MILAN DESIGN WEEK | HAPPENINGS | WORLD OF CABANA

The biggest event in Cabana's calendar is back: Milan Design Week and the 63rd edition of its globally-anticipated furniture fair, Salone del Mobile. Read on for Team Cabana's highly curated guide to the shows and exhibitions: what to see, do, experience and pre-book. 

BY TEAM CABANA | HAPPENINGS | 3 APRIL 2025

Casa Cabana, the site of Speak, Memory, Cabana's first live exhibition © Ashley Hicks.

This year’s Milan Design Week is a festival of firsts, from Cabana’s first exhibition, curated by Deborah Needleman, to Homo Faber’s first appearance, and first-time show-stoppers from design luminaries including set designer ES Devlin and film director, Robert Wilson. Add to that, numerate designers - from Dimorestudio and Osanna Visconti, to Giuseppe Porcelli and Virginie Droulers - launching inaugural collections or collaborations.

Time at Design Week is precious; you will never see everything, and if you don't pre-book certain exhibitions, be prepared for long queues. With that in mind, read on to discover Cabana's highlights. And if you need restaurant and shopping tips, head straight to our Milan City Guide or insider guides by Martina Mondadori, DimoreStudio and David Prior. 

Key Highlights

Miguel Flores-Vianna, Sabbatical 2012

Renowned interiors photographer and Cabana's Deputy Editor, Miguel Flores-Vianna, will launch his most personal work to date at this year's Milan Design Week. 

Join Miguel at the Cabana Store to celebrate Sabbatical 2012, a faithful reproduction of his personal diary that year. The book chronicles the sabbatical year that would change the course of his life. Every polaroid, handwritten note, and even the occasional spelling error, is bound in a custom Smythson cover - honoring a 30-year tradition since Miguel first purchased an annual diary from the iconic British stationery house.

Pop by to secure your copy and have it personally signed by Miguel. 

10 April, 6-8pm; The Cabana Store, Via Borgospesso 8, Brera, MILAN

Speak, Memory

To celebrate global craftsmanship and officially mark the launch of Cabana's Atlas of Craftsmanship, Martina Mondadori asked tastemaking basket weaver and former magazine editor Deborah Needleman to curate a special exhibition at Casa Cabana (pictured, top). Deborah rose to the challenge and invited seven creative minds to craft inspiring new works using materials from LVMH Métiers d'Art.

With Casa Cabana's Renzo Mongiardino-designed interiors as their stage set, these new pieces - including ceramics, leatherwork, sculpture and woodwork - will converse with the Italian master and offer new perspectives on the iconic space.

*The exhibition is now sold out, please add your name to the waiting list*

9-11 April; 10am-6pm; Casa Cabana, Via Bigli 19, Brera, MILAN

Francisco Luis Martos Sanchez (master artisan) and Florencia Iracema Olivera Mutuberria (fellow) © Johann Sauty; Michelangelo Foundation.

Homo Faber: Today's Masters Meet Tomorrow's Talents

Homo Faber's inaugural appearance at Salone promises to bring the awe of its Venice showcase to Milan, with an exhibition titled Today’s Masters Meet Tomorrow’s Talents.

The show, at Casa Degli Artisti, will feature Art Déco-inspired objects designed and handcrafted by 23 duos, each a master craftsperson with an emerging talent. The collection highlights, "the future of craftsmanship, the power of collaboration and the transmission of skills", according to the Michelangelo Foundation. Expect hands-on live demonstrations of craftsmanship and a wholly inspiring experience.

8-13 April, 10am-8pm; House of Switzerland, Casa Degli Artisti, Via Tommaso de Cazzaniga, Corsa Garibaldi, 89/A, MILAN

Bookcase by INTERNI VENOSTA © Andrea Ferrari.

Dimorestudio, Welcome to the Blackout

Always a Design Week highlight, Dimorestudio's shows are quite the spectacle. This year, the studio will appear in several spots, including Fondazione Sozzani and Teatro Arsenale, but we're particularly excited about 'Welcome to the Blackout', an immersive installation promising "subversion and rebellion" where the studio's furniture line, INTERNI VENOSTA, will take over the Phillips Auction house. Booking advised.

3-12 April, 10am-7pm; Phillips, Via Lanzone 2, MILAN

An artisan working at HOSOO's atelier in Kyoto, Japan © HOSOO

HOSOO x DimoreStudio x Osanna Visconti

Along with their immersive installations, Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci - Dimorestudio's charismatic founders - are launching new collaborations this Design Week.

This includes an exclusive curation for Cabana, and a textile collection, Hemispheres, with Japan-based HOSOO (with whom LVMH Metiers D'Art collaborated on Cabana's new covers). The collection features 33 textiles, each inspired by more than 20,000 traditional Japanese 'obi' patterns passed down through generations.

Dimore will present the textiles at Osanna Visconti's beautiful atelier in central Milan - in conversation with natural bronze furniture from the designer's new Magnolia Collection.

8-12 April, 11am-7pm, Osanna Visconti Atelier, Via Santa Maria 13, MILAN

The Pasino Glasshouses at Alcova Milano © Piergiorgio Sorgetti; Alcova

Alcova Milano 2025

Now making its eighth appearance at Milan Design Week, Alcova - a platform for innovation in design, established by Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima in 2018 - will showcase exhibitions across four sites: Villa Bagatti Valsecchi and Villa Borsani, plus Milan's former SNIA factory and the Pasino glasshouses. All four sites are within easy reach of each other in Varedo, a 25-minute train ride or 30-minute drive from central Milan. The attractions will be endless, but read on for our highlights. Booking advised.

Indo-Norwegian textile designer, Helena Bajaj-Larsen © Shakti Residency

Shakti Design Residency, Villa Bagatti Valsecchi

While there are many designers showcasing work at Alcova, we're particularly looking forward to the Shakti Residency, founded by interior designer Shalini Misra to forge new paths between Indian heritage artisanship and the international design world.

Villa Bagatti Valsecchi will host Shakti's first appearance at Milan Design Week, with a show featuring objects conceived by five designers in collaboration with some of India’s most skilled ateliers. Debut collaborations include Chinese designer Duyi Han with fashion luminary Tarun Tahiliani, Indo-Norwegian textile designer, Helena Bajaj-Larsen, with Jaipur Rugs, and German designer Luca Gruber with Vikram Goyal Studio.

8-13 April, 11am-7pm; Via Vittorio Emanuele II, 48, 20814 Varedo, MILAN

A Room with a View, Villa Borsani & Villa Bagatti Valsecchi

Curated by South African design studioLemon, this intriguing installation across Villa Bagatti Valsecchi and Villa Borsani will explore what makes a space timeless, inspired by the grandeur of historic Italian villas. Of particular interest, Lemon will unveil the Suspiria and Conservatory Collections by Turin-based designer Yaniv Chen, which nod to Josef Hoffmann’s turn-of-the-20th-century designs with Art Deco influences.

8-13 April, 11am-7pm; Via Vittorio Emanuele II, 48, 20814 Varedo, MILAN

8-13 April, 11am-7pm; Via Umberto I, 148, 20814 Varedo (Villa Borsani), MILAN

Romantic Brutalism: A Journey into Polish Craft and Design

Marking 100 years since Poland first exhibited in the 1925 Exposition Internationale
des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris - as the country sought to re-build and re-establish itself after WWI - the Visteria Foundation will showcase a bold exhibition of Polish art, design and craftsmanship. Curated by Federica Sala, the show will explore how historic design and cultural influences - brutalism, romanticism, folk, and art deco - continues to shape contemporary Polish design culture.

6-13 April, 10am-7pm (last entry 5:30 on 9 April), Viale di Porta Vercellina 11, MILAN

Robert Wilson, Mother

With Milan Design Week 2025 taking a decidedly theatrical direction, the epicenter of this theme may just be "Mother" by acclaimed American film director and set designer, Robert Wilson. In the Spanish Hospital hall of Castello Sforzesco, a light and sound scape designed by Wilson will surround Michelangelo’s unfinished Pietà Rondanini.

The multi-disciplinary, performative installation explores loss, motherhood, and serenity, promising a unique moment of calm and spirituality among aperitivos.

8 April-18 May, 9am-6pm; Museo della Pietà Rondanini – Castello Sforzesco, Piazza Castello, 20121, MILAN

L'Appartamento by Artemest

For the third edition ofL’Appartamento - a grand-scale reimagining of an elegant Milanese home - Artemest will celebrate Italian craftsmanship and design in a glorious private palazzo (pictured above), open to the public for the first time.

Palazzo Donizetti, a 19th-century architectural masterpiece with soaring ceilings, intricately detailed frescoes and an elliptical staircase, will host six leading designers who have each transformed a room: Meyer Davis, 1508 London, Champalimaud Design, Nebras Aljoaib, Romanek Design Studio and Simone Haag. Visitors ascending the palazzo's staircase will also discover furniture, lighting, homewares and art chosen by the designers and produced by more than 150 Italian artisans, brands, and artists.

8-13 April, 10am-7pm; Palazzo Donizetti, Via Gaetano Donizetti, 48, MILAN

ES Devlin, Library of Light 

Marking the return of international lighting exhibition Euroluce to Salone del Mobile, set designer ES Devlin has transformed the courtyard of Milan's 17th-century Cortile d'Onore - which connects the Pinacoteca di Brera, Braidense National Library and Academy of Fine Arts - with a grand-scale kinetic installation.

The monumental 18m diameter spectacle illuminates an imaginary rotating library with more than 2000 books.

7-21 April, 9am-9pm;  Cortile d'Onore, Pinacoteca di Brera, Via Brera 28, MILAN

Rooms Studio, The Shape of Resistance

Recent social and political events on the streets of Tbilisi have informed this year's shows by Rooms Studio, the Tbilisi and Paris-based practice of designers Nata Janberidze and Keti Toloraia. The duo's solo exhibition will present new lighting and furniture, which aim to translate personal introspection and external realities into sculptural forms.

8-12 April, 10am-7pm; Studio Frey Barth, Via Kramer 32, MILAN

Laila Gohar x Marimekko, All the things we do in bed 

Visual artist and "culinary chameleon" Laila Gohar has a talent for elevating the practical to its playful, fantastical extreme. Last year, she created monumental cakes to help Cabana celebrate 10 years, and this year, she brings her midas touch to the foyer of Teatro Litta for an installation with Marimekko. Under Gohar's curation, a giant bed will grace the space - a nod to the activities of modern life that unfold within our beds, no longer spaces just to dream, but also to work, eat and play.

7-11 April, 11am-7pm; 12-13 April, 11am-4pm;Teatro Litta, Corso Magenta 24, MILAN

Milan's Galleries

While the grand shows and installations get most of the headlines, Milan's galleries always put their best foot forward during Design Week. Not-to-be-missed is Rosanna Orlandi Gallery where Lebanon-born architect Aline Asmar d’Amman will present a personal show, The Power of Tenderness, and Nilufar Gallery, where founder Nina Yashar's curation of art and objects remains exemplary.

At the Nilufar Depot, to mark Nilufar's 10th anniversary, Yashar's self-curated exhibition, Silver Lining, will see the cavernous space transformed into an immersive environment inspired by the design aesthetics of Milan in the 1970s - in particular, metal. The gallerist will bring together contemporary works and vintage pieces by masters including Gio Ponti, Gabriella Crespi and Mario Bellini.

Elsewhere in the city, we'll be visiting Altai Gallery to enjoy an atmospheric installation of ancient Zakatala runner rugs from Kurdistan, "swirling in a slow, ritualistic dance";  Cadogan Gallery to see Slow Roads by Marrakech-based design studio LRNCE and Robilant + Voena for a four-room show of new works by Korean artist, Minjung Kim.

By Appointment 

Collezione Droulers

Sisters Nathalie and Virginie Droulers share a passion for travelling, storytelling and collecting - journeying the world to seek out unique objects, meeting artisans and uncovering their stories. Their debut furniture and ceramics collection, Collezione Droulers, is inspired by these trips and the craftswomen they met.

The collection launches at Milan Design Week and can be viewed by appointment.

Giuseppe Porcelli

A stylish pied-à-terre in Milan's vibrant Città Studi district is the stage for Garçonnière, the debut furniture collection by Milanese designer Giuseppe Porcelli, formerly design director at Dimorestudio. Inspired by the traditional notion of the Garçonnière — seen as, historically, a male hideaway for affairs — Porcelli reimagines his space to reflect the gay experience, and thus reshapes the narrative. 

Personal taste, status, and intimacy converge in the pied-à-terre, which features Fortuny textiles and Alex Foxton art by Galerie Derouillon. By appointment only.