Milan Design Weeks
April 2026

The inspiration for illuminating the main entrance portal of the Ca' Granda came from the observation of the massive WR 104 stars, the "heavyweights" of the universe, whose disappearance would release enough energy to wipe out the solar system. A primordial energy, the idea of ​​applying the concept of light to the "original mass," to the origin of the universe.

Alexander Bellman and his studio narrate and redesign part of the University's façade with luminous "pencils": Miniflux by ILTI Luce, an architectural product capable of changing intensity and color along the white curve, and thus digging, with a variety of lengths and luminous hues, into the volumes. Bellman with Gruppo C14 Architecture & Design Studio illuminates the grand entrance portal of the Ca' Granda with the graphic sign of luminous digital "pencils": Miniflux by ILTI Luce, a thin profile that emits a soft light capable of integrating with the architecture. The inspiration comes from the WR 104 stars, which, upon their death, will produce a primitive energy that will return to mass. A total return to matter.

Università degli Studi di Milano
Via Festa del Perdono 7
20122 Milan

Contact: www.internimagazine.it

Masterly – The Dutch in Milano celebrates its tenth edition. This milestone marks the consolidation of a curatorial platform that brings forward new visions and leading voices onto the international stage.

Nicole Uniquole awaits you in the 25 rooms overlooking Piazza Duomo, which for four years have hosted the event she founded and curates. Much like she appears in Levi Jacobs’ illustration, the Dutch artist was selected to conceive the symbolic image of this edition. Spread across the four floors of the historic palace, over 100 independent designers, established companies, emerging entrepreneurial ventures, artisans, artists, and educational institutions will be featured. Alongside individual installations, this edition places particular emphasis on collective projects. Born from the synergy between designers engaged in related research or from partnerships between companies that have chosen to join forces to present more ambitious projects, these installations move beyond the logic of simple product display to propose broader narratives, capable of making explicit the design philosophy that underpins them.

To identify the most emblematic projects, Nicole Uniquole involved Lidewij Edelkoort in a process of revisiting the archives, co-signing the curatorship of the exhibition "The Wunderkammer - 10 Years of Masterly".

Installed in the central room on the second floor, the exhibition presents several projects that, through their poetic aesthetics, and originality, have marked the history of the event.

Palazzo Giureconsulti
Piazza dei Mercanti 2
20123 Milan

Contact: masterly.nu

Domus Academy, an international school of excellence in the fields of design and fashion, returns to Milan Design Week with Unfold, the exhibition project hosted at Base Milano. Through this initiative, Domus Academy once again positions itself as an international platform for discussion on the present and future of design, engaging universities and design schools from around the world through a thematic open call. The 2026 edition will bring together 20 universities from 14 countries, alongside students from Domus Academy, creating an exhibition that reflects a wide range of cultural perspectives and design approaches.

The projects selected by the Domus Academy Design Faculty will explore the theme Engage Friction://designing through conflict, investigating how design can engage with the tensions shaping our contemporary world. In an increasingly complex context marked by conflicts between values, viewpoints, interests, and perspectives, design can become a powerful tool to interpret these frictions and transform them into opportunities for dialogue and change.

Base Milano
Via Bergognone 34
20144 Milan

Contact: events@domusacademy.it
www.domusacademy.com

Base Milano presents We Will Design 2026 – Hello Darkness, subverting expectations by choosing to “dim the lights.” While the design world pursues hyper-visibility, Base's research program dedicated to design, We Will Design, transforms the former Ex Ansaldo into a radical ecosystem: a week of immersive installations, biodesign, and collective rituals exploring contemporary darkness, political, ecological, and social, not as a crisis, but as a fertile space for regeneration.

Embodying Base's multifaceted spirit, the Ground Hall hosts an intervention by the French studio Smarin, which, in partnership with the Institut français Milano, presents Idiorythmia – RE-U construction system.

The experimental approach of We Will Design also resonates in the rooms of casaBase, which hosts five temporary studios through the project Temporary Home: spaces that simultaneously become places for living, experimentation, personal research, and exhibition. Designers: Jean Baptiste Durand, Bianca Carague, Lucrezia Alessandroni, Cristina Dezi, Saúl Baeza, and Manuela Valtchanova.

At the heart of the week is Exhibit, the collective exhibition featuring more than 80 designers from 23 countries. Across 4,000 square meters within Base, projects by academies, universities, design studios, and emerging designers are presented. The exhibition unfolds along four thematic trajectories, interpretations of the Hello Darkness concept, that guide the experience without rigidly structuring it: underrepresented communities (Community), ecology and sustainability (Environmentalism), rituals (Rituals), and technologies (Media Tech).

Base Milano
Via Bergognone 34
20144 Milan

Contact: redazione@base.milano.it
www.base.milano.it    

Conte Casa presents Conte Casa Orangerie, an immersive exhibition of pieces dedicated to the contract sector that create a pleasant relaxation corner in the courtyard of Palazzo Melzi di Cusano. Visitors are welcomed by a selection of models perfect for relaxing outdoor moments, designed for Conte Casa by Joe Garzone, Leonardo Mercurio, Setsu, and Shinobu Ito. On the second floor of the building, the brand's elegant, tailored design apartment, Casa Conte, presents visitors with new site-specific projects created in collaboration with prestigious design studios, a collection of tailored furnishings that enhance the neoclassical spaces of this splendid location.

Palazzo Melzi di Cusano
Via Monte Napoleone 18
20121 Milan

Press Office: PNP Communication
pnp@pnpcommunication.com

Forever Fornasetti. New Encounters marks a new chapter for the Milanese Atelier: a renewed vision of its universe, rooted in a distinctive heritage and projected into the present. Under the artistic direction of Barnaba Fornasetti, the flagship store is radically transformed through a project by the international studio Tutto Bene, translating the brand’s codes into a new spatial experience, between memory and contemporaneity.

From April 13 to June 30, the ground floor hosts Fornasetti Fiori by Fjura, a flower shop curated by Simone Gooch, featuring sculptural floral compositions in dialogue with the Atelier’s imagery. The space is thus activated as a living, ever-evolving environment.

The project also introduces new collections, including 16 rugs created in collaboration with cc-tapis, defining a meeting point between art, design, and new forms of expression.

Fornasetti Store
Via Senato 2
20121 Milan

Contact: store.milano@fornasetti.com
www.fornasetti.com/it

Marsèll’s flagship store in Via della Spiga will turn into a laboratory for design experimentation. In collaboration with Odd Matter design studio, Marsèll presents Double Void, a site-specific installation in which two visions come together and interact to create an original project. The project plays on the concept of emptiness as an active space, capable of altering the balance of the environment, emphasizing the physical and emotional experience of those who stand inside it.

Opening Event
April 20, 2026, 6–9 pm

On view
April 17 – May 23, 2026

Marsèll Milano Spiga
Via della Spiga 42
20121 Milan

Contact: press@marsell.com
www.marsell.com