Diary from Fuorisalone 2025: design, connections and sustainability in a Milan that conquers the world

Edited by Luana Martino

We say it every year, perhaps whispering it between colleagues on the way home, between one editorial office and another: call it "Design Week' is almost reductive. Because in reality it is a whirlwind, an all-encompassing experience that overwhelms and conquers. The events, the installations, the showrooms: everything seems to want to attract attention, to surprise us, to tell us something new. And Milan, during those days, is completely transformed: it stops being the city we know to become an international, vibrant, stimulating stage.
Yes, there is running. And a lot. But it is a race of discovery, of wonder, of unexpected encounters. There are those who are fascinated by the historical districts - Brera, Porta Venezia, Cinque Vie - and those who instead set off to conquer the suburbs, among the unique atmospheres of Tortona or the rediscovered charm of Villa Borsani in Alcova.
And in the end, even if you always have the feeling that you have seen less than you wanted to, something profound remains. A living impression, an inspiration, a connection. The memory remains of a week that is much more than just a sum of events. And we, like every year, are ready to tell you about it.

OF CONNECTED WORLDS AND DWELLINGS

It is the macro-theme of the year and will also be discussed at the Biennale: design as an inspiring discipline of cooperation and unity, permeable to contamination, promoter of technological innovations and sustainabilitytechnique that rewrites the rules of living and dwelling.
The feasible connections are infinite, but always shaped by human needs. The need for escape for example, for refuge from the chaos and frenzy of the urban jungle. That need that has led us to seclude ourselves, to find ourselves in the hidden Pippa Bacca garden, in front of Muji's tiny house, built in collaboration with French studio 5.5: sobriety and durability, recycling and the use of organic materials, all fused in the typical minimalist style of Japanese dwellings.
A connection between the Lombardy capital and Valbona, Albania, has been created by the installation Be Up by the Tuscan architect Simone Micheli, a metal 'portal', covered with Cor-Ten steel coils, which transports the visitor directly up to the altitude where the 12-hectare tourist village he has designed will be built.
We walked through it, accompanied by sounds created by the students of the Sound Design course in New Music Media by Italian Design Instituteand savouring distant and regenerating atmospheres, at least for the few metres of the stoneware pavement.
The imaginary house realised by Dimorestudio for Loro Piana, which took us back to the past with its sophisticated atmosphere, is of a totally different inspiration. La Prima Notte di Quiete, like Zurlini's '72 film shown here, welcomed us into an elegant and intimate space, reassuring and harmonious, a temple of calm lined in natural materials such as wool and sisal. Indeed, the selection of materials is now a narrative element, no longer an outline, of every project. All around the districts, the curved surfaces and precisely worked glass spoke to us of a design that knows how to dialogue with the past, but is absolutely projected into the future.

PLENTY OF ROOM FOR LIGHT DESIGN

Of light's ability to fill spaces, to crack cracks, Leonard Cohen already sang about it in Anthem. This year there was a celebration of its role in design, its power to sculpt the environments in which it is used. This was discussed in a special talk, held in the wooden arena Forest of Space by Sou Fujimoto. Of course, it was above all the creation of the multifaceted Es Devlin, that Library of Light that has become the emblem of the kermesse: more than 2,000 books written by women in a revolving amphitheatre in the heart of the Pinacoteca. A suspended atmosphere that is also an invitation to
rediscover the less rational part of oneself, the part that is able to be moved and uplifted by the imagination, to resonate with the sensibility of other readers.
Google also wanted to have its say on the subject and did so with the installation Making the Invisible Visible, which populated the darkness of Garage 21 with pillars of light capable of changing shape as visitors passed by.

AND SURRE(AI)LISM

Artificial intelligence, hate and love, but always able to intrigue with its uses. We got a taste of it in Piazza Gae Aulenti, in the shadow of a scaffolding projected skywards like a post-industrial totem pole. The Evastomper studyTogether with neurobiologist Stefano Mancuso, they built a sort of 'staircase to climb in thought', with each step representing a passage between sensory worlds. They called it Portanuova Vertical Connection, a strictly zero-impact structure, and designed it so that each ascent was personalised. Interactive screens scrutinised each step, returning customised images and sounds. Someone suggested climbing it several times, on different days, to monitor the response.
Zanellato/Bortotto have designed Orizzonti, an installation made of surfaces that tell stories at the Brera Design Apartment. Fabrics, ceramics, brass details: all dialoguing with algorithms capable of suggesting patterns and nuances inspired by Italian landscapes, but generated digitally.
The effect? Like watching a sunset that doesn't exist, but seems familiar.
In the field of the surreal, however, not everything has been created in collaboration with the machine, to respect the desire not to take oneself too seriously. Like the works of Seletti, whose Hotel Voyeur lamp brought irony into furniture, breaking conventions and pushing the boundaries of design.
Craftsmanship has found its highest expression in unique pieces, where hand-painted ceramics and embroidery on wood have become the spokespersons of a tradition that does not renounce innovation.

AT THE END OF THE FAIR

What always remains: the conviction that the Milanese exhibition continues to be unique on the international scene. The clear perception that the Italian substratum still has much to tell and to inspire both domestic and international designers. This is confirmed by the fact that the best in the world gather here every year to populate the streets of this city. And time is always short in Milan. The construction sites of City Life and the Scalo di Porta Romana, where we couldn't help but browse, are already preparing the next wonders to amaze the public at the Winter Olympics.
Of the signatures we mention only a few, from Renzo Piano to David Chipperfield.