April 22, 2025
8 Standout Products from Milan Design Week 2025
Salone del Mobile, the world’s largest design event, returned this April for its 63rd edition with a strong focus on new approaches to lighting design, the harnessing of the latest production technologies, reimagined modularity, and a slew of ever-popular re-editions. From hundreds of thought-provoking showcases at the fair and Milan Design Week 2025—debuting ideas and strategies set to shape the industry for the year ahead—METROPOLIS highlights eight must-see introductions.
Morpho
Dieter Vander Velpen for Tomorrowland with Ethnicraft
Major Belgian electronic music festival Tomorrowland is known for its wildly fantastical set designs. Taking a more measured approach with its first foray into furniture design, the multivalent brand tapped Antwerp-based architect Dieter Vander Velpen to reinterpret the distinctly Belgian design style of Art Nouveau. Like the historical movement, the MORPHO collection—targeted at the residential market—is an industrial translation of nature, akin to the world-within-a-world stagings of the festival itself.
Tulip Pendant
Marianne Tuxen for Carl Hansen & Søn
Though seemingly simple in shape, the Tulip Pendant lamp by Danish restorer and interior designer Marianne Tuxen is complex in its interpretation of historical cues. The pendant was initially developed as a custom solution for the revamp of the Italianate Pompeii Hall at noted industrialist J. C. Jacobsen’s Copenhagen villa but was brought to market this year. The monolithic yet intricate curved form of the handblown glass luminaire is a deft distillation of a flower petal.
The Insula
Patricia Urquiola for Kettal
Fostering fluid social and communal exchange is the thinking behind renowned Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola’s new Insula indoor-outdoor sofa system for Kettal. She drew inspiration from the traditional setups found in Arab majlises (sitting rooms). Carefully balanced proportions are reflected in adaptable roll backrests that delimit different pitlike configurations, large or small.
Horizon Collection
Dougan Clarke for Tuuci
Tapping into its seafaring origins, American outdoor furnishings brand Tuuci presented the Horizon Collection. Developed by the company’s founder, Dougan Clarke, the seating system emphasizes clean lines and low-slung armatures that don’t obstruct the settings they inhabit. The Aluma-Forge cold-weld construction and wood-grain Aluma-TEAK finish, accented with a signature bezel bar and button trim, create a design that blends timeless elegance with durability.
Leplì Armchair
Kensaku Oshiro for Poltrona Frau
Harnessing Italian manufacturer Poltrona Frau’s prowess in leather craft and upholstery, Japanese designer Kensaku Oshiro first developed the Leplì as a pouf, but at this year’s Milan Design Week, he debuted an armchair iteration. Defined by the same compact dimensions and swollen, sensual formal language—contained by a belt element—the design is ideal for various applications.
Caramel
Joan Gaspar for Marset
Eclectically hued, near-opaque colorways are the star of the show in Joan Gaspar’s Caramel sconce collection for Marset. With an atom-like structure, the sconces allow light to diffuse through deeply toned, subtly reflective blown glass disks, giving the geometric luminaires a graphic quality in their various modular configurations, taking pride of place, if necessary, in pared back interiors.
Allumette
Francesca Lanzavecchia for Foscarini
Heritage Italian lighting brand Foscarini took this edition of the biannual Euroluce showcase at the Salone del Mobile as an opportunity to experiment with the potential of unexpected materials and applications. Among its new releases is Francesca Lanzavecchia’s Allumette chandelier. For this concept-driven design, the designer reinterpreted the “arms” of this traditional typology as matchsticks slowly diffusing—or burning—light.
Particulaire
Stephen Burks for Calico
New York–based boutique wallcoverings brand Calico is known for its prolific release of collaboration-driven collections, often imagined with conceptual or expressive frameworks. Stephen Burks’s new Particulaire collection is no different. The offering was conceived based on the idea of keeping souvenirs of one’s travels, in his case, trips to far-flung places like Cambodia.
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