Discover Highlights from This Year’s Lake Como Design Festival

The second week of September is a busy time in Como, Italy. The lakeside city just one hour north of Milan has just attracted foreign aristocrats since the 1800s and is something of a favorite with certain celebrities today. But in the 21st century, late summer is also the most magnetic moment for tourists, as well as influencers who pop in for a rapid lake-side selfie.

Perhaps to redress the balance, a local organization called Wonderlake has, since 2019, staged a week-long design festival. “The natural landscape we have is incredible, the lake is almost a celebrity in itself,” says Bianca Passera, a Como native and the president of the Lario Hotel group which owns several hotels in the town, including the Villa Flori where breakfast is taken with breathtaking views over the water. “But we also have the best examples of rationalist architecture, which started here in the 1920s, Italy’s last gothic style cathedral, and a thriving contemporary design scene,” continues Passera, who is one of the festival’s key supporters. “Como is still a centre of the silk industry, and many important furniture companies are based nearby.” These include major Italian names such as Campeggi, Molteni and Living Divani.

As a result, the festival aims to open up the more cultural sides of the city. This year, for example, there is a unique opportunity to visit the Asilo Sant’Elia by Giuseppe Terragni, one of the finest examples of rationalism. Built as a pre-school center in 1935 in brick, glass, ceramic and concrete, it is beautifully restored and a must-see for any fan of pre-war 20th century architecture.

In a deconsecrated church—San Pietro in Atrio—there is an exhibition of paintings by Aldo Rossi, the 20th century architect who’s even better known as the designer of Alessi’s famous La Cupola coffee maker. Rossi, who died before his time, in a car accident at the age of 66, had a family home beside the lake, as well as in Milan where he ran his studio. The lyrical paintings—of beachhuts, towers and incredible buildings from Rossi’s imagination collaged into imaginary cities—show just what a talent was taken too soon.

Visitors can even enter such hallowed spots as the design archive of Ico Parisi, whose delicate but angular furniture designs from the 1950s and 60s now sell for thousands of dollars in auctions of 20th Century Design.

The center of the action, however, is the Villa del Grumello and the botanical gardens where, in an exquisite 19th-century villa, as well as grottos, chapels and greenhouses, an array of contemporary design companies and galleries gather, alongside a specially curated selection of works by emerging designers brought together by Giovanna Massoni. “The Festival is a celebration of design and art,” says Massoni. “And my section has become a platform to show young research projects and new ways of working.” A number of new works greet visitors on the approach to Villa del Grumello including a glistening silvery bench by Thomas Serruys, made of galvanized steel, and a textile work by Selma Wallbon fluttering from a line strung between trees. “It took 100 hours to make,” says the 30 year old Swedish textile artist. The gentle breeze from the lake does the rest.

Below, discover more highlights from the festival:

1. Magistretti At Campeggi

“Vico Magistretti thought my father made camping products when he heard the name,” says Guglielmo Campeggi of the great Italian designer, who first met Campeggi pere in the 1990s. In fact, Campeggi makes sleekly designed furniture in its factory near Como. But Magistretti nonetheless responded with witty designs that suggested a nomadic lifestyle. Now re-editioned by Campeggi, they include the fabulous two-colored Oblo sofa, with a movable back and large rotatable cushion; it even turns into a full-size bed.

2. Claudia Moreira Salles

Milan gallery Etel is focusing on the sublime work of Claudia Moreira Salles, the Brazilian designer who is inspired by the heroes of mid-20th Century Brazilian design—Sergio Rodrigues and Joaquim Tenreiro. Like them, she prioritizes the beauty of natural materials and the finest of lines. The Convivios bench, from 2023, has a back formed of a glowing red compressed wood pulp. The Nomade tea trolley, from 1993, pays homage to the many bar carts that Rodrigues designed in the 1960s and 70s.

3. Giulia Paradell/Isola Futura

In 2022, Giulia Paradell left her home in Barcelona for a quick trip to Alicudi, a tiny volcanic island off the coast of northern Sicily. She is still there, spending her days collecting the island’s very specific plants and algae, before turning it into paper. The results are here, the irregular “pages” framed behind glass like intriguing green artworks. “It’s as though the island is a library, a collection of this flora,” says Papardell, whose partner Alberto is learning the island’s wicker tradition from its last exponent, his grandmother. Alicudi used to be completely inhabited. Now it has a population of 80 people all year round, and a few tourists come and go. “There are remains of agriculture, but nature has taken over,” says Paradell. “This is my way to show the island’s past and present.”

4. Abreham Brioschi

Abreham Brioschi was born and raised in Italy, but looks to his Ethiopian heritage in his design. The work showing here is derived from Ethiopian archetypes, including the wooden “pillows”—smoothly curved sections for resting the head, “but not so comfortable that you fall asleep,” says the 27-year-old designer. Brioschi seeks to unite the traditional with the new, and demonstrates his philosophy here with a work where two pillow-shaped forms can be united by a brass band to create a sleek occasional table. “Strong enough for a glass or a book,” says Brioschi. “But not for sitting on.”

Until 21 September 2025