The Real Takeaways From Milan Design Week 2025 – Beyond the Trends

Es Devlin’s Library of Light in the Cortile d'Onore of the Pinacoteca di Brera designers journal milan design week 2025

Milan Design Week remains the ultimate and defining moment in the global design calendar. This year’s edition, once again, delivered thoughtful installations (such as Es Devlin’s Library of Light in the Cortile d'Onore of the Pinacoteca di Brera) and unbelievable material innovation (see TRACE OF WATER by Honoka with Aqua Clara), but also provoked deeper industry questions about purpose, accessibility, and emerging voices in the maelstrom. This week, we spoke with leading voices across the sector for their main takeaways from the 2025 edition of Salone del Mobile and Fourisalone, so read on for some hot takes…

roddy clarke milan design week 2025 business and interiors designers journal
Roddy Clarke
Design Journalist

Roddy Clarke

For Roddy Clarke, the design journalist, consultant, and presenter, escapism was a recurring theme throughout many of the big brand moments in Milan. “The world is going through uncertain times and brands focused on immersive and interactive experiences,” he says, but felt this didn’t always reflect positively. “Very few of these brands seemed to pay attention to current global topics, and I failed to get a glimpse of how design can be a conduit for change,” he says.

“Despite this,” Clarke says, “ it certainly is a week where the industry can reconnect and highlight the importance of community. I think the week left a lot of us feeling the same - a mix of concern and overwhelm, and a desire for future editions to recentre back onto purpose-driven design that leaves you feeling optimistic and hopeful.”

Carolyn Larkin

“Milan Design Week is a crucial event for our industry,” says Carolyn Larkin, the founding director of leading architecture and design communications agency, Caro Communications. “It offers a thorough, international guide to the direction of design.” 

For Larkin, “there were clear undercurrents shaping emerging trends in international design, and notably, the emergence of Indian studios this year in the city.” At the Wallpaper Class of 2025 showcase at the Triennale, names like Morii and Industrial Playground stood out to her, “not only for the calibre of their designs (particularly the former’s unique textiles and the latter’s intuitive use of colour) but for how they translated India’s multifaceted design language into contemporary, global icons.”

Carolyn Larkin milan design week 2025 business and interiors designers journal
Carolyn Larkin
Founder and Director, Caro Communications

For the third year in a row, the Isola district also shone a spotlight on Indian designers and makers. “Isola Studio launched Rasa, The Indian Collective, curated by Varun ES and Nidhi Chandak, who act as scouts for Indian designers. This year, Orikrit, Sutary and Hsc Designs were amongst the represented studios,” says Larkin. “Another great initiative by an extraordinary Indian studio is Phantom Hands and its collaboration with the Geoffrey Bawa Trust. The studio has an exclusive license from the trust to develop an edit of furniture, lighting and objects designed by Bawa, the renowned Sri Lankan architect.”

Massimiliano Tosetto milan design week 2025 designers journal business and interiors
Massimiliano Tosetto
Managing Director, Lodes

Massimiliano Tosetto

“Milan Design Week 2025 reaffirmed the central role of design as a cultural catalyst,” says Massimiliano Tosetto, the Managing Director of Venetian lighting company, Lodes, who exhibited as part of the Euroluce exhibition at Salone del Mobile. “For us, it was a powerful opportunity to connect with an international audience, exchange ideas, and present our latest innovations, especially MAP, our new modular lighting system and our first OUTDOOR collection. The overwhelming response showed us that people are looking for intelligent, flexible design solutions that adapt to evolving spaces and lifestyle.”

For Tosetto, who understands firsthand how Euroluce performed for his company and his contemporaries, there were several trends that stood at the exhibition centre this year. “Many installations embraced a more immersive, narrative-driven approach, blurring the line between product presentation and storytelling. One of the most impactful trends was the integration of lighting with architectural expression, not just as decor, but as a spatial language. It was encouraging to see a broader industry shift in this direction.”

“The industry is becoming more collaborative, interdisciplinary, and agile,” says Tosetto. “Brands are working closely with designers, architects, and several professionals to anticipate real-world needs. There's also a growing focus on awareness, both in production processes and in design intent. It's not just about aesthetics anymore; it’s about purpose and long-term relevance.” Beyond aesthetics, the most meaningful conversations that Tosetto had at Salone del Mobile revolved around “adaptability, inclusivity, and longevity.” He says, “there’s a shared awareness that design must serve a world in transition. For us, this means creating lighting solutions that can grow, shift, and integrate across diverse environments.”

Daniel Gava

Daniel Gava, a board advisor in the international design industry, witnessed a Milan Design Week under threat in 2025. “The city-centre events have grown into large-scale spectacles, drawing the general public and shifting focus away from trade.” For Gava, the growing queues to access showrooms, booths, venues and palazzi often “make meaningful engagement a challenge.” 

But what he feels suffers the most in the context of the largest, Instagram-worthy events, is product design. “True product innovation is increasingly overshadowed by immersive installations and branded experiences,” he says, “pushing substance into the background in favour of visual and emotional impact.”

daniel gava milan design week 2025 designers journal business and interiors
Daniel Gava
Board Advisor to the Design Industry

“The recent Salone del Mobile in Milan confirmed its role as a global celebration of design this year, but for all these reasons, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to attend and work effectively,” says Gava.

Stefano Seletti, Artistic Director of Seletti milan design week 2025 business and interiors dedigners journal
Stefano Seletti
Creative Entrepreneur, Seletti

Stefano Seletti

This year, Italian design brand Seletti offered visitors to Milan Design Week yet another immersive retail installation on the Corso Garibaldi in the design district of Brera, this time in collaboration with Berlin-based artist Tracey Snelling on a new lamp, Hotel Voyeur. For the brand’s Artistic Director, Stefano Seletti, there is a growing sense that communicating brand identity is beginning to rival actual product design. “What I see every year, more and more, is that the focus of Milan Design Week has become communication, rather than the products. It is a bittersweet feeling,” he says, “because it is true that communication projects allow more creativity to emerge, and somehow it will eventually reflect on products.”

Anya Cooklin-Lofting

freelance journalist

Anya Cooklin-Lofting is a freelance journalist specialising in design, culture, and the arts.

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