10 Milan Design Week Installations to Add to Your Itinerary
From a radiant pink labyrinth conceived by Lina Ghotmeh to David/Nicolas’s celebration of decorative wood paneling
With so many product debuts, breathtaking installations, and collectible design shows taking place during Milan Design Week, it’s often difficult to pick which ones to see. Below, Galerie highlights ten installations that deserve a spot on any design lover’s itinerary.
1. “The Flamingo Estate Bathhouse by Kohler”
Kohler returns with another commanding installation, this time with Flamingo Estate founder Richard Christiansen. Set within the courtyard of the Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, the project reimagines the site as a monumental bathhouse informed by the rugged structure on Christiansen’s California property, where weathered metals and elemental surfaces echo the surrounding landscape. At its center, Kohler will unveil Reverie, an iteration of its freestanding enameled cast iron bath, now wrapped in a true copper shroud that glows under shifting light. Wildflowers will overtake the courtyard while four sculptural pollinator baths, conceived by Christiansen and cast in Kohler’s Wisconsin foundry, extend the installation into the garden, offering refuge for birds and bees.
Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Via Palestro, 14, April 21–26
2. David/Nicolas: “La Boiserie”
The acclaimed Beirut- and Milan-based duo David Raffoul and Nicolas Moussallem is christening their newly opened Milan studio in the 5VIE district with “La Boiserie,” an installation that will unpack the layered vernacular of decorative wood paneling. Drawing on a long-standing thread in their practice, the project will reveal boiserie’s use as a modular architectural system that integrates storage and ornament, such as triangular and circular motifs across manifold configurations. The project, they explain, “reflects years of research and instinctive exploration, having accompanied us over time and now taking on its own autonomy and identity.”
David/Nicolas, Via San Maurillo, 19, April 20–24
3. Buccellati: “Aquae Mirabiles”
Buccellati will stage one of the week’s most transportive moments with “Aquae Mirabiles,” an installation curated by Federica Sala and designed by Balich Wonder Studio, with British artist Luke Edward Hall contributing painterly watercolor murals. Located just steps from the maison’s headquarters in Piazza Tomasi di Lampedusa, the temporary structure takes the guise of a water theater that opens onto an imagined Atlantis, complete with hand-painted figures of Neptune, the Naiads, Tiberinus, and sirens that introduce a mythical narrative about Italian caviar. Visitors will traverse a sequence of galleries that chart the sturgeon’s passage from open sea to freshwater, with silver specimens glinting amid shifting fields of emerald, turquoise, and deep blue. The final room will feature a banquet with a wave-shaped table that will present the full Caviar collection, including new flatware, caviar bowls in two sizes, and a bread plate.
Piazza Tomasi di Lampedusa, April 21–26
4. Audo Copenhagen: “The Grand Café”
Audo Copenhagen is looking to Italy’s storied café culture with The Grand Café, a transportive experience at Salone del Mobile conceived by Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen of Norm Architects in collaboration with art director Christian Møller Andersen. Spanning nearly 5,000 square feet, the installation draws on Italian historicism and the measured geometry of 1930s modernism through a procession of colonnades that lead visitors through a sequence of interconnected rooms, including a lounge, café, and dining hall unified by the brand’s soft minimalism. It also offers an early look at furniture launching in June, including a lounge chair by Anderssen & Voll that takes cues from Brazilian Modernism and a sinuous sofa by Norm Architects.
Rho Fiera Milano, Stand G02 & F03, Hall 9, April 21–26
5. MoscaPartners: “Metamorphosis in Motion” by Lina Ghotmeh
French-Lebanese architect Lina Ghotmeh’s Milan Design Week debut happens to be at one of the Italian style capital’s most storied locations: the Cortile d’Onore of Palazzo Litta. Against the ornate backdrop of the Lombard Baroque landmark will unfold a site-specific labyrinth composed of curved geometric modules rendered in a radiant pink palette. It guides visitors along a carefully choreographed path that opens onto a sequence of distinct pockets that shift in scale and perspective, in which 25 exhibitors selected by MoscaPartners founder Caterina Mosca will explore themes of metamorphosis through material research and experimentation.
Palazzo Litta, Corso Magenta, 24, April 21–26
6. Range Rover: “Traces”
For its second outing at Milan Design Week, Range Rover conceived an installation with Storey Studio that examines the craft behind its Bespoke program. Rather than presenting vehicles outright, the project distills the marque’s distinct approach to personalized luxury into an immersive series of environments that reflect the highly individualized process behind each custom commission. Robert Storey and his team translate this ethos into spatial compositions that draw on the British studio’s background in sculpture and architecture.
Galleria Meravigli, Via Gaetano Negri, 6
7. Gaggenau: “Presence”
Gaggenau will take over Villa Necchi Campiglio with an architectural installation developed with Berlin studio 1zu33 that transforms the modernist landmark into a contemplative setting for the brand’s latest innovations. Conceived as the third chapter in its Milan Design Week series, the project will mark the debut of the Vario Cooling Expressive Series, including the Sommelier Sensor, which uses infrared technology to read a wine’s internal temperature and calculate the precise moment it reaches ideal serving conditions. Nearby, the Professional Freshness System will introduce a novel approach to ingredient preservation, with motorized dampers that create distinct microclimates within each drawer. Don’t miss the culinary program, which was conceived with three-Michelin-star chef Tohru Nakamura.
Villa Necchi Campiglio, Via Mozart, 14, April 21–26
8. Cosentino: “Axis” by Tom Dixon
Cosentino joins forces with British luminary Tom Dixon for an immersive installation staged at Casa Manzoni that examines the possibilities of next-generation surfaces through a sequence of sculptural environments. Conceived as a wondrous spatial journey, the installation will move from table-based compositions to architectural applications, with light, sound, and reflection activating Cosentino’s latest materials across shifting conditions. At its core, Dixon introduces a series of tables defined by bold cross-leg structures, each clad in ÉCLOS, the brand’s newest mineral surface, whose layered composition amplifies depth and luminosity.
Casa Manzoni, Via Gerolamo Morone, 1, April 20–25
9. Rubelli: “About Silk” by Ai Weiwei
Rubelli will transform its Milan showroom with a site-specific installation developed with artist Ai Weiwei that envelops the interior in a continuous silk lampas. Woven with gold thread, the textile carries a dense field of symbols drawn from the Chinese dissident artist’s prolific practice, including surveillance cameras, handcuffs, and the Twitter bird, each translated into richly dimensional motifs through Rubelli’s mastery of weaving. The project marks the first time Ai Weiwei has worked in silk, linking his charged imagery to a material rooted in Chinese history and long intertwined with Venetian textile production. An accompanying documentary created for the installation, meanwhile, will offer further insight into his process.
Rubelli, Via Fatebenefratelli, 9, April 16–May 15
10. Grohe: “The Aqua Sanctuary”
Grohe is claiming an unexpected stage this year, taking over the Piccolo Teatro Studio Melato for the storied venue’s first-ever Milan Design Week installation. Completed in just 72 hours, the transformation recasts the theater as a sequence of immersive environments guided by water, leading visitors through shadowed passages and luminous chambers. Within these settings, Grohe is presenting a suite of new products, including the Allure Gravity faucet collection with interchangeable covers in glass and quartz, alongside the Atrio Private Collection, which expands its classic circular language through customizable finishes and detailing.
Piccolo Teatro Studio Melato, Via Rivoli, 6, April 22–26