From the surreal to the achingly cool at Milan Design Week

Once a year, Milan is taken over by installations of furniture, lighting and interiors — spreading from its palazzi and gardens to its showrooms and even churches. Milan Design Week (taking place April 17-23) evolved from the annual furniture fair established in 1961, Salone del Mobile. That trade-focused event continues, April 18-23, at its home of Fiera Milano Rho, an impossibly large exhibition complex on the city outskirts. But the Milan-wide activities outside the Salone — which are loosely grouped under the banner Fuorisalone — form a veritable treasure hunt that is simultaneously inspiring and overwhelming.

While the major contemporary players in furniture, lighting and homeware are always showcased, it can be the lesser-known and emerging creators whose work stands out — and fittingly enough, Fuorisalone’s theme this year is Future Laboratory, reimagining the ways in which we design and live. It’s also notable that as a key fixture on the global interiors calendar, Milan Design Week continues to be dominated by European names (Salone del Mobile was originally established to promote Italian exports of furnishings and homeware). Much of interest is on show, but this is not the full picture of international design. Questions have been raised about the diversity of the exhibitors, for example.

Sifting through the week’s hundreds of installations, exhibitions and launches to find what to see is the first trick to master. Here are six highlights of what, and who, to look out for.

Alcova

If you’re seeking new ideas — in an immersive setting — then Alcova, now in its fifth edition, should be your first port of call. Set this year in a monumental former abattoir, Ex-Macello di Porta Vittoria, a range of design and craft will be showcased in experiential installations. New talent including furniture designer Wang Yichu, textile designer Sangmin Oh and architect-designer Kiki Goti will sit alongside more established names such as multidisciplinary studio Objects of Common Interest and lighting designer Lindsey Adelman.

Sustainability and circular design will also be celebrated, with work from San Francisco-based Prowl Studio, which has made a fully compostable chair from hemp, and Bratislava and Berlin-based Crafting Plastics Studio, which creates sculptural pieces from bioplastics. April 17-23, alcova.xyz

Loewe Chairs

When it comes to craft, Loewe occupies an almost regal position. The fashion house was founded by Spanish leather craftsmen; it launched a foundation in the 1980s to support craft heritage; and it continues to champion artisanal skill in its products. This year, it takes over the Palazzo Isimbardi with Loewe Chairs, a range that focuses on weaving, in leather, raffia and even foil from thermal blankets.

Thirty simple wooden stick chairs — some antique, some newly made — have been creatively embellished by craftspeople from across the world. The results are somehow subtly flamboyant; a celebration of the humble chair as a vehicle for artistic expressions of woven craft. April 18-23, loewe.com

Shift Craft

Organised by Korea Craft & Design Foundation, this exhibition at Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli brings together 20 Korean artists who translate traditional craft techniques — mediums include ceramics, metalwork and woodwork — into new forms. They include ceramic artist Yoon Kwang-cho, furniture designer Jaeha Lee, silversmith Sungho Cho and multidisciplinary maker Heechan Kim, whose abstract sculpture (#Untitled 15, 2023) comprises fragments of ash wood stitched together using delicate copper wire.

Accompanying the main Shift Craft exhibition is a smaller show held at Rossana Orlandi Gallery, Shift Craft — Objet. It features six young Korean craftspeople, including ceramicist Jayoung Kim and woodcraft artist Youngah Shin. April 17-23, fuorisalone.it

Gubi

Achingly cool Danish furniture brand Gubi will be making a splash at the Bagni Misteriosi, a revived 1930s lido attached to a performing arts theatre. The brand’s Under the Sun outdoor range will be showcased with new pieces launched alongside alfresco versions of popular classics, including an iroko wood lounge chair and ceramic-topped coffee tables. April 18-22, gubi.com

Desacralised

Organised by Galerie Philia, Desacralised features 20 designers, from fashion’s Rick Owens to Ukrainian furniture studio Faina, in the deconsecrated church of San Vittore e 40 Martiri. Their works, all in white, reflect on how objects lose their sacred value.

Owens showcases Tomb chair, a surreal piece made from white marble and moose antlers, while Faina’s Duzhyi stool is hand-sculpted from wood chips, clay, flax and other natural materials, in a technique once used for wall finishes in Ukrainian homes. Guangzhou-based Kar Studio will show its Oracle Bone Script chair, made from wood using an ancient Chinese lacquer method, and Milan-based Morghen Studio will exhibit Cascades of Light, a 9m-high installation reimagining church chandeliers. April 18-23, galerie-philia.com

Bar Flora

At wine bar Palinurobar, Brooklyn-based lighting studio In Common With will present its Flora range, a collaboration with glassware designer Sophie Lou Jacobsen, in an installation titled Bar Flora. Inspired by classical Venetian glassmaking and playful postmodernism, the handblown, mould-blown and slumped glass objects will illuminate the intimate spaces of the bar. New additions to the Flora collection will debut, including indoor/outdoor portable table lights in pewter and brass. April 17-19, incommonwith.com

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