What We Loved at Salone del Mobile 2025: Bold Materials, Playful Forms & Inspiring New Designers

We’ve just returned from Milan, heads full of color, shapes, materials—and stories. This year’s Salone del Mobile and Fuorisalone reminded us why we keep coming back: design here doesn’t just sit pretty; it moves, surprises, provokes. Here’s what caught our eyes, hearts, and imaginations at Milan Design Week 2025.

Design That Performs

This year, design stepped into the spotlight—literally. Many installations felt like theatre sets, and we loved how they blurred the lines between object, space, and performance.

Cassina's takeover of the Teatro Lirico was unforgettable. We found ourselves wandering through scenes from modernist classics—like walking inside a design history book, but with music, light, and motion. Another favorite moment was stepping into Dimorestudio’s surrealist cinema, where time melted into velvet, brass, and celluloid dreams. There was something magical about seeing interiors become stages, and objects treated like characters in a story. It reminded us how deeply design can stir the senses when it's in dialogue with movement, memory, and narrative.

Unveiling the Standout Exhibitions

Playful Objects, Joyful Encounters

There was a palpable sense of fun in the air this year—a kind of design lightness we fully embraced. We fell for Loewe’s fantastical teapots, especially the one shaped like a stylized female form. It made us smile and think at the same time—about everyday rituals, bodies, and how design can be intimate and cheeky all at once.

Another moment that stood out was climbing into Marimekko’s oversized bed in the heart of the city. Part installation, part invitation to slow down, it transformed public space into a soft, shared dream. We love when design makes room for a little absurdity—and a lot of human connection.

Material Explorations That Surprised Us

We’ve always been drawn to materials that tell a story, and this year didn’t disappoint. From glowing Murano glass to lights built like Lego bricks, we saw designers push boundaries while keeping a clear love for craftsmanship.

One standout was a chandelier made entirely from loofah—yes, the sponge! It was beautiful, unexpected, and reminded us how the most humble materials can be elevated with imagination. Everywhere we turned, we saw wood, metal, glass, and textile treated in fresh ways: stitched, woven, deconstructed, even animated. It made us want to get back to our atelier and experiment.

Design Meant to Be Lived In

A theme we kept noticing? Spaces that felt lived-in—even when no one was there. Delvis Unlimited’s “Theatre of Things” was a perfect example: a Brera apartment where each day, a different designer actually lived and worked. You could see them through the windows, reading, talking, designing. It was voyeuristic and beautiful. And it posed the question: what if our homes were stages? What if every object was part of a quiet daily performance?

We found ourselves inspired by this idea—that interiors should tell stories not just through their looks, but through the way we inhabit them.

Thinking Bigger

One of the most powerful experiences for us was Prada Frames, the yearly symposium curated by Formafantasma. This year’s theme—mobility, climate, infrastructure—wasn't about products, but perspectives. Held inside a train station, the conversations stretched beyond design into activism, urbanism, and the future of how we move.

It reminded us why we do what we do: not just to make beautiful homes, but to ask questions about how we live, and how we could live.

Organic Forms, Natural Touches

Nature wasn’t just present in the themes—it was everywhere in the details. We saw it in rattan frames, in glass shaped like petals, in sculptural pieces that mimicked growth and decay. There’s a quiet shift toward biomorphic design, and we’re here for it. It feels like a way to bring calm, rhythm, and a bit of poetry back into our interiors.

New Discoveries That Stole Our Hearts

One of the best parts of Milan Design Week is stumbling upon names we didn’t know before—designers and brands whose work stops us in our tracks and makes us want to learn everything about them.

BOMAT was one of those encounters. Their rugs have a tactile quality that feels both grounded and elevated. We were drawn to their subtle textures, the quiet sophistication of their color palettes, and the clear craftsmanship behind each piece. It’s the kind of brand that understands how much softness and soul a good rug can bring to a room.

Bieke Casteleyn blew us away with her sculptural furniture. Her tables and consoles balance solid materials with organic forms—strong, yet soft. There’s an elegance to her work that feels architectural, but never cold. We love her fearless use of curves and volume.

We also fell for Design of the time, a Belgian studio with a refreshingly playful approach to modular furniture. Their pieces invite interaction and reconfiguration, which resonates deeply with our own design values: flexibility, creativity, and living spaces that evolve with us.

And finally, Cyryl Zakrzewski—his experimental pieces live somewhere between sculpture and furniture. Each object is like a functional artwork. There’s a surrealist quality in his approach that made us stop and wonder. It’s the kind of design that sparks curiosity and conversation, and we’ll definitely be following his next moves.

Credits : Instagram/ @inesbejot

Our final thoughts

Milan never fails to energize us. It’s a city where the past and the future sit side by side, where a centuries-old palazzo can host a futuristic light show. This year reminded us that good design tells stories. Great design invites us in, makes us laugh, surprises us, and sometimes even makes us feel something we didn’t expect.

We’re coming back from Salone del Mobile 2025 with new ideas, a few extra notebooks full of sketches, and a deep sense of excitement for what’s next.