Buccellati Unveils “Aquae Mirabiles” at Milan Design Week
The Italian heritage jeweler’s newest Caviar pieces come to life in an “underwater” art installation
While the 2026 edition of Milan Design Week (April 20–26) draws design houses and artists from around the world, Buccellati stands out as one of the event’s premier Milanese exhibitors. Founded in the Italian city in 1919, the heritage jeweler has created an immersive installation housed in a temporary gallery adjacent to its headquarters on Piazza Tomasi di Lampedusa.
Titled “Aquae Mirabiles,” the presentation encompasses a series of environments and tablescapes that “celebrate our Caviar silverware collection and Buccellati’s mastery of table art, creating a luminous and evocative narrative deeply rooted in Italian tradition,” says Mariacristina Buccellati, global communications director.
The Caviar collection is defined by clusters of silver microspheres that mirror the luxury delicacy. The sphere motif has appeared in the maison’s jewelry and silverware since the 1930s; in 2015, president and creative director Andrea Buccellati reinterpreted it for the debut of Caviar, a line of tabletop items featuring Murano glass barware, serving pieces, and more.
The newest additions to Caviar—a complete flatware set, two caviar bowls, and a bread plate—are showcased in the installation alongside shells and sea creatures from the Marina collection and two magnificent silver sturgeon sculptures created especially for the Milan Design Week event. Sourced by independent curator and advisor Federica Sala, these objects serve as tangible elements within a magical seascape, where metallic reflections comingle with shades of turquoise, deep blue, and emerald.
As the installation visuals highlight, the premise of “Aqua Mirabiles” is more than a product launch. The idea, explains Buccellati, “was to tell the story of Italian caviar in an entertaining and accessible manner for both adults and children.”
To advance this narrative, the design house commissioned watercolor paintings and drawings by the British artist Luke Edward Hall to “transform the exhibition into an evocative visual experience,” she adds.
Hall’s artwork is mounted inside and outside of the gallery spaces: “I think the moment visitors arrive in front of the installation, they’ll be in for a visual treat,” the artist tells Galerie. Some of the watercolors are flat, while others will be wrapped around architectural elements or assume a three-dimensional effect.
It was Sala who introduced Hall to the Buccellati family: “I was drawn to this particular project because I knew that Buccellati wanted to create something fantastical, and my work is so much about storytelling,” he says. “Plus, silver is considered a magical and mystical material in folklore and magical traditions, so it felt like an exciting material to be working around.”
Central to the tableau are depictions of Roman mythological figures—Neptune, the Naiads, and Tiberinus, god of the Tiber River, for example—which ground the installation in “a mythological underwater world, one where gods and goddesses and giant silver fish gather in caves and temples, and to intertwine the real, historical story of caviar in Italy with a fantastical narrative,” Hall adds.
Buccellati praised Hall’s ability to capture the presence of caviar throughout Italian history, from the Roman Empire to the Renaissance. Ultimately, “Aquae Mirabiles” “illustrates caviar’s long-standing role as a symbol of luxury and desire,” she says, while “beautifully merging Buccellati’s heritage and artistry with Luke’s contemporary vision.”