When the Italian design capital plays host each year to Salone del Mobile and all of the dizzyingly extensive accompanying events, there is certainly no shortage of standout installations. Brands and designers vie with each other not only in their latest product launches but also in how they ‘activate’ various spaces. These might be their own showrooms or studios in the city, or a stand within the fair itself; or indeed a neutral (and no doubt historically impressive) venue in Milan. Some of these installations are grander than others, and a few garner much of the global design media attention. We previewed some prior to Milan 2025, but what follows are some of the small highlights that we stumbled across on the ground this year.

Baxter Cinema

With an exhibition area of over 1,200 square metres in the centre of Milan, Baxter created Baxter Cinema alongside Salvioni Design Solutions. It was a space of charm and refinement, with particular attention to the open space. Baxter Cinema hosted an exclusive internal bookshop featuring a selection of Assouline books. Passing through large glass doors, visitors were greeted by the unique atmosphere of the original 1970s multiplex and the imposing entrance staircase. Managed by a renowned furniture retailer, Baxter Cinema guarantees a high-level experience.

GROHE Aqua Gallery

Set within the historic Garden Senato, the GROHE Aqua Gallery celebrated the beauty of the Pure Joy of Water. The installation offered an immersive display of precision-crafted objects that deliver water, blending form and function. Within the architectural garden, the Aqua Atelier space invited guests to craft their own Aqua Poem, capturing their reflections and personal experiences of water before enjoying refreshments at the thought-provoking GROHE Aqua Bar. The design as whole was a prompt to consider the boundaries and overlaps of form and function.

Muuto Apartment

This regular intervention in a city centre apartment was stunning in 2025. Full disclosure – we were lucky enough to meet the owners of the apartment itself at an intimate Muuto event, as well as taking a tour with the team. So, aside from the beautiful location with its charming Brera views, what made it so striking this year? In a word, the design did so much with so little.

The apartment is compact, comprising a series of small rooms. The design this year was admirably audacious in its strong delineation of these spaces – this was no attempt to craft an easy flow of porous spaces with soft thresholds, but rather a shock to the senses. Each space was utterly different to the next, a series of contrasts that added variety and thereby made the whole so much richer. Muuto Apartment 2025 was a lesson in one approach for making small apartments feel much larger.

L’Appartamento by Artemest

Artemest celebrated its tenth anniversary with the third edition of L’Appartamento at the historic Palazzo Donizetti. The exhibition highlighted the enduring legacy of Italian craftsmanship through six immersive interiors, each created by globally renowned design studios: Simone Haag, Nebras Aljoaib, Meyer Davis, Romanek Design Studio, 1508 London and Champalimaud Design.

Each designer reimagined a distinct room, blending classical Italian elegance with contemporary artistry using pieces from over 180 Italian artisans. From Simone Haag’s transitional foyer to Champalimaud’s cinematic bedroom inspired by La Dolce Vita, the rooms offered a rich sensory journey. Signature spaces included Nebras Aljoaib’s conversational reading room, Meyer Davis’s myth-inspired Grand Salon, and Romanek Design Studio’s serene dining room. This charming, enthralling installation celebrated Italian design’s depth, innovation and global resonance.

101010 by LAYER

Another tenth anniversary, this time for LAYER, the studio of British designer Benjamin Hubert — who also joined us as a panellist for our panel event with iGuzzini in Milan this year! The milestone was celebrated with a popular exhibition. 101010 was both retrospective and forward-looking exhibition, and took place at 10 Corso Como’s Project Room. LAYER has earned an esteemed reputation through its human-centered design, with collaborators including global brands such as Bang & Olufsen, Nike and Samsung. 101010 expanded on this vision, debuting six pioneering social design prototypes created in collaboration with RÆBURN, Kvadrat, MDF Italia, Muuto, Orrefors, Bitossi and Andreu World.

Chiaroscuro: A Light in the Darkness by Rive Roshan at 5VIE

Set within the collection of exhibitions that made up 5VIE at a charmingly dilapidated corner of historic Milan at Via Cesare Correnti, Chiaroscuro: A Light in the Darkness was a multi-sensory installation honouring everyday acts of light. A quote from thirteenth-century Persian poet Rumi framed the piece: “If everything around seems dark, look again, you may be the light.”

The installation was temporal and experiential, with a short loop playing in an enclosed small room – creating an aural, spatial and visual experience for the visitor. As an invitation to celebrate every act of light, regardless of size, Chiaroscuro featured glass works in a dance of light and colour. The design aimed to evoke moments that spark awe and ignite us, from the sky’s vastness reflected in a drop of water to the oscillating resonance of a chanting voice.

CAOS PERFETTO – Scratched stories of light at Foscarini

At Foscarini Spazio Monforte, the installation CAOS PERFETTO – Scratched stories of light, curated by Bennet Pimpinella, transformed the digital publishing project What’s in a Lamp? into a physical experience, accompanying visitors through an exploration of works by the other 18 artists involved in the project thus far. With a wide range of delightful lighting products downstairs, the exhibition space greeted visitors first with a journey behind the scenes of creativity, with novel materials and a kaleidoscope of creative interpretations of Foscarini’s lamps.

Letters to Milan at Molteni&C

To celebrate the opening of Palazzo Molteni, located on Via Manzoni 9, Molteni&C engaged with the city of Milan through a special installation titled Letters to Milan, conceived by Studio Klass, inside the Poldi Pezzoli Museum. The installation, which occupies the inner courtyard, the Orangery and the Armory, tells the story of the deep connection between Milan and Molteni&C, a dialogue built over time through architecture, design and the way of living in the home.

“Here, tradition and innovation merge: a suspended metal mesh plays with transparency and light, defining a fluid boundary between public and private,” says Studio Klass. “At the centre, a totem inspired by Milan’s architectural essence reflects the skyscraper as an iconic element of the city’s skyline and a symbol of its evolution.“

Carapace by Lost Profile

This one is almost in the lighting category alone, but it was also an exhibition – created by Melbourne-based design studio, Lost Profile, known for its Art Deco and industrial-inspired lighting. Their new collection, Carapace, was on show in Italy, named to evoke both the protective function of a turtle’s shell and the way the cast metal shades shelter and enhance the light source they contain.

“My work often explores themes of ‘protection’ within evolution,’ explains Lost Profile founder, Oliver Wilcox. “The turtle’s shell, as nature’s armour, symbolises security, resilience and the delicate balance between form and function. Through the design of Carapace, I seek to reflect these same qualities –creating objects that offer both aesthetic and practical protection, while responding to the historical human need to bring light and warmth into our interiors.”

The preview to Milan Design Week 2025 touches on these and more