Courtesy MinottiMilan Design Week is an embarrassment of riches—everywhere you turn there seems to be another striking, bold seating arrangement or beautifully hand-painted plate. It's easy for standout items to get lost in the sheer vastness of design's biggest week. This year, as major industry players from home, fashion, and jewelry gathered in Italy's design capital, it felt like the number of outstanding pieces, installations, and experiences multiplied tenfold. To narrow things down a bit, we here at Elle Decor asked our editors to share their favorite picks. After a week of scouring by-appointment-only events, elegant showrooms, and, of course, Salone del Mobile and the Fuorisalone, here's what they chose. BuccellatiCourtesy BuccellatiI gasped as I walked through the mid-Milan dream that Buccellati created for this collection. I had seen the house’s beautiful home collection before—and coveted that bamboo silverware—but I had never before witnessed such large scale Buccellati figures, and with all that Italian handcraftsmanship intact. The ambition and beauty of it all was something to behold, and, ultimately why we all go to Milan and Salone. —Stellene Volandes, Editorial & Brand DirectorPoltrona FrauElisa Lipsky-KaraszThe Poltrona Frau showroom is in an incredible historic palazzo in the center of Milan, which they have carefully restored. It was a treat to walk through and visit their private rooms on the upper floors. The juxtaposition of the elaborate Italian frescoes and a very restrained Teahouse collection in one room was especially striking. The serene calm amidst the hubbub of Salone madness was a welcome respite. I especially loved a clever cupboard with hinged shelves that opened to reveal all the elements needed for a traditional tea ceremony. —Elisa Lipsky-Karasz, head of editorial content.Advertisement - Continue Reading BelowMolteni&CElisa Lipsky-KaraszGio Ponti, Gio Ponti, Gio Ponti! I will never tire of the great Italian master, especially in Milan, which feels like the perfect setting for his timeless creations. Molteni&C staged an exhibition of his wondrous “Impossible Objects” in the Poldi Pezzoli Museum, which showed his mischievous, absurdist side. Meanwhile, across the street in their newly renovated palazzo headquarters, I wished for this aerodynamic, seemingly weightless D.847.1 desk originally designed in 1947—it seems like it would make all my deadlines fly. —ELK​​Dozie KanuCourtesy Dozie KanuOff the Milan Design Week hidden path and up a curving set of stairs was an intervention by Dozie Kanu at Galleria Federico Vavassori, “not opposed to tossing bricks into the quotidian, your honor.” A steel and aluminum handrail extends the full length of the gallery’s three exhibition rooms, grounding visitors and controlling their movement. Kanu’s work is decidedly fine art, though sometimes with a dual functional purpose (see his sculpture in Knoll’s Salone booth), after all what is design if not tools to direct our movement? In a week of the brand new, shiny plastic seating, derivative works based on past classics, Kanu’s reuse of found and discarded materials is a breath of fresh air. Doubly so as the works on view take on a cosmic, otherworldly skin in Kanu’s hands. As the shows title suggest, Kanu’s highly emotional works are meant to disrupt. And thank God they do. —Camille Okhio, senior design writer.Advertisement - Continue Reading BelowSam Baron for Dior HomeCourtesy DiorAt the Dior store on Milan’s Corso Venezia, the French designer Sam Baron exhibited three limited edition vases inspired by Christian Dior’s fascination with botany and gardens. The intricate pieces, designed by Baron and hand-blown by Italian artisan Massimo Lunardon, are delicate feats of glass, with ribbed vases intertwined with petals on branches. “They are part of a numbered edition of eight, which was Mr. Dior’s favorite number,” notes Baron. Also on view was Baron’s collection of glass objects for Dior Maison, out this fall, encompassing everything from wine goblets to carafes. —Ingrid Abramovitch, executive editor .Hermès en Contrepoint Dinner ServiceAnnie GoldsmithThis thirty-three piece kaolin white porcelain table service is subtly, but characteristically, Hermès. Each piece is lined with colorful friezes—from purples to sages to a muted canary yellow. They’re playful and geographic, painted in watercolor by the artist Nigel Peake, and designed to mimic a musical meter. Certainly, any food displayed on these plates is undoubtedly sure to sing. —Annie Goldsmith, senior editor & digital leadAdvertisement - Continue Reading BelowCompletedworks at AlcovaCourtesy CompletedworksThe London-based accessories brand Completedworks showed furniture for the first time at Alcova, recontextualizing motifs found in their jewelry and ceramics in pieces like a cast-bronze chair modeled in fabric and re-created in metal through lost-wax casting (pictured) and a hand-built and sculpted console, stool, and coffee table made from clay, wood, and polystyrene in a silver nitrate mirror finish. —Sean Santiago, deputy editor.Adrien Home Office Desk, PoliformCourtesy PoliformLooking to ditch the dining table and finally upgrade to a home office desk worthy of a corporate high rise corner office? You and Jean-Marie Massaud had the same idea. The designer has reimagined the classic Adrien table from Poliform and created the brand’s first piece designed specifically for WFH bliss. High end amenities like a built-in embroidered leather desk pad, cable management and an integrated side drawer unit will keep any home office work tidy and chic. Of course, custom sizing is available upon request. —Benjamin Reynaert, market director Formafantasma and Cassinacourtesy FormafantasmaFor a practice rooted so stolidly in research and data, Italian design duo Formafantasma has cultivated a deeply lighthearted oeuvre. Same goes for the projects they conceive in collaboration. This year the designers conceived a performance “Staging Modernity’ in celebration of the 60th anniversary of Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, and Charlotte Perriand’s collections for Cassina. The happening took place at Teatro Lirico Giorgio Gaber, a classic, cinematic break to showrooms and galleries. Among red velvet folding cinema chairs, several platforms were erected with backdrops that mimicked the natural world and sculptures in the shape of lambs and rams. Performers repeated lines that emphasized humanities link to the animal kingdom, as they swung and stretched over Le Corbusier, Jeanneret, and Perriand-designed chairs and chaises. The performance was a poignant reminder of how closely life imitates art. —CO Objects of Common InterestPiercarlo QuecchiaGreek design duo Objects of Common Interest are often Milan Design Week's most prolific participants. This year they had six projects on view of which two in particular referenced their history as designers and people. At Alcova’s Villa Borsani location “Voids Rollers,” presented with curator Joy Herrero and gallery The Breeder, extended the studio’s investigation of movement via resins, rubbers, and melting materials. Several lights, stools, vases and pedestals, leaned on walls, hung precariously off shelves, and moved with each curious visitors touch. A short walk away in the gardens of Villa Bagatti Valsecch’s Pasino Glasshouses the duo showed a truly remarkable suite of marble works “Soft Horizons” quarried entirely from Greece. Some marble even came from the same quarry to supply the Acropolis. Sea, sun and land were represented by moving columns mounted in water and a sound installation by ODA. Both installations were a melody for material, encouraging visitors to consider the vast and poetic possibilities of our material universe. —COAdvertisement - Continue Reading BelowLee Broom for LladróCourtesy Lladró x Lee BroomLladró showed Cascade, its lighting collection created in collaboration with British designer Lee Broom, as part of Euroluce 2025. Inspired by traditional paper lanterns, the porcelain lights were shown in a custom-designed installation, hung in clusters in a mirrored “dark room” meant to pay homage to the emotive power of lanterns. Technically limited by shrinkage, Broom worked with the Spanish heritage brand’s artisans to push the fussy material to its limits. Known for its colorful collaborations with artists like Jaime Hayon and SupaKitch, Lladró ultimately let Broom be his “modular, monochrome self,” resulting in three distinct silhouettes that can be combined vertically in multiple configurations. —SSRimadesioCourtesy of RimadesioLong known as an interior designer and architect’s secret weapon for the finest built-in wardrobes, custom doors, and room dividers, Rimadesio took the big step of launching a new line of freestanding furniture last week designed by Guiseppe Bavuso. One standout: the Sinua chair which comes available as a dining or lounge chair and available in multiple finishes and materials. A lower magnetic back cushion is also available, helping to keep this piece always looking neat and put together. —BR Advertisement - Continue Reading BelowThe Library Project by Eleftheria Tseliou GalleryPiergiorgio SorgettiIn a quiet corner room at Alcova’s Villa Borsani, lucky visitors were surprised by a library of sorts. Instead of seats and desks, each artist-made book was presented by Eleftheria Tseliou Gallery on glass pedestals, with plastic gloves available to use as you sifted through each volume. Some books, like David Sampethai’s gorgeous tome 'For the Small Price of Your Soul,' showed page after page of unique monotypes suggesting the cosmic toll of transactions in the modern world. Another artist, Iannis Ganas, presented “The Runners,” a hand drawn typography quoting Paul Auster that could be read by the turn of a knob. With each turn the reader is confronted with running as a metaphor for the ending of life. —CONendo for MinottiCourtesy MinottiGracious, undulating curves repeat across the front and the seat backs of the Saki armless sofa designed by Oki Sato, chief designer of Nendo which has been collaborating with Minotti since 2017. The Saki collection features lacquered, almost floating seat backs that elegantly support the rear upright cushions. This poetic piece is poised to become one of the next “it” sofas. Its clean form and trim proportions allow this piece to fit nicely into smaller urban scale dwellings while its flexible design can also expand to fill larger rooms. —BR Advertisement - Continue Reading BelowCarlo Scarpa at Sofia ZeviCourtesy of Sofia Zevi.In the series of Chiarastella Cattana-lined cabinets that comprise Sofia Zevi’s gallery one held a particularly precious surprise. Nestled among tiny, rotund dishes was a green “Torchon” mirror mounted in Venini Murano glass designed by Carlo Scarpa in the 1930s. Like a snakeskin in glass, the circular ribbed frame of the mirror curves in waves set in a brass stand. The glass dishes surrounding the mirror fit comfortably in the center of your hand, in candy colors, fit for a single piece of candy. Beyond this cabinet the gallery was showing astounding contemporary glassware by Akira Hara and lighting fit for NASA by The Back Studio. —COLaila Gohar with MarimekkoSean DavidsonAs far as the story goes, we aren’t supposed to have our cake and eat it too. But Laila Gohar makes sure everyone eats, all the time, even if the cake in question doesn’t appear to be a cake at first sight. The glamorous Egyptian food artist partnered with Marimekko this year on a room-sized bed outfitted in textiles she selected from Marimekko’s archives. The colorful, candy-hued stripes were originally designed by Maija Isola and now stretch the full length of the Teatro Litta foyer where the bed was displayed. Gohar took the surrealist installation one step further by baking and serving a twin mattress-sized cake: the twin of it’s fabric counterparts. So now, not only can you have your cake and eat it, you can do so in bed, and if you’re lucky Gohar might be there to join you. —COAdvertisement - Continue Reading BelowOfficine GulloCourtesy Officine GulloStepping into the distinctive Officine Gullo showroom was like being transported to lazy days at sea. The Italian brand synonymous with luxury kitchens has dedicated their newest offerings at Salone to the growing yachting industry. Since kitchens on boats tend to be hidden away below deck, as it were, Officine Gullo puts the kitchen on display, making it the new heart of the home, at sea. —BRPierre Frey courtesy Pierre FreyIn addition to the colorful JC De Catelbajac pavilion erected along Via Fatebenefratelli, Pierre Frey also quietly launched a new collection of “Betty” dining chairs equally influenced by Gio Ponti and the sets of Mad Men. Available with and without arms, these pieces can be used around a table, desk or beyond, as the look smart from all angles and mix well with other furniture in living spaces too. I’m particularly fond of the structured base, the little kink in the rear leg and the idea of upholstering each one in a different colored fabric. —BRAdvertisement - Continue Reading BelowArflexCourtesy ArflexLike a loafer from The Row, the leather ruching details give the classic 1970s Marius&Marius sofa a distinctive style for those in the know, which is why I’m delighted that Arflex is bringing this piece back. Designed by Mario Marenco, this generously proportioned sofa calls for all of the good things that signify Italian design, comfort and originality packaged in a chic, iconic profile. —BR MeridianiCourtesy MeridianiOrganic shapes combined with glossy lacquer make this new desk as covetable as a Perriand. Equally viable as a desk, console or even a small dining table in a city apartment, the chunky proportions and graceful curves give this piece a certain presence that stands out in a room but can also mix well with antiques and vintage furnishings too. —BR