Much of design is conversation between what is and what isn’t—in binary code, the specific weave patterns in fabric, and the weight found in negative space. RAD Furniture brings this sensibility of contrasts to life in the Post Collection, devised in collaboration with Los Angeles-based designer Sam Klemick. An adaptation and expansion of Klemick’s wooden Bell Chair into furniture made out of metal, Post Collection features hefty metal legs that ground each piece firmly in space. The collection was on view at Afternoon Light during NYCxDESIGN this year.

In the past, each Bell Chair was made to order and crafted entirely by the designer. Wood and metal require different design approaches, though, so both teams had the opportunity to foster an appreciation for what the other does well—RAD’s commitment to craft and process, with Klemick’s integrated approach to comfort and form.

“Collaborating with RAD felt like hanging out with friends in design school— it was effortless. Metal is very different from wood. From my point of view, metal has more limitations, which pushes you to make smart, specific decisions and really consider design from a production standpoint. I often start with an impractical idea I’m not sure how to make, but with RAD, the focus was on creating something that worked, as well as comfort and simplicity.” says Klemick.

The Post Collection features a bench, ottoman, and lounge chair, all outfitted with gorgeously plush cushions, held on to the frame with solid, sturdy ties. The pieces give off a distinct air of solidity, even without the cushions, so one feels that these chairs are quite well equipped for flopping down upon, dramatically, after the end of a long day.

Choices of color and fabric make all the difference: a gorgeous burgundy Corduroy paired with a glossy black powdercoat makes the pieces lustrous and even luxurious, while the form remains quite playful, large ties and all.

The only color in the collection that may rival that beautiful burgundy is a deep brown, warm and inviting, orange notes turning the cool metal warm. The textured fabrics that take the curves of the upholstery to the next level are all Greenguard Gold Certified.

RAD Furniture is committed to bringing craft, durability, and delight to everyday moments in life. Founded in 2010, they have demonstrated a consistent penchant for creating objects to be used, and used well for many years. For her part, Sam Klemick spent 15 years working in fashion before harnessing her love for fabrics and quilting and focusing that energy into woodworking. Teaching herself how to turn, carve, and sculpt, woodworking opened up a new sense of pliability in her work. This collaboration brings out the best in both teams, using specific skills to work smarter, and create honest objects with a sense of style.

To learn more about the Post Collection by RAD Furniture and Sam Klemick, visit radfurniture.com.

Photography courtesy of RAD Furniture.

One of the most vexing problems for those of us chasing a clutter-free aesthetic in the modern world is the mess of charging cords. We all have them—crisscrossing our otherwise perfect living rooms, and somehow getting more in the way each day than previously thought possible. With wireless, we can remove this pain point entirely. San Francisco-based Gantri has long been changing the lighting game, offering 3D printed, considered lighting for the home, office, and beyond. The innovation continues with Gantri Wireless by Ammunition, a new product category that will feature 10 original designs as well as five new colorways as part of their 10th anniversary celebration.

Drift is composed of two distinct components: a cylindrical base, slender in proportion, supporting a smooth satin form on top, organic in nature. A river rock sitting just atop the surface of the water, light instead shines down upon the surroundings below, creating a warm glow from a cool source.

Eave features a nifty little handle, a beautiful and portable way to light up the night. With a translucent shade, light is both diffused through the shade, and down on to it’s resting surface. A distinct patterning creates a rippled effect, concentric circles cascading in regularity for an elegant yet approachable finish. This lamp carries echoes of the porches of Craftsman bungalows, cornices of bright Victorians, and the Chinatown gate—all nods to the fabric of San Francisco where where Gantri and Ammunition were founded.

With Pier, you can have it all. A task light, mood lighting, and a statement piece – all in a playfully abstracted support beam. Each iteration is meant to support the architecture of a life in motion, and as modern humans, we’ll need a bit of light to do that.

With Gantri Wireless, 5 new colorways enter the mix. A rich green Spruce, a burgundy red Manzanita, bright and botanical Lilac, refined Magnolia, and an electric yellow Lichen are inspired by details drawn from the California landscape.

“Throughout human history, we conceived of ways for light to move with us, whether through candle, torch, or lantern. Then, we tethered it to the wall. With Gantri Wireless, we’re returning light to its older state—something
that lives with you, moves with you, and shapes how you experience a space in a more human way”, says Gantri founder Ian Yang.

Gantri Wireless is powered by Gantri Helia. The first iteration of the platform offers two different battery sizes, each capable of a wide range of lighting and performance options. Each slim casing houses a battery, drivers, and connectivity via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and connects to an LED array, capacitive touch interface, and charging base. Each stainless steel base is designed to be unobtrusive and intuitive, simply placing the lamp on the base to charge. Not magnetized, it is meant to offer as similar an experience as if you had just lifted it off of any surface. This intuition of human behavior, along with intentional feedback loops that our bodies crave, are essential to the Gantri design ethos. As they complete ten years and look beyond, we’re excited to see what’s next.

To learn more about Gantri Wireless, visit gantri.com.

Photography courtesy of Gantri.

Trajectory defines our world. As energy ebbs and flows, particles bounce in every way imaginable, forming the structures and bodies we see today. Even though they may seem static, the same is true for paper and textiles—their fibers are positioned in a specific directionality, unique to their content and circumstances of creation. In this way, every material contains its own terroir: one of a kind, just like us. This sensitivity to the unique nature of fiber is at the heart of Taiwan-Lantern’s first lighting collection, which builds on ancient techniques and fuses them with modern forms.

Showing at ICFF this year, the warm glow of the lanterns falls softly on to the floor below. Nine artisans work on each facet of these designs: layers of stone, lacquer, and light merge into an overall balanced and beautiful composition.

Taiwan-Lantern’s lamps are designed by founders Pei-Ching Hsiao and Jean-Marc Daniëls in Amsterdam. Collaborating closely with one of the last remaining traditional lantern factories in Taiwan, they are working to keep ancient arts alive. Asian traditional techniques for fabric, bamboo, wood, and ceramics are used to craft contemporary forms, extending the longevity of this crucial artisanal knowledge.

The slight satin sheen on the form of the luminaires, in contrast with the glossy porcelain and matte stone, is quite welcome—a chance to contemplate the layers of history summed up in a singular object. These quiet contemporary translations of time-honored craftsmanship are refreshing in our era of planned obsolescence.

To learn more about Taiwan-Lantern’s new collection of luminaires, visit taiwan-lantern.com.

Photography courtesy of Taiwan-Lantern.

With sterile white cube exhibits now a memory of a bygone era, contextualized displays have become the norm across the design industry. Independent talents, established brands, and leading galleries are now primarily staging their wares in fully furnished, total-work-of-art domestic settings. The idea is to suggest – or clearly indicate – how their products and limited-run works might actually live in the spaces they’ll eventually inhabit. Few, however, fully respond to the existing conditions and histories already in place.

Cue téte-a-téte, a group exhibition mounted by emergent New York art and design platform Playinghouse at two vastly different locations during last month’s Milan Design Week. Curated by Margherita Dosi Delfini, assistant curator at the Design Museum, the emphatically site-responsive exhibition brought together artworks and furnishings imagined by a wide array of contemporary independent talents. The meticulously arranged selection accentuated the various material and formal qualities of each locale.

True to the relatively new platform’s mission of highlighting the intersection between function, familiarity, and invention, the works on view embodied the idea that playfulness can carry as much weight as practical rigor.

At Villa Pestarini, seminal Italian architect Franco Albini’s prototypically Rationalist residential project completed in 1939, works crafted in eggshell, glass, reflective metals, and other complementary materials played up the home’s distinctive proportions and pared-back yet still slightly ornamental detailing. The space was staged as a study transfixed in time, personalized for quiet contemplation.

Anna Dawson’s formally inventive fused-glass Calle Sconce diffused soft light upward and downward, while her Sun Pendant riffed on the cleverly transposing qualities of restraint and expression. The hexagonal, concave-edge ceiling mount emitted light through a gently bulging amber dome. The distinctive shape was repeated in Romain Basile Petrot’s Khemis Checkerboard Game table.

A similarly nuanced play on formal configuration defined Caleb Engstrom’s Dry Kiss Chair I & II concepts, produced in slightly sumptuous crushed eggshell and lacquer. The villa’s oh-so-subtle nods to Moderne and Art Deco ornamentation were translated through Liyang Zhang’s Florence Curtain Sconce. Spherical finials sat atop a patinated brass volume projecting light through movable silk drapes.

At Certosa District, the palette was starkly different and decidedly industrial, calling back the complex’s previous function. Semi-functional and non-functional sculptures rendered in rubber (Atelier Fomenta’s monumental yet elastic Rubber Tables), plastics (Maha Alavi’s somewhat architectonic cast-resin Frooot Bowl), and metals (Francesco Rosati’s Table For a Married Couple, composed of two perpendicularly positioned “téte-a-téte” chairs) reinforced the rawer spatial language of the site.

Photography by Elizabeth Carababas.

Light and faith have long been intertwined symbols of life, our circadian rhythms tethered to the sunlight that greets us each day. Across cultures and centuries, light has signified purity, warmth, revelation, and at times an almost blinding transcendence – qualities drawn from the very star that holds our solar system together. It’s no surprise, then, that those regarded as divine on earth – prophets, saints, and other sacred figures – have so often been depicted with halos, visual echoes of celestial bodies that suggest clarity, reverence, and otherworldliness. With the Nimbus Vase, designer Ben Peng turns that symbolism toward nature itself, positioning the organic world as both guiding force and quiet source of the sacred.

As designers, we carry a responsibility to create with intention. It’s no longer enough to simply stamp a recycled label onto plastic objects – consumers and buyers alike have become far more literate in material innovation, sustainability, and the narratives embedded within the things they bring into their homes. In turn, designers are tasked not only with making, but with educating and inspiring through form itself.

Here, Ben Peng reinterprets familiar iconography through a sculptural lens: a vessel carved from the silhouette of a halo, its metallic ring extending gently behind the form to frame whatever it holds. Whether supporting an elaborate arrangement or a single stem, the piece transforms flowers into something quietly reverential.

Simplicity in form is quite difficult to maintain. The slight curvature of the back not only centers the weight of the piece, minimizing floral accidents, but the satin finish picks up quite a bit of light, throwing soft reflections onto the blooms.

Adaptable as a wall-mounted item or a centerpiece for the table, anywhere that could use the freshness of a bouquet now can. A small range of organic colors let the hues in the flowers shine, and the simplistic circular geometry complements any existing office, home, or event space.

Ben Peng is a Melbourne-based designer, dedicated to the detailed process of design where we can beautify and enrich our lives. As many focus on the finished product (which is important), he understands that the multitude of decisions that happen before the final is even conceived that are the true marks of progress.

To learn more about the Nimbus Vase by Ben Peng, visit journey.benjaminpeng.com.

Photography courtesy of Ben Peng.

Milan Design Week can quickly descend from showcase to stress test, where my attention is divided and endurance depleted in an effort to cover everything competing to be seen. The city, as always, expanded beyond itself: palazzos, courtyards, industrial shells, and storefronts all pressed into service, each promising immersion, innovation, or at the very least, a decent aperitivo. But beneath the noise, the spectacle, the oversaturation, and the endless scrolling made physical, I was reminded of the joy design can bring.

Resonant moments were found in the loudest voices as much as in the quiet ones that lingered. Some spaces slowed me down while others sped me up. Objects asked something of us and materials carried memory as they projected the future. Across categories and scales, designers seemed less interested in novelty for its own sake and more focused on evolution: of typologies, of rituals, of how we gather, cook, sit, play, and connect.

From fluid, organism-like seating to immersive installations that dissolved architecture into atmosphere, from countertop appliances that refused to be hidden to craft practices reimagined through digital lenses, the throughline was clear: design is not just about form or function—it’s about conditions for living, for interaction, and for reflection. Consider this a dispatch from within the chaos that came from sorting through press kits, emails, invitations, notes, and the personal recommendations that got me through MDW 2026… and enjoy.

1. Roca’s Meridian Collection

Photo: Courtesy of Roca

In the churn of Salone, Roca carved out a rare moment of calm. Its booth, designed by Mesura, drew on Catalan architectural language — an all-white stair-line motif and roofline silhouettes — to channel a distinctly Mediterranean sensibility. Within this quiet envelope, visitors moved through collections like Avant, Ohtake, and the ever-colorful Nu, but the clear focal point was Meridian: a poised reworking of one of the brand’s best-known lines.

Photo: Courtesy of Roca

Led by Altherr Désile Park, the redesign walked a careful line between evolution and continuity. The brief was straightforward but nuanced: update the collection of sinks, toilets, and bidets for contemporary living—read: integrated storage, softened geometries, a sense of lightness—while preserving its lineage. “On one hand, we had a possibility to really go in deep with redoing the design,” noted partner Jeanette Altherr. “On the other hand, we needed to keep some sort of connection to the existing collection.”

Photo: Courtesy of Roca

The result held onto the Meridian name while reframing it through a Mediterranean lens — its defining arc motif tracing both the movement of the sun and the invisible longitudinal line it references. That gesture carried through the collection with quiet confidence, lending a simple, architectural elegance. In white, matte white, and matte black, Meridian transformed the bathroom into something warmer, more intimate — a private interior suffused with light.

2. Axia by Vittorio Venezia and Carolina Martinelli for LODES

What happens when you strip a chandelier down to its essence—no visible wiring, no excess, just balance? Axia’s Salone showcase answered that question with a striking response. Born from a process of experimentation, the suspension light resolved into a continuous, almost seamless system where structure, energy, and material quietly aligned as much as they conspired to delight.

While undeniably sophisticated, the designers’ work rethought how lighting could affect spatial perception without calling attention to itself. With its poised geometry and subtle presence, Axia hung like a small constellation of order and freedom, held in perfect equilibrium.

3. Common Ground by Gabriella Khalil for Ege Carpets

What did “common ground” look like in material form? Gabriella Khalil offered an answer with Ege Carpets — one built through line, tone, and rhythm. Ribbon, Imprint, Swell, and Maze read as quiet studies in movement. Creams and chocolates deepened with black accents, while linear gestures guided the eye across space. Beneath that calm, performance emerged: modularity, acoustic backing, and custom formats positioned the rugs as tools as much as surfaces. The result landed somewhere between softness and structure—shared, but never generic.

4. The Reissued Free System Sofa by Claudio Salocchi for Acerbis

Conversation pits returned, but not as nostalgia—as a shift in how we gather. Free System met that moment with ease. Originally conceived in the 1970s, Salocchi’s modular landscape felt newly fluent. Low, quilted volumes connected into soft topographies that invited sprawl, conversation, and reconfiguration—something I didn’t realize I needed until midway through Salone. There was rigor beneath the softness, but what lingered was openness: seating that encouraged posture to unfold rather than conform.

5. Loop Sofa by Elena Salmistraro for Ethimo

What if a sofa behaved like an organism? Loop suggested it could.
Salmistraro’s design rejected front and back in favor of a continuous, self-supporting form that curved and looped into itself. It felt futuristic in construction, yet deeply organic in how its volumes gathered and held space. Color grounded it, but the form did the work—guiding movement, prompting pause, encouraging interaction. Loop resisted labels entirely, operating instead as a soft, spatial system.

6. Twins by designer Júlia Esqué for Sancal

Why should seating behave? With Twins, Júlia Esqué treated the armchair less like a fixed object and more like a character capable of changing its outfit, its attitude, even its mood. Built on a cinema-seat-inspired structure, the two iterations played against each other. Formal Twin remained restrained—crisp geometry, sharp piping, a composed, almost architectural presence. Drama Twin, in contrast, became unruly. Fabric draped, folded, and exaggerated. It swished, performed, and refused to sit quietly.

That tension drew attention throughout Salone. By shifting nothing but the “wardrobe,” Esqué subverted the typology itself. The Designer’s Editions pushed further: contrast piping heightened Formal’s clarity, while structured skirts gave Drama a sharper edge. Irreverent and self-aware, Twins proved that furniture could hold form and fantasy at once—and even enjoy the costume change.

7. Kriskadecor Celebrates Its Centennial

Kriskadecor didn’t present a booth—the century-old brand built an environment. Odosdesign transformed aluminum chains into a fluid architecture that shifted with movement and light. Freed from hard edges, cascades of multi-chromatic chains veiled, revealed, and reframed space. Color gradients rippled, dissolving boundaries and pulling visitors inward, while pockets of seating and selfie-ready vignettes emergedlike pauses in motion.

You didn’t walk through it—you slowed within it. A century of material exploration condensed into something immersive, connective, and quietly celebratory.

8. Borgonuovo Game Table by Armani/Casa

Photo: Giulio Ghirardi

Games have always been about more than competition—they carry ritual, posture, and presence. The Borgonuovo Game Table by Armani/Casa leaned into that truth, turning play into a composed, almost cinematic act.

Photo: Giulio Ghirardi

Ebony wood, taupe leather, and satin brass edges formed a restrained Art Deco silhouette. The central gesture— rotating top that revealed a checkered surface—allowed the table to shift roles in real time. Drawers concealed game pieces, cup holders slid out discreetly, and monogrammed details echoed balance and precision. It became a quietly indulgent arena where strategy met atmosphere, and every move felt intentional.

9. SMEG’s Freshest Countertop Appliances

Why shouldn’t everyday tools carry the same design intelligence as furniture? SMEG has long elevated the countertop into a curated surface, and at EuroCucina 2026, that philosophy came into sharper focus. Amid larger appliances, it was the smaller pieces that caught my attention. Multiuse grills, combination microwaves, and the brand’s first air fryer reframed cooking as both ritual and rhythm.

The SMEG Multiuse Grill read like a design object first boasting the brand’s iconic visual language––soft, retro-inflected, and quietly sculptural. It displayed adaptability through interchangeable plates and multiple cooking modes.

Nearby, the new microwave range pushed beyond reheating into something more expansive with multi-step cooking, air frying capabilities, and automatic programs. The compact system compressed the logic of a full kitchen into a single, considered form.

And then there was the air fryer, perhaps the most unlikely icon. Typically relegated to the realm of the purely functional, there it was reimagined as something worth being displayed: simple, compact, and even playful in color. With SMEG’s latest releases, everyday countertop products became a design gesture where technology, aesthetics, and habit aligned into something both practical and expressive.

10. Bathco Wooden Lavatories and Novel Pedestals

Bathco presented bathroom fixtures as subversive material experiences with the power to pull focus in any space. The Wood collection centered the grain itself, with each sink carved from treated timber that resists humidity while retaining its natural texture, tone, and even scent. No two were identical, and the varied designs amplified those organic nuances, turning each washbasin into a quiet study of growth rings and imperfection.

In contrast, the pedestal sinks asserted something more architectural. Cast in porcelain, they grounded the assortment with a sculptural presence that felt solid, balanced, and monumental. Together, they hinted at a duality for the bathroom: one rooted in nature, the other in structure. The choice became less about style and more about sensation. Did you want to feel the grain beneath your hands, or rest in the quiet certainty of form?

11. Lina Ghotmeh’s Metamorphosis for MoscaPartners Variations 2026

At Palazzo Litta, space stopped behaving predictably. Ghotmeh’s Metamorphosis in Motion reworked the courtyard into a labyrinth that bent perception and guided movement. Geometry shifted, pathways unfolded, and architecture dissolved into atmosphere. It extended beyond the visual—seating, scent, and sound completed the experience. Less installation, more encounter.

12. Guatemala Diseña Con Las Manos

Amid a week obsessed with the new, this project returned to the tried and true. When I encountered Guatemala Diseña Con Las Manos, it felt less like an installation and more like a conversation. A stepped structure—echoing Tikal—anchored the space, while layers of textile and beadwork activated its surface. Up close, material shifted into something almost digital, yet unmistakably human. Movement, light, and craft accumulated into an immersive experience. It offered a quiet counterpoint: innovation not as replacement, but as continuation.

While one unfolds across water and the other over pavement, surfing and skateboarding share an almost meditative relationship to rhythm, balance, and flow. Boards become extensions of the body–conduits not only for movement, but for memory itself; each carved line and worn surface holding traces of experience long after the ride ends. For designer Mary Ratcliffe, that connection between maker, athlete, and material forms the conceptual backbone of the CARVER Collection, which distills the technical silhouettes and fluid geometries of surfboards and skate decks into sculptural furnishings that recall the child-like joy of movement and experimentation. More than a stylistic departure, the collection reads as a kind of material recollection within Ratcliffe’s broader practice–one where craft, intuition, and a rediscovered sense of play converge.

Texture is something that can be felt with touch, of course, but it can also be felt in the mind: synapses habitually relive a related sensation of the material, quickly determining what it might feel like. This instinctive reading of surface once helped our ancestors discern whether something was trustworthy, durable, or even safe. Mary Ratcliffe Studio’s (MRS) latest pieces do just that.

Presented by the Toronto-based studio during New York Design Week with Afternoon Light, the collection marks a notable evolution for Ratcliffe. Softer curves, translucent color washes, and a freer, more playful sensibility depart from the sharper geometries and raw natural finishes that have previously defined the studio’s work. Inspired by the “flow state” Ratcliffe rediscovered while surfing in Malibu earlier this year, CARVER reimagines youthful activities often left behind in adulthood as refined, handcrafted furnishings.

Wood is often prized for consistency, categorized and selected for matching grain patterns that create cohesion. Here, Ratcliffe instead celebrates the natural confluence of fibers and the shifting directionality of the grain itself. Thick solid-wood forms intersect with a satisfying sense of weight and permanence, visually signifying sturdiness and, therefore, trust.

The Decker Side Table captures that feeling of momentum through tightly radiused corners and a compact, rounded triangular footprint that easily nestles into a variety of spaces. Finished in translucent tones like Wet Clay and Dust Rose, the satin surfaces amplify the character of the white ash beneath rather than concealing it. The lower shelf not only offers visual balance and structural solidity, but also provides a practical perch for books, objects, or keepsakes. There is an agility to the piece that makes it feel somewhere between functional furniture and sculptural object.

The Dume Mirror is a study in both materiality and introspection. Crafted from a singular solid wood glue-up with a substantial nearly three-inch profile, the piece projects confidently from the wall, grounding the viewer in space. As its soft perimeter curves and bends, the grain rotates and shifts direction, revealing the lifecycle of the material itself. Ratcliffe frames this transition as a quiet parallel to self-rediscovery – an acknowledgment of growth, movement, and evolution embedded directly into the wood.

The Corral Cabinet features broad, undulating doors intentionally offset to reveal glimpses of the metallic backing within, a subtle nod to the carved path left by a board in motion. Its sweeping continuous radii reference both longboards and the curling line of a wave. Finished with a translucent wipe-on stain, the cabinet allows the organic patterning of the ash to remain visible beneath the surface, reminiscent of the weathered underside of a well-loved skateboard deck. Inside, a full-color application and reflective metal backing introduce a silvery flash of energy that contrasts with the warmth of the exterior.

The Solstice Coffee Table pulls from the tactile experience of experimentation and learning itself. Three distinct organic forms appear to ‘click’ naturally into place, like the moment scattered lessons suddenly cohere into instinct. Soft beveled edges and elongated curves echo the hydrodynamic contours of surfboards, while setback C-shaped legs and a connecting shelf create the impression that the table is almost floating within the room. Its translucent surfaces interact dynamically with the grain below, reinforcing the collection’s broader meditation on movement, intuition, and play.

There is an ease running throughout CARVER that feels intentional. Ratcliffe is not simply referencing surfing or skateboarding aesthetically, but channeling the mindset they cultivate: looseness, experimentation, and immersion in the present moment. In a culture that often demands efficiency and seriousness, the collection argues for something softer and perhaps more necessary – a return to flow, tactile awareness, and the value of play itself.

To learn more about the CARVER Collection and shop the drop, visit maryratcliffe.studio.

Photography by Ryan McCoy.

Milan Design Week has become a behemoth—ontologically bursting at the seams and drifting from its original purpose as the world’s primary agora for innovations in furniture and furnishings. Today’s citywide happening has not only expanded in scale—spilling into every possible palazzo, church, and derelict industrial complex—but also in scope, incorporating a slew of “society of the spectacle” installations mounted by luxury and mid-market brands across nearly every sector. All shell out exorbitant sums to get in on the action.

A daily deluge of flashy showcases—often overpowering actual product or concept launches—alongside tightly gatekept cocktail hours, who’s-who dinners, and increasingly exclusive parties tends to culminate in late-night drinks at the legendary Bar Basso, famous as the birthplace of the Negroni Sbagliato, a cornerstone of the Milanese aperitivo, and the annual gathering place for the global design industry’s confirmed and aspirational elite.

Over the course of five or so nights, they converge on the relatively compact watering hole, crowding into its time-capsule interior, awning-covered terrace, and adjacent traffic circle. The requisite social media post—proof of attendance—has become a marker of acceptance, a confirmation of a pilgrimage completed.

For a crowd so attuned to the aesthetic makeup of furniture and furnishings, it’s curious—almost funny—how rarely anyone looks down to see what they’re actually sitting on, that is, if they’re able to do so at all. That degree of attention is reserved for, and often depleted by, the overly staged showrooms and sprawling fair booths found elsewhere in the city, where an avalanche of luxury goods is unveiled. At this year’s Milan Design Week, German designer Thilo Reich set out to poke at this paradox—perhaps also to challenge the growing triviality of the event itself, and the increasingly detached, occasionally frivolous posture of the industry at large.

Less a direct critique than a more transcendent reflection on cycles of presence and temporality, Reich’s site-responsive tables and chairs carry the recycled cast aluminum imprint of the worn, timeworn pavement beneath them. The ground plane itself has been shaped by years of use—the repeated placement, removal, and dragging of furniture leaving its own quiet record.

“The pavement is approached as a form of skin. Cracks, seams, repairs, compressions, and transitions appear like inscriptions of time,” the designer explains in an artist statement. “Positive and negative experiences leave equal traces. What was damaged does not disappear but becomes part of a new whole.”

Rendered in the same recognizable, mass-produced tubular frames as the furnishings typically found in situ, these idiosyncratic surfaces are introduced as subtle interventions, gently skewing expectations of what one might encounter in such a context.

The provocation—what Reich dubbed the “quietest show at Milan Design Week”—extends from his ongoing Urban Tissue project. “For many years, I have developed a continuous artistic practice centered on the transformation of urban materials and the exploration of social and spatial structures,” Reich says. “My work focuses on the characteristic surfaces of places and the ways they are shaped by social, cultural, and economic influences.”

To learn more about the designer, visit thiloreich.com.

Photography by Giorgio Garzella.

There is an art to entertaining all day where pleasure suspends a collective sense of reality and we lose ourselves in joy where a beautiful backdrop, delicious food, and fantastic company conspire against the passage of time. Imagine a your most memorable get-together, tailgate, or adventure with loved ones. As day turns to night, some company gets cozy by a fire outside, or perhaps a few people just step out for air, while other party-goers relocate indoors for more fun after hours. Our music has long been mobile and snacks packs are plentiful, but what about the way we move with light?

The ILO Lamp from Arieto Studio liberates the luminary from its resting place for unencumbered enjoyment. The donut-shaped top easily detaches from the cylindrical base, allowing anyone to keep the party going wherever they land. A soft, diffused glow emanates from the glossy white lamp, creating a warmth that can be taken on the road, or simply outside to the patio.

Arieto Studio offers an elegant and intuitive solution where the portability of  similar products on the market come with some sort of aesthetic cost. Even when off, the toric form is beautiful to behold. The ring is a simple object easy to hold and carry. Charging passively, it’s always ready to be taken off dock for any type of social gathering on a whim sans charging cord.

Inspired and expressive, each subsequent colorway changes the feel of the lamp, offering curated shades that add a bit of personality. The hues are bold without being too bright, offering a warmer glow than the pure white variation. Whether your style is more reserved, or you take maximalism to the extreme, there are variations available to reflect your unique style.

To learn more about the ILO Lamp from Arieto Studio, visit arietostudio.com.

Photography courtesy of Arieto Studio.

Marty Supreme might have gone 0 for 9 at the Oscars, but it seems to have ignited a ping pong fever. And the design world is paying attention. In fact, table sports in general are undergoing an aesthetic facelift, with brands like Unifor, RS Barcelona and even Louis Vuitton getting in on the game. Here are five that we’d love to try out.

1. COLOSSO by Marc Ange x 11 Ravens

COLOSSO, a limited-edition billiards table by 11 Ravens, the Los Angeles brand synonymous with elevated ping pong setups, looks designed expressly for one of Marc Ange’s über-luxury interiors. “Conceived as part of a new series of creature-like game tables, COLOSSO reimagines billiards as both a stage for play and an extraordinary work of art,” the manufacturer explains. Its pedestal bases come in a curated selection of woods, finishes, stones and marbles—and its playing surface in a selection of 60 Kvadrat textiles that expand upon the standard green. It’s shown here in burnt sienna.

2. Made to Measure by Herzog + de Meuron for Unifor

It’s hard to imagine the principals of heavyweight architecture firm Herzog + de Meuron in a rapid-fire ping pong match. But their Made to Measure collection for Unifor boasts table tennis tables as part of a broader offering including regular tables and seating. All are united by wooden frames with 12-degree-angled legs.

“The supporting structure consists of four solid wood beams interlocking in three dimensions: a contemporary reinterpretation of the traditional castle joint,” the firm explains. “This structural matrix generates a scalable family of elements.” It’s as elegant as ping pong can possibly get.

3. Cleaf at Salone del Mobile

Spotted at Salone, Cleaf‘s exuberant Beyond the Lines laminate collection was used to clad a table tennis as part of a booth that “focuses on the intersection of sport and design, in an unexpected and playful way.” It made for a convincing application of the surfacing in a custom ping pong piece—if anyone is so inclined.

5. AL13 by Luca Nichetto for RS Barcelona

While we’re at RS Barcelona, let’s also admire its new collaboration with Luca Nichetto. AL13 takes as its point of departure the periodic table of elements — specifically the symbol and atomic number of aluminum, which comprises the shell of this curvaceous pool table. AL13’s upholstery in soft leather completes the impeccable design.

6. Odysée by Estúdio Campana for Louis Vuitton’s Objet Nomades

There’s sometimes an urge to slam the full weight of your body against a foosball table to manoeuvre your mini soccer ball — not with this marvellous creature. Named after the legendary Greek king, Odysée introduces handcrafted luxury and telltale Campana whimsy into the barroom staple. The tiny player figures are sirens with Swarovski crystal eyes and the legs are covered in leather scales. “At its heart,” Estudio Campana explains, “lies a poetic suggestion: the ball as a pearl, embraced by finely pleated blue leather that envelops the entire piece.”

There’s a particular alchemy that happens when interiors are conceived less as static arrangements and more as scenes waiting to unfold. The room becomes a set, the objects actors, the materials a kind of performance—each element calibrated to evoke mood, memory, and narrative. With the new collaboration between Laura Harrier and designer Tiffany Howell for Crate & Barrel, that sensibility takes center stage.

Debuting an 87-piece collection spanning furniture, lighting, textiles, and decor, Howell and Harrier approach the home not as a backdrop, but as a compositional tool capable of constructing richly layered interiors that feel cinematic in both atmosphere and intent.

The foundation of that world-building lies in a shared visual language. What began as a long-standing friendship evolved naturally into a creative partnership rooted in overlapping references—vintage cinema, archival fashion, photography, and the quiet drama of 1970s design.

“We were always pulling from the same references,” Harrier notes, describing a process translating image into object and memory into form.

Rather than starting with furniture typologies, the duo looked elsewhere: the curve of a dress, the glint of a cufflink, and the structure of a vintage heel. These fragments became the collection’s generative DNA, reinterpreted through material and scale. Upholstered silhouettes echo the cutouts of eveningwear; wood joinery carries the precision of jewelry detailing; lacquered finishes recall the gloss of accessories worn smooth over time. It’s a methodology that sidesteps conventional product design in favor of something more associative, and ultimately, more narrative-driven.

That narrative is steeped in a palette saturated in reverie. Tobacco, copper, and cream saturate the collection, conjuring the amber glow of old Hollywood interiors and late-day California light. Materials—burl wood, velvet, grasscloth, and mouth-blown glass—are deployed not just for their tactile richness, but for their ability to hold atmosphere. Together, they build a visual density that reads like a well-composed film still, both intimate and expansive.

Key pieces act as anchors within this scenography. The bar cabinet, a standout for both Harrier and Howell, distills the collection’s ethos into a single object: lacquered surfaces meet generous proportions, while interior compartments are scaled to accommodate vinyl records. Elsewhere, the dining table’s sculptural legs and brass detailing introduce a sense of tension and release, while seating elements subtly reference the architecture of garments, with curves and cutouts that feel at once tailored and relaxed. Together, the pieces become an invitation to ritual, to gathering, and to performing.

Even the smaller gestures carry weight. The curvature of a headboard, the interplay between upholstery and wood, the faint irregularity of a finish—each detail contributes to what Howell describes as a sense of “soulfulness,” a quality that resists perfection in favor of something slightly worn, slightly undone. The effect is a kind of softened glamour that favors lived-in elegance over pristine surfaces.

Crucially, this cinematic approach doesn’t abandon livability. Working within the framework of Crate & Barrel’s customer, the duo balanced expression with usability, ensuring that the pieces remain functional without sacrificing their point of view. The result is a collection that feels immersive but not prescriptive—capable of transforming everyday rituals into something more intentional and composed.

To see this and other works by the designer, visit nightpalm.com.

Photography courtesy of Crate & Barrel.

Milan Design Week might be better known for its major furniture launches and blockbuster shows, but these rug collections still stopped us in our tracks as we hustled through the halls of Salone del Mobile and traipsed around town to Fuorisalone venues numbering in the hundreds.

1. FACES Collection by Kengo Kuma for Jaipur Rugs

With its bold architectural patterns, this collaboration between Jaipur Rugs and Kengo Kuma held its own at both Salone and at offsite presentations. The 16 rugs of the Faces collection come in muted tones, and are inspired by the facades of the Japanese architect’s most renowned buildings, including the Suntory Museum of Art in Tokyo — whose striations are hinted at in the patterns Sukima and Bokashi.

The references are subtle; what both Jaipur and Kuma seek is an evocation of the ways in which light and shadow are cast against a facade. And the nuance comes across brilliantly.

2. Illulian Rugs

Ilhabela by Paula Cadematori and Mineralia by Controvento exemplify the artistic ambitions of the Italian luxury rug brand Illulian, whose rugs are handcrafted by artisans in Nepal. Ilhabela, part of the NO LAND capsule collection, “explores the contrast between the depths of blue and the shades of sunrise,” says Cadematori, and features a precise 45-degree hand-cutting technique.

Meanwhile, Mineralia plays with pile heights and yarn textures to create a floor covering that feels crafted by nature. Together, they express the brand’s range of offerings, from restrained yet whimsical to organic and seemingly freeform.

3. New Origins by Aline de Laforcade for GAN

This oval rug made of jute and wool makes the impression of a shaggy yet regal pet — or, more aptly, the sheep that provide its yarn. According to the Spanish rug brand, the collection’s production involves two techniques: “manual loom and hand-knotting of the wool, which is what allows for the execution of the different textures and densities of the landscapes in its design.” The result is strikingly compelling, as both a crafted artwork and a practical home accessory.

4. Lucia Eames Rug Collection by Nanimarquina

The Eames legacy was strong throughout Milan Design Week. Not only did the Triennale showcase a prefab modular pavilion based on the Eames House, but the nature-inspired drawings of the late Lucia Eames (born to Charles and his first wife, Catherine Woermann) were interpreted in a delightful rug collection by Spain’s Nanimarquina. 

Installed at Salone del Mobile — its butterfly rugs soaring above the Nanimarquina booth — the collection brings features hand tufted, hand knotted, hand loomed, and embroidery pieces made “alongside new developments such as sculptural tufting and hand-braided, hand-stitched jute,” brand explains. Its natural fibres of with natural fibres Afghan and New Zealand wool and jute are combined to create a surfaces that play between matte and luminous in subtle counterpoint.

5. Bieke Casteleyn x JOV

As part of Fuorisalone, Bieke Casteleyn and JOV collaborated on Clover, which they describe as “an immersive landscape of softness, form, and material.” The rounded form of the wall-mounted rug stood out for its simplicity and playfulness.