da Cidade in Tan’s adopted hometown, and the late Isamu Noguchi’s sculptures.
Navigate Asia in
a new global order
Get the insights delivered to your inbox.
Exceptional comfort comes from a quilted mat atop a layer of memory foam. ClassiCon is available at Space Furniture.
Hermes
Hermes’ showcase includes elegant tabletop pieces such as the Palladion d’Hermes jug made of hand-hammered, palladium-plated metal and a handle of cassia wood.
Designed by Studio Hermes, its simple form accentuates the handiwork of the silversmith. The dark wood and brilliance of the silver jug’s body “respond to each other like shadow and light”.
SEE ALSO
Henge
Ugo Cacciatori came from a family of marble quarry owners and sculptors, cultivating a sensitivity to materials that makes the Italian designer a perfect collaborator with Henge.
The brand is known for using exotic stones such as volcanic Etna lava rock, metals burnished with ancient techniques and fossilised wood to create highly handcrafted pieces.
Its 2026 collection, “Ritual Gravity”, translates to furniture that anchors the space it is placed within, such as the monumental Shield table by Ugo Cacciatori. Its legs are cast metal, while the top features materials such as Travertino Rapolano stone and Ice Onyx. Available at Proof Living.
CC-Tapis
Italian rug brand CC-Tapis provides the canvas for the whimsical imagery of Fornasetti. The latter tells stories through trompe-l’oeil, fragmented images and graphic illustrations, which are given tactility through handcrafted rugs using fine natural fibres such as Himalayan wool, merino wool and silk.
Fornasetti’s strong images, such as the apple-eating serpent in Peccato Originale and the human face in the sun of Re Sole, are conversation pieces in any space they inhabit. Available at Maison Affluencecy.
Lema
The unassuming paper clip inspired Italian architect and designer Carlo Colombo to create the Graffetta (Italian for “paper clip”) chair for Italian furniture brand Lema.
It features a tubular steel frame whose bent shape evokes its namesake. Colombo’s vision for the fluid form was to both “welcome and protect” the user in the enveloping profile. It perfectly represents Lema’s “Feel at Home” artistic concept by A++ Studio, channelling comfort and ease of modern living. Available at W Atelier.
Laufen
The 130-year-old Swiss bathroom brand Laufen has introduced Vitreon steel, a new material that is as smooth as glass, while also being as strong and malleable as steel.
Vitreon steel extends the brand’s premium bathroom range of washbasins; the unique composite material is hardy, extremely hygienic due to its pore-free and seamless surface, colourfast, fully corrosion-protected and scratch-resistant. Available at Carera Bathroom.
Poliform
Gone is the standard wire-frame outdoor furniture of yore. Today’s designs adapt the comfort and aesthetics of indoor furniture for the outdoors, which is a boon for tropical Singapore.
Poliform’s Shore outdoor sofa is perfect for shady afternoons with an eggshell-like profile that gently embraces the user. The hand-woven rope not only recalls the movement of waves, but also allows light and wind to filter through. Available at Space.
Gervasoni
Italian architect and designer Roberto Lazzeroni has created timeless pieces for reputed brands around the world. This year marks his first collaboration with the 144-year-old Italian furniture manufacturer Gervasoni with the Club sofa.
Soft lines and armrests that fold over in a gentle gesture define the profile of the modular system, lifted slightly off the ground with neat, geometric feet. There are also unique parts that enable the creation of deep loungers and long, shapely sofas for larger spaces. Removable covers make the sofa practical for everyday use. Available at The Beuro.
Cassina
Greek-born architect and designer Nicos Zographos (1931-2023) first designed the CH66 chair in 1966. Great architects such as IM Pei and Philip Johnson also insisted on using his furniture designs in their projects.
This year, the Karakter x Cassina collaboration reintroduces the seat, grounded on the Bauhaus principles of form and function that Zographos was influenced by. The chair, featuring two simple curves formed from tubular chrome steel, is also in the permanent collection of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. Available at W Atelier.
Mutina
Shanghai-based architecture firm Neri&Hu is known for translating historic Chinese elements into modern forms, as seen in projects such as the Sulwhasoo flagship store in Seoul and Sanya Wellness Retreat in Hainan.
For Milan Design Week, the firm created two pieces for the Italian ceramic surface brand, Mutina. “Weaving” is a ceramic tiling surface inspired by bamboo weaving, while “He” is a new Editions line that uses traditional Chinese ritual geometries in tableware. Available at Rice.
Louis Vuitton
Pierre Legrain (1888-1929) was a French decorator, bookbinder, illustrator and cabinet-maker who had a good relationship with Gaston-Louis Vuitton, and was later commissioned by the latter’s grandson to design the iconic Louis Vuitton Coiffeuse in the 1920s.
The lacquered wood-and-leather creation became the very first piece of furniture ever sold by the luxury fashion house. Legrain’s Art Deco flair is celebrated in Louis Vuitton’s Objects Nomades Homage Collection at the Milan Fair, with a reinterpretation of the coiffeuse.
Moroso
First introduced in 2009, M’Afrique has become one of Moroso’s most iconic collections. The pieces are designed by famous designers such as Ron Arad and Sebastian Herkner, and crafted in Dakar using plastic threads traditionally used for fishing nets and handwoven through adapted traditional techniques.
The Italian furniture manufacturer also uses colour in a thoughtful way to evolve this collection of outdoor furniture, with the colour palettes for Tord Boontje’s Shadowy “amplifying its scenography presence and narrative depth”. Available at Xtra.
Decoding Asia newsletter: your guide to navigating Asia in a new global order. Sign up here to get Decoding Asia newsletter. Delivered to your inbox. Free.
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
