DAE Community in Milan Design Week 2025
Villa Mirabello
The New Institute and Milan-based cultural organisation cheFare are launching CIVICITY. This inaugural edition of the multi-year residency programme Redesigning Design Weeks invites designers to explore and challenge the social, environmental, and cultural impacts of design weeks on urban life.
Alumn and designer-in-residence at the Nieuwe Instituut, Pete Fung has been researching, prototyping, and engaging with local communities in Milan as part of their CIVICITY residency together with Studio-Method. Through site visits, field research and conversations with residents, Fung and Studio-Method are developing site-specific design strategies that critique, reimagine or address the impact of Milan Design Week on pressing urban issues.
Designer: Pete Fung
Location: Via Villa Mirabello, 6, 20125 Milano MI, Italy
Kick-off: Wednesday April 9, 11h
Dropcity
Dropcity is a place for researching, imagining, experimenting with, and implementing alternative forms of design and architecture in a world of systemic crises.
Location: DropCity - Via Giovanni Battista Sammartini, 60, 20125 Milano, Tunnel 144
Dates & Times: 3–14 April, 11:00–19:00
Designers: Studio Noff (Daniel Garber & Amalia Magril) – Raccogliere
Raccogliere (»to gather, to collect«) explores the Venice lagoon through Salicornia, a salt-loving plant thriving in intertidal zones. A collection of crafted tools envisions a future where Salicornia becomes a staple of Venetian cuisine, forming a material culture rooted in traditional crafts and local resources—shaped by the shifting landscape. This is part of a larger project made in collaboration with Sigrid Schmeisser.
CasaTempo (The House of Time)
CasaTempo invites young designers to think about time as both a material and a conceptual space. The exhibition, framed as a walk-through house, is a poetic encounter with objects that slow down, store, or transform our experience of time. Lead by young designers, The House of Time acts on the urgency to reclaim and create a space where starting creatives have the platform to experiment, where ideas are not filtered by profit.
Location: Mulino Factory, Via Aosta, 2, 20155 Milano MI
Dates & Times: April 6 – 10, 18h – 22h
Curated by MA Contextual Design, Sade Linda Ekwedike together with Gabriel Banchi
Designers & Works:
Aysenur Dagdelen – Aluminum-fit Chair
U.Jong.Jung – Arizona Celadon
Mia Domenech Puras & Benjamin Haroun Montesano – Arena que rueda
Chai Dienn – Cloud Coffee Table
Gerard Lukken – Wanky Wonky
Samuel Szraga – Plasma chair & lamp
Jun Fuijisaku – Neutralizers
Ismael Aboue El Mouroua – Mirage in collaboration with Janelle Cruz
Romantic Brutalism: A Journey into Polish Craft and Design
Presented by Visteria Foundation, this exhibition explores Polish creativity through a lens of contradictions — combining raw, brutalist aesthetics with delicate romanticism, folk traditions, and art deco influences. It is a journey into the tension between past and future, destruction and renewal.
Location: Viale di Porta Vercellina 11
Dates & Times: April 6 – 13
Designer: UAUProject – Wild at Heart: An exploration of wildness and sensitivity within crafted forms.
VOCLA – Design by Night
VOCLA is a new experimental platform created by Alcova for Milan Design Week 2025. Set within the former slaughterhouse of Viale Molise, VOCLA activates the space with installations, performances, and nocturnal gatherings. It is a playground for critical design, unexpected encounters, and collective rituals.
Location: Viale Molise, 70, 20137 Milano
Dates & Times: April 6 – 12 (Closed on April 7), from 18h – 02h
Designers:
Jacobt.link – The Walking GLOWbe
Jojo Muller – Peeing Human
Alcova Milano
Alcova’s ninth edition is open from April 7–13 activating four extraordinary locations in Varedo. Additionally, the DAE Master’s department is presenting the four-day programme, Are We Going in Circles? Find the entire programme here.
Location: Via Marco Aurelio 21, 20127 Milano
Dates & Times: April 7 – 13, 11h – 19h
Designers:
Theo Galliakis – Throne Room
Harvest Salon x Valentin Klauss – Käsesyndikat
Doris Sisková – New Weird Hope
Isola District
Isola Design Gallery showcases collectible design and experimental objects by emerging talents. The 6th edition focuses on slow processes, craftsmanship, and material innovation.
Location: Basic Village, Via dell'Aprica, 12, 20158 Milano MI
Dates & Times: April 7 – 13, 10h – 19h
Designers:
Phèdre Barbas – Hecontoncheires Chair & Gleaning The City
Arno Hoogland – Deus Ex Machina: An Ode To MDF
Dina Lebbar – Majmaa
Orbita at Capsule Plaza
GROOVIDO presents Tier — a new evolution of their Satellite modular system. Tier invites playful assembly, spatial flexibility, and multi-functional use in both domestic and public contexts.
Location: Spazio Maiocchi, Capsule Plaza
Dates & Times: April 7 – 13, 10h – 20h
Designers: GROOVIDO (Giorgio Gasco & Gianmaria Della Ratta) – Tier
PRADA Frames – In Transit
PRADA Frames is a research-based symposium curated by Formafantasma, exploring complex topics at the intersection of design, culture, and ecology. This year’s theme, In Transit, reflects on movement, migration, and transformation — both human and non-human.
Location: Padiglione Reale / Sala Reale
Date & Time: April 8, 09:30h – 11:00h
Participants: Metahaven (Vinca Kruk & Daniel van der Velden) – Contributing to discussions on the aesthetics of uncertainty and non-narratable worlds.
Ortica Studio – A Drifting Loop Screening & Exhibition
Ortica Studio presents A Drifting Loop — a short film by Cecilia Casabona in collaboration with Cinema Parentesi. The screening is accompanied by an exhibition featuring objects and spatial interventions by DAE alumni, exploring memory, identity, and narrative landscapes.
Location: Ortica Studio, Via Enrico Nöe 4
Date & Time: April 8, 18h
Featured Alumni: Gaia D’Arrigo, Tellurico, Alejandro Cerón
Salone Internazionale del Mobile
The world’s most influential furniture fair, Salone del Mobile brings together designers, brands, and experimental makers from across the globe.
Location: Rho Fiera Milano
Dates & Times: April 8 – 13
Designer: Wisse Trooster – My Hands of Time:
SaloneSatellite
An exhibition platform dedicated to designers under 35, SaloneSatellite champions fresh voices exploring new approaches to contemporary living.
Location: Milan Fairgrounds, Rho
Dates & Times: April 8 – 13, 09:30h – 18:30h
Designer: Luis Marie – Touching Ground
We Will Design 2025 – Making Kin
BASE Milano’s We Will Design programme embraces the concept of "Making Kin" — fostering relationships not only between people, but between humans, non-humans, and their shared environments. The exhibition features interventions exploring care, intimacy, ecology, and connection.
Location: BASE Milano, Via Bergognone 34, 20144 Milano
Dates & Times: Programme details
DAE Designers:
Ana Souto Neves – M.A.R.A. (Mental Aid Relaxation Assistant)
Alessio Pinton – An Amalgam Loop
Jules Péan – New Rocks
Riko Tamekuni – My Body of Water⏤What Bears the Message
Anton W.V. Ripon – Site Drawing
Eleni Vrettakou – Hyperthermal Tales
Janneke de Lange – Life on Phone
Sophia Schullan – This isn't working
Elena Zaghis – Delta Flight 237
Miriam Daxl – Within Contaminated Circuits
Masterly – The Dutch in Milano
Masterly celebrates Dutch creativity and innovation in design, crafts, and architecture. Presented within the historical Palazzo dei Giureconsulti, the exhibition brings together a curated selection of designers exploring tradition and experimentation.
Location: Palazzo dei Giureconsulti, Piazza dei Mercanti, 2, 20123 Milano MI
Dates & Times: Full programme
DAE Designers:
Tom Schoonhoven Studio – Tube Lamp
Emma Batsheva – Bal Tash'rit
Caetano Mendes Dias – Deep Breath
Lucas Zito – Preview of Pan and Patch Collections
